Discover China

The new high speed rail service between Wuhan and Shenzhen has commenced, with the entire trip taking only 4 hours and 13 minutes. The new line connects Wuhan to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Shenzhen, and departs from the Shenzhen North Railway Station where there is a direct connection with the Shenzhen Metro. It makes it easy to visit Wuhan from Shenzhen, as well as other major places of interest such as Changsha.

The next destination in James Baquet’s excellent series of Shenzhen Daily articles on Chinese temples and halls is Shanghai:

• Chenxiang Pavilion, Shanghai
• Longhua Temple, Shanghai
• Yuanming Lecture Hall, Shanghai
• Jing’an Temple, Shanghai
• Yufo Temple, Shanghai

For previous articles in James Baquet’s series on Chinese temples and halls see Temples of Putuo Mountain and Ningbo, Hangzhou’s Jingci Temple and Exploring Shenzhen’s Temples.

Putuo Mountain is an island in Zhoushan prefecture of Zhejiang Province, and is one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism. It can be reached by boat from the major cities of Ningbo, also located in Zhejiang Province, and Shanghai. James Baquet continues his excellent series of Shenzhen Daily articles on Chinese temples with stories of his visits to temples and other sites on Putuo Mountain and temples in and around Ningbo:

• Huiji Temple, Putuo Mountain
• Puji Temple, Putuo Mountain
• Fayu Temple, Putuo Mountain
• Nantianmen, Putuo Mountain
• Tiantong Temple, Ningbo
• Ayuwang Temple, Ningbo
• Qita Temple, Ningbo

For previous articles in James Baquet’s series of articles on Chinese temples see Hangzhou’s Jingci Temple and Exploring Shenzhen’s Temples.

China is the “country of the dragon”, with the dragon featuring prominently in Chinese mythology and folklore. The Shenzhen Daily article Country of the dragon introduces some fascinating places where you can learn about this aspect of Chinese history in the Year of the Dragon – Longmen Grottoes in Henan, Longji Terrace, Guangxi and Huanglong, Sichuan. I visited the amazing Longmen Grottoes during my trip to Luoyang in Henan Province in 2008 (see the story and pictures).

China’s long and complex history has given rise to a range of different architectural styles. They not only fuse cultures’ structural and decorative forms, but are also influenced by Chinese concepts such as feng shui and yin and yang. The Shenzhen Daily presents the ten best examples of Chinese architecture in this series of articles:

• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (I) – Kaiping diaolou and Wang Family Compound
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (II) – Imperial Prime Minister’s Palace, Fujian tulou and Qiao Family Compound
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (III) – Dayi Liu Manor, Hongcun Village and Xidi Village
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (IV) – Kang Baiwan Manor and Yulin Manor of Jiang Yaozu

I had the pleasure of visiting the Hongcun and Xidi ancient villages on my trip to Henan, Anhui and Zhejiang in 2009.