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1 The Best of China

With every new edition of this book, identifying the “best of China” becomes a more and more difficult task. As this once isolated giant awakens, forces are being unleashed that impact tourism. Devastating pollution, widespread corruption, and the sheer volume of tourists have transformed many of China’s best-known sights into filthy, overpriced circuses. To find the very best that China has to offer, it is sadly becoming more important to know what to avoid, rather than what to see. Perhaps the best advice that we can give is to focus on nature. After suffering through the devastating Cultural Revolution, what little remains of the country’s much-vaunted 5,000 years of culture is being lost in the rush to get rich—even small cities have become heavily polluted sweatshops. Fortunately, China still has some of the most spectacular natural scenery on the planet. Many places within the People’s Republic have only recently been opened to visitors, so we have only had a few decades to unlock some of this enormous realm’s secrets. While we certainly do not claim to have uncovered everything, we have been truly inspired by this huge treasure house, and have included here what we have discovered so far.

1 The Best China Experiences • Strolling Past the Old Russian formerly stodgy old buildings into Architecture in Harbin: At the heart some of the city’s finest shopping and of the Russian-built city, Zhongyang dining establishments. These rooftop Dajie’s unexpected cupola-topped Art restaurants offer unsurpassed views of Nouveau mansions are reminders of Shanghai, old and new. See chapter 9. the 1920s and 1930s, when Harbin • Cycling the City Wall in Xi’an: The was the liveliest stop on this leg of the largest city walls in China have been Trans-Siberian Railroad. See chapter 5. much pierced for modern purposes • Exploring the Forbidden City’s and can be tackled in a modern way, Forgotten Corners (Beijing): No one too, with a breezy, traffic-light-free fails to be impressed by the grandeur ride above the rooftops on rented of the Forbidden City’s central axis, bicycles and tandems. Behold views which is allCOPYRIGHTED most visitors see. But the of remnants MATERIAL of vernacular architec- quieter maze of pavilions, gardens, ture, clustered around small temples. courtyards, and theaters to either side See chapter 7. have the greater charm. See p. 110. • Exploring Li Jiang’s Old Town: Built • Dining on Shanghai’s Bund: China’s over 800 years ago and partly rebuilt most famous waterfront street of after a massive 1996 earthquake, Li colonial architecture, the Bund, has Jiang’s old town, with its maze of cob- become the toniest address in town, blestone streets, gurgling streams, and with the redevelopment of a few original and reconstructed traditional 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 7

THE BEST CHINA EXPERIENCES 7 Naxi houses, is one of the most atmos- for instance, seniors can be found pheric places in China, hordes of playing mahjong with friends while tourists notwithstanding. Rise before their caged songbirds sit in nearby the sun, then watch its golden rays fil- trees providing ambient music. As ter through the gray winding streets, patrons eat watermelon seeds, nuts, lighting up the dark wooden houses. dried squid, or beef jerky, attendants See chapter 12. appear at regular intervals to refill their • Walking on the Great Wall from cups from copper kettles. For an after- Jinshanling to Simatai (Beijing): noon of perfect relaxation, stop by and The Great Wall, winding snakelike forget about sightseeing for a few through the mountains, was meant to hours. See chapter 13. be walked. This magnificent 3-hour • Gazing at the Sea of Terra-Cotta hike follows China’s greatest monu- Warriors at the Tomb of Qin Shi ment through various states of repair, Huang (Xi’an): The first sight of the from freshly restored to thoroughly tomb, in a hangarlike building, leaves crumbling, over steep peaks and gen- many visitors stunned and awed. This tle flats, and through patches of destination is at the top of almost wilderness and rugged farmland, with every visitor’s list, and it does not over two dozen watchtowers along disappoint. See p. 266. the way. See chapter 4. • Strolling in Shanghai’s French • Riding the Star Ferry (Hong Kong): Concession: The domain of the There’s no better way to get French community up until 1949 acquainted with Hong Kong than to was colonial Shanghai’s trendiest area, ride the cheapest cruise in China. and it remains full of tree-lined The century-old green-and-white boulevards, colonial mansions, and Star ferries weave between tugs, Art Deco masterpieces, now bundled junks, and oceangoing vessels in a 5- up with phone lines and pole-hung minute harbor crossing, and thanks washing. Some of the city’s best shop- to the wonderful Suzy Wong novel, ping is also here. Just beyond the for- remain one of the territories’ premier mer concession is one of modern attractions. See chapter 11. Shanghai’s trendiest areas, the mega- • Exploring the karst scenery around development of restaurants and shops Yangshuo: The cruise down the now- known as Xin Tiandi. See chapter 9. polluted Li River between Guilin and • Getting Lost in the lanes around Yangshuo may be overexposed and Beijing’s Back Lakes: No other city overpriced, but the scenery area in the world has anything quite remains captivating. Avoid the pricey like the hutong, narrow lanes once “as taxis and motorbike rentals and numberless as the hairs on an ox.” explore instead in traditional Chinese Now rapidly vanishing, the best-pre- style, by bicycle. Both the Yulong served hutong are found around a pair River and the Jin Bao are still rela- of man-made lakes in the city center. tively peaceful as they flick lazily This area is almost the last repository through serrated hills like dragon’s of Old Beijing’s gritty, low-rise charm, teeth. See chapter 12. dotted with tiny temples, hole-in-the- • Unwinding in a Sichuan Teahouse: wall noodle shops, and quiet court- One of the great pleasures of being in yard houses whose older residents still Sichuan is drinking tea at a neighbor- wear Mao suits. See the walking tour, hood teahouse. On any given after- “The Back Lakes,” on p. 124. noon at Qingyang Gong in Chengdu, 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 8

8 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF CHINA • Strolling the Old Neighborhoods • Taking a “Peapod” Boat on Shen- of Kashgar: The dusty alleys, color- nong Stream (Yangzi River): Best of ful residential doorways, and mud- the Three Gorges cruise excursions, brick walls remain as they have been this 2-hour journey through a long, for decades. Kids with henna-dyed narrow canyon takes passengers to feet and fingernails will approach you one of the famous suspended coffins speaking a few words of Chinese and of the Ba people, then returns them English; men with donkey carts downstream in a fraction of the time. trudge down narrow passages; bakers Along the way, howler monkeys may arrange round large slabs of nan in be spotted swinging through the coal ovens built into the ground. trees, small waterfalls appear from the Spending hours watching how citi- rocks, and swallows and other small zens of Kashgar live is one of the most birds flit about. The water in this rewarding experiences along the Silk small tributary is surprisingly clear, Road. See p. 323. and the scenery and silence are thor- oughly calming. See chapter 13.

2 The Best Small Towns • Xia He (Gansu): This delightful tourists, remains a retreat from the monastery town nestles in a moun- world. You can hike part of the tain valley at an elevation of 2,900m impressive 19-peak Green Mountains (9,500 ft.). It’s divided into two sec- (Cang Shan) to the west, sail on the tions, primarily Hui (Muslim) and cerulean Er Hai Lake to the east, and Han Chinese at its eastern end, take a bike ride into any of the nearby changing abruptly to Tibetan as you Bai villages. See p. 656. climb westward to the gorgeous • Dunhuang (Gansu): Surrounded by gilded roofs of the vast Labrang barren deserts, this oasis town beck- Monastery. Tibetan pilgrims make ons with sand dunes, camel treks, and you welcome on the 3km (2-mile) the Buddhist cave art of Mogao. Its circuit around the monastery’s tree-lined streets and backpacker perimeter. See chapter 7. cafes give it a laid-back feeling that is • Manzhouli (Inner Mongolia): A tiny hard to find elsewhere in China. See town of 50,000 on the Russian bor- p. 295. der, lost in a sea of grass, Manzhouli • Yangshuo (Guangxi): While much of is the East-meets-Wild-West frontier the central area is now tacky and outpost David Carradine should have overcommercialized, this small town used as the backdrop to the TV series on the Li River, nestled in a cluster of Kung Fu. It stands on the edge of the spiny pinnacles, has retained enough Hulun Buir, an emerald expanse of of its laid-back charm to be a delight- grassland shot through with radiant ful alternative to Guilin. Yangshuo patches of wildflowers. See p. 210. is at the cutting edge of Chinese • Dali (Yunnan): This home of the Bai tourism and features some of its best people, a backpacker’s mecca recently innovations as well as some of its gentrified for larger numbers of worst. See p. 608. 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 9

THE BEST COUNTRYSIDE TRIPS 9

3 The Best Countryside Trips • Jiuzhai Gou (Sichuan): This national back. But the scenery around the park has dense forest, green mead- 6,282m (20,605-ft.) peak, and the ows, rivers, rapids, ribbon lakes in company of sometimes entire villages various shades of blue and green, of Tibetans, make the trek well chalky shoals, and waterfalls of every worthwhile. See p. 775. kind. Of cultural interest are six • Around Li Jiang (Yunnan): This area Tibetan villages of the original nine offers a wide variety of countryside from which this valley gets its name. experiences, from riding a chairlift up See p. 718. to the glacier park of the magnificent, • Chang Bai Shan (Jilin): This long- snowcapped Jade Dragon Snow dormant 2,600m-high (8,500-ft.) Mountain, to hiking the sheer-sided volcano is home to Tian Chi, a Tiger Leaping Gorge while the deep, pure, mist-enshrouded crater Yangzi River rages below, to being lake that straddles the China–North rowed in a “pig-trough” boat across Korea border and is sacred to both the pristine Lugu Lake—China’s Koreans and Manchurians. The answer to Lake Tahoe. See p. 675. northern approach to the lake, with • Karakul Lake (Xinjiang): On the its trail that climbs alongside the highway between Kashgar and thundering Changbai Waterfall, is Tashkurgan lie stark, jagged moun- best in the fall. The western approach tains surrounded by a pristine lake at is ideal in early summer, when its vast an altitude over 4,000m (13,120 ft.). fields of vibrant wildflowers are in Come here for some peace and quiet full bloom. See p. 195. and a change of scenery from the • Langmu Si (Gansu): This Tibetan dusty Uighur towns along the Silk monastic center is largely unknown to Road. See p. 328. Chinese tourists, and the tranquil • Wu Ling Yuan & Zhang Jia Jie mountain village is reminiscent of Li (Hunan): This scenic area is made up Jiang before it was “discovered.” The of three subtropical parklands, with town is home to two major Tibetan quartzite sandstone peaks and pillars monasteries, housing around 1,000 to rival Guilin’s scenery. There are monks whose chanting of the scrip- plentiful rare plants and insects, tures may be heard throughout the swarms of butterflies, a large cave day. Ramble through narrow ravines with calcite deposits, and stunning and moraine valleys crowded with views through bamboo, pine, and oak wildflowers, or take a horse trek up forests. See p. 753. Flower Cap Mountain to obtain stun- • Everest Base Camp (Tibet): Whether ning views as far as the holy mountain by 3-hour drive from the village of Pel- of Amnye Machen. See p. 287. bar, or by a 3- to 4-day trek from Tin- • Amnye Machen (Qinghai): The gri, the trip to the tented base camp route around this holy mountain, for (at 5,150m/16,890 ft.) or to rooms a while believed to be the world’s in Rongbuk Monastery (at 4,980m/ highest, must be clockwise—turning 16,330 ft.) offers unbeatable vistas of back is sacrilegious. So once you start the world’s toothiest snowcaps set on the 3-day horse trek, or the 7- to against a startling cobalt sky. See chap- 10-day walk with the aid of a bag- ter 14. gage-carrying yak, there’s no turning 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 10

10 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF CHINA • Hulun Buir Grasslands (Inner of the much-maligned dowager Mongolia): Located just outside the empress Cixi. See chapter 4. remote border town of Manzhouli, • The Bamboo Forests of Anji (Zhe- the Hulun Buir’s grasslands are the jiang): Vast oceans of bamboo, most pristine in China. This expanse immortalized by the kung-fu acrobat- of gentle emerald hills, perfectly ics of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, punctuated with small streams and make this is a part of the country that rocky outcrops, is all the more attrac- will appeal to the emerging generation tive for how difficult it is to reach. See of ecotravelers. Apart from mystical, chapter 5. secluded groves, the bamboo museum • Eastern Qing Tombs (Hebei): This highlights a plant that is receiving rural tomb complex offers more to more and more attention as we begin the visitor than the better-known to recognize the importance of sus- Ming Tombs, but sees a fraction of tainable lifestyles. See p. 483. the visitors. Undeniably difficult to • Yandangshan (Zhejiang): A less well reach, the effort is rewarded many known, but equally stunning collec- times over by the Qianlong emperor’s tion of spectacular peaks that rival breathtakingly beautiful tomb cham- any other area in the country but as ber, Yu Ling, and an (unintention- yet do not have the same stratos- ally) drop-dead funny photo exhibit pheric ticket prices. See p. 489.

4 The Best Mansions & Palaces • Wang Jia Dayuan (Pingyao): It took See “The Best China Experiences,” a century for this vast mansion to earlier in this chapter, and p. 110. grow to 123 courtyards and 1,118 • Wei Huanggong (Changchun): Also houses; the decorative lattice screens known as the Puppet Emperor’s Palace and windows, shaped openings and best known in the west as the set- between rooms and courtyards, and ting for part of Bernardo Bertolucci’s undulating walls are exquisite exam- film The Last Emperor, this impressive ples of Ming and Qing vernacular palace complex, opened to visitors architecture. See p. 243. after an admirable full-scale restora- • Potala Palace (Lhasa): A monastery, tion in 2002, was the residence of a palace, and a prison, the Potala Henry Puyi, China’s last emperor and symbolizes the fusion of secular and subsequently puppet ruler of Japanese- religious power in Tibet in a vast, controlled Manchukuo. See p. 186. slab-sided, red-and-white agglomera- • Wang Jia Dayuan (Hebei): With tion on a hilltop dominating central investment from a Beijing entrepre- Lhasa. Despite the ruination of its neur, part of a traditional courtyard surroundings, there’s no more haunt- mansion that once housed Shan- ing sight within China’s modern haiguan’s wealthiest burgher has been political boundaries, and nothing else magnificently restored and is expected that speaks so clearly of the otherness to expand farther south. Set in the of Tibet. See p. 785. heart of the old walled town, it also • The Forbidden City (Beijing): Preem- boasts a folk museum crammed with inent among the surviving complexes curiosities. Four of the rooms are avail- of ancient buildings in China, the for- able for overnight stays, although you’ll mer residence of the emperors needs have to be out before the next day’s far more time than most tours give it. visitors arrive. See p. 150. 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 11

THE BEST MUSEUMS 11 • Qiao Jia Dayuan (Pingyao): One of surrounding Eight Outer Temples the loveliest of the several merchant form another of the greatest ancient family mansions of this area, this was architectural complexes of China, the set for the film Raise the Red arranged around a green valley. The Lantern. With six large courtyards, temples have bizarre borrowings from 313 houses, and fine craftsmanship a number of minority architectural tra- of lattices, lintels, carvings, wooden ditions, and both temples and palace balustrades, and chimneys through- have 18th-century replicas of buildings out, the 18th-century manse takes of which the country is most proud. hours to explore. See p. 243. See p. 144. • Bishu Shanzhuang (Chengde): The imperial summer resort and its

5 The Best Museums • Hong Kong Museum of History • Nanjing Datusha Jinianguan (Nan- (Hong Kong): A life-size diorama of a jing): The deaths of over 300,000 Neolithic settlement, replicas of fish- Chinese, killed over the course of 6 ing boats and traditional houses, eth- weeks during the 1937 Japanese inva- nic clothing, displays of colorful sion of Nanjing, are commemorated festivals, and whole streets of old here. Photographs and artifacts docu- shop frontages with their interiors menting the Japanese onslaught, the removed piece by piece and rebuilt atrocities suffered, and the aftermath, here, make this the most entertaining are sobering, grisly, and shockingly museum in China. See p. 576. effective. See p. 399. • Shanxi Lishi Bowuguan (Xi’an): If • Wang Anting Xiaoxiao Zhanlan- you can visit only one museum in guan (Chengdu): Located in a narrow China, this should be it. An unrivaled lane west of the main town square, this collection of treasures, many demon- small, one-of-a-kind museum con- strating Xi’an’s international contacts tains tens of thousands of Mao pins, via the Silk Routes, is more profes- Cultural Revolution memorabilia, and sionally displayed here than almost vintage photographs. The museum anywhere else in the mainland. See occupies the living room of its devoted p. 265. proprietor. See p. 702. • Sanxing Dui Bowuguan (Chengdu): • Quanzhou Taiwan Friendship An attractive and well-laid-out Museum (Quanzhou): Although the museum housing items from a group Minnan design of this building is of sacrificial pits, this is one of the impressive, the real reason that I rec- most significant finds in 20th-cen- ommend it is to see how ridiculous tury China. See p. 701. (and increasingly frightening and dan- • Shanghai Bowuguan (Shanghai): In gerous) propaganda concerning Tai- terms of display and English labeling, wan has become in the last few years. this ultramodern museum (lights fade To paraphrase Rich Hall, in show- as you approach cabinets), loaded with pieces like this, China is somewhat stunning antiquities, is China’s most like a beauty contestant, absolutely modern and inviting. See p. 466. gorgeous until it opens its mouth. See p. 507. 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 12

12 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF CHINA

6 The Best Temples • Kong Miao (Qufu): One of China’s to see the intense devotion of pil- greatest classical architectural com- grims circumnavigating it by pros- plexes, this spectacular temple in trating themselves repeatedly across Confucius’s hometown is the largest cobblestones made slippery by cen- and most magnificent of the hun- turies of burning yak-butter lamps, dreds of temples around the country and rubbing their foreheads against honoring the sage. Greatly enlarged the statuary in the dim, smoky inte- since it was originally built in 478 rior; and a second time in the after- B.C., it has a series of gates and build- noon for a closer look at the ancient ings aligned on a north-south axis images they venerate. See p. 779. and decorated with imperial flour- • Temple of Heaven (Beijing): The cir- ishes like yellow-tiled roofs and cular Hall of Prayer for Good Har- dragon-entwined pillars. See p. 372. vests, one of the finest achievements • Maiji Shan Shiku (Tianshui): This of Ming architecture, is almost as well haystack-shaped mountain of soft red known as a symbol of Beijing as the rock, covered in brilliant green Tian’an Men, but the three-tiered sac- foliage, is China’s prettiest cave-tem- rificial altar of plain stone is thought ple site, and the only one where stat- by many to be the most sublime uary has been added to the cave walls object of beauty in China. See p. 118. rather than carved out of them. • Sakya Monastery (Sajia Si) (Sakya): Views from the stairs and walkways The massive 35m (115-ft.) window- lacing the cliffs are spectacular less gray walls of Lhakhang Chenmo (including those straight down). See tower above the village and fields on p. 276. the southern bank of the Trum Chu. • Guan Yin Dong (Yandangshan): the Completed in 1274, this monastery Goddess of Mercy Cave consists of fort was largely funded by Kublai 10 stories of wooden timbers over Khan, and unlike the older temples of 100m (328 ft.) high, and constructed north Sakya, it survived the Cultural deep inside a huge long vertical cre- Revolution. See p. 800. vasse. Absolutely breathtaking and set • Mogao Shiku (Dunhuang): The in some of the most beautiful sur- biggest, best-preserved, and most sig- roundings. See p. 491. nificant site of Buddhist statuary and • Zhengding (Hebei): Neither the most frescoes in all China, with the broad- spectacular nor the best known of tem- est historical range, the Mogao Caves, ple groups, but within a short walking in their tranquil desert setting, should distance of each other, are some of be your choice if you can see only one China’s oldest surviving unimproved cave site. See p. 298. temple buildings (one of which houses • Yonghe Gong (Beijing): After the a 30m-high/90-ft. multiarmed bronze Qing Yongzheng emperor moved into of Guanyin), and a collection of the Forbidden City, his personal resi- ancient pagodas so varied it’s almost as dence was converted into this temple. if they’ve been set out specifically to Several impressive incense burners are surprise you. See p. 151. scattered throughout the golden- • Jokhang Temple (Lhasa): The spiri- roofed complex, also known as the tual heart of Tibetan Buddhism, this Lama Temple. A 20m-tall (60-ft.) temple should be visited twice: once sandalwood statue of Maitreya, the 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 13

THE BEST MARKETS 13 future Buddha, fills the last building. with more than 2,800 inscriptions and See p. 121. over 100,000 Buddhist statues. See • Baoding Shan (Dazu): Artistically p. 349. among the subtlest and most sophis- • Yungang Shiku (Shanxi): These are ticated of China’s Buddhist grottoes, the earliest Buddhist caves carved in these Song dynasty caves are situated China. Most were hollowed out over a around a horseshoe-shaped cove, at 65-year period between 460 and 524. the center of which is lush forest. See Viewed as a whole, they show a move- p. 730. ment from Indian and central Asian • Longmen Shiku (Dragon Gate artistic models to greater reliance on Grottoes) (Luoyang): The grottoes go Chinese traditions. See p. 218. well beyond just the identity of a See also Chengde’s Bishu Shanzhuang temple, as these caves are considered and its Eight Outer Temples, in “The one of the best sculptural treasure- Best Mansions & Palaces,” above. troves in China. The site comprises a mind-boggling 2,300 caves and niches

7 The Best Markets • Kashgar Sunday Bazaar: The bazaar whose mainstay is the wide variety of is now split in two and not quite delicious local snacks on offer, such as what it was, but the livestock part of five-spice roasted bread, sesame soup, the market, southeast of town, is still and spicy lamb kabob. See p. 358. well worth visiting. Bearded Uighur • Khotan Sunday Market: This is men in traditional blue-and-white everything the Kashgar Market once garb sharpen their knives and trim was. Jewelers pore over gemstones, their sheep, small boys gorge them- blacksmiths busy themselves shoeing selves on Hami melons, and Kyrgyz horses and repairing farm tools, blan- in dark fur hats pick up and drop ket makers beat cotton balls, rat-poi- dozens of lambs to test their weight son sellers proudly demonstrate the and meatiness before settling deals efficacy of their products—the sights with vigorous and protracted hand- and smells are overwhelming. Don’t shakes. See p. 324. miss the horse-riding enclosure toward • Panjiayuan Jiuhuo Shichang (Bei- the north side of the melee, where jing): A vast outdoor market held on buyers test the road-worthiness of weekends, Panjiayuan teems with both beast and attached cart, with fre- what is very likely the world’s best quent spectacular tumbles. See p. 331. selection of things Chinese: row upon • Temple Street Night Market (Hong row of everything from reproduction Kong): Prices here are outrageous Ming furniture to the traditional compared to those at China’s other clothing worn by China’s many markets, but the scene at this night minorities to Mao memorabilia. Most market is very entertaining, especially of the antiques are fakes, although the fortunetellers and street-side experts have made some surprising performers singing Chinese opera. finds in the bedlam. See p. 135. See p. 585. • Kaifeng Tutechan Shichang • South Bund Fabric Market (Shang- (Kaifeng): Visitors overnight in hai): Bales and bales of fabric (silk, Kaifeng just so they can attend this cotton, linen, wool, and cashmere) famous and festive night market are sold here at ridiculously low 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 14

14 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF CHINA prices. Many stalls have their own in- to choose from in a city whose very house tailors who can stitch you a raison d’être is commerce, it is difficult suit, or anything else you want, at to know which one to choose first. rates that are less than half what you’d This is one of the most colorful. If it pay at retail outlets. See p. 470. was made in China then there is a very • Haizhu Square Wholesale Market good chance that you will find it (Guangzhou): With so many markets around here somewhere. See p. 537.

8 The Best Festivals For dates and contact information, see This is a rare opportunity to see not also the “China Calendar of Events” on only the Bai but a number of Yun- p. 27. nan’s other ethnic minorities, gather- • Saka Dawa, held throughout the ing in one of the most beautiful and Tibetan world, celebrates the Buddha serene settings in the foothills of the passing away and thus attaining nir- Green Mountains (Cang Shan). See vana. It’s held on the 8th to 15th days chapter 12. of the fourth lunar month, with reli- • Kurban Bairam (Kashgar): Celebra- gious dancing, mass chanting, and tions are held in Muslim communi- “sunning the Buddha”—the public ties across China, but in Kashgar they display of giant sanctified silk por- involve feats of tightrope-walking in traits. See chapter 14. the main square and wild dancing • Ice and Snow Festival (Harbin): Not outside the Idkah Mosque. The 4-day so much a festival as an extended city- festival is held 70 days after the wide exhibition, Harbin’s Ice and breaking of the fast of Ramadan, on Snow Festival runs from December to the 10th day of the 12th month March every year and is without doubt (Dhul-Hijjah) in the Islamic calen- the northeast’s top winter attraction. dar. See chapter 2. The festival centers around hundreds • Miao New Year Festival (Xi Jiang, of elaborate ice and snow sculptures, Langde): The Miao celebrate many frosty reproductions of everything festivals, but one of the biggest from Tian’an Men to Elvis. See chap- blowouts is the occasion of the Miao ter 5. New Year, usually around December. • Sanyue Jie (Dali): This once-religious The celebration features songs, dances, festival celebrated by the Bai people in bullfights, and lusheng competitions, mid-April/early May now features 5 not to mention Miao women gor- days and nights of considerably more geously bedecked in silver headdresses secular singing, dancing, wrestling, engaging in various courtship rituals. horse racing, and large-scale trading. See chapter 12.

9 The Best Up-and-Coming Destinations • Yushu (Qinghai): Khampa areas • Yanbian (Jilin): A lush, achingly within the Tibet “Autonomous pretty hilly region perched on China’s Regions” are closed to the individual border with North Korea, parts of traveler, but here these fiercely proud which have only recently been Tibetan warriors trade in a traditional opened to tourism, Yanbian is home market town beneath a stern gray- to the largest population of ethnic and-red monastery. See chapter 14. Koreans outside the peninsula itself. 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 15

THE BEST LOCAL ACCOMMODATIONS 15 Independent-minded travelers have around Guilin wants to be when it the opportunity to explore one of the grows up. There are limited facilities, few truly bicultural societies in but caves and peaks that will amaze China. See chapter 5. even the most experienced travelers. • Pingyao (Shanxi): Chinese tourists See chapter 12. have discovered Pingyao, but the • Yi Xian (Anhui): Often visited en number of Western tourists is still rel- route to or from Huang Shan, this atively low at what is one of the best- UNESCO World Heritage county is preserved Ming and Qing towns in famous for its Ming and Qing China. An intact Ming city wall sur- dynasty memorial arches and residen- rounds clusters of elegant high-walled tial houses. Structures with ornate courtyard residences, some of which brick, stone, and wood carvings are are also guesthouses. See chapter 6. like a peek into an architectural past • Bama (Guangxi): Difficult to reach as that is quickly being destroyed in yet, but this is what the countryside China’s booming cities.

10 The Best Local Accommodations • Dunhuang Shanzhuang (Dun- consulate, this has merely two gov- huang): The finest hotel on the Silk ernment-issued stars and poor serv- Routes, with views of the Mingsha ice, but standard rooms and suites in Shan Dunes, this imposing fortress is the original and beautifully decorated surrounded by stylishly renovated consulate buildings, with their high courtyard houses. See p. 300. ceilings and dramatic oil paintings, • Lusong Yuan Binguan: Of all Bei- can be bargained down to low prices. jing’s traditional courtyard-style This is the nearest you’ll get to expe- hotels, this former imperial residence riencing some “Great Game” ambi- has the most character, recalling the ence. See p. 325. opulence of China’s “feudal” era, but • Deju Yuan & Tian Yuan Kui with a more lived-in feel than you’ll (Pingyao): These are the top two find elsewhere. See p. 97. courtyard guesthouses in a town full • Longmen Guibin Lou (Harbin): of ancient architecture. The Deju Built by the Russian-controlled Chi- Yuan has rooms decorated with cal- nese Eastern Railroad in 1901, the ligraphy and furnished with dark Longmen has served as a hospital, the wooden Ming-style tables and chairs Russian embassy, and a cheap hostel and traditional heated brick beds. for migrant workers. In the 1930s and The Tian Yuan Kui also offers occa- 1940s, it was part of the illustrious sional opera performances on hot Japanese-owned Yamato Hotel chain. summer nights when the guesthouse The Chinese Railway Bureau reno- is full and the performers available. vated the building in 1996, preserving See p. 244. the original Russian woodwork and • Ye Baihe Binguan (Night Lily Guest restoring much of its turn-of-the- House) (Gulang Yu): One of the latest, 20th-century atmosphere. Rooms are and certainly one of the most success- palatial and decorated with period ful conversions of early colonial archi- furniture. See p. 206. tecture. A fascinating combination of • Seman Binguan (Kashgar): Set on Qing dynasty furniture and modern the grounds of the former Russian interior-design styles, although the 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 16

16 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF CHINA antique beds have been causing a this small but luxurious hotel is a ew problems for very tall foreign visi- world away from the usual trials and tors whom they were definitely not tribulations of traveling in China. designed for in the first place. See This is the kind of place where you p. 521. will want to extend your vacation • The Peninsula (Hong Kong): Built indefinitely. See p. 612. in 1928 and retaining the atmosphere • The Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute of its colonial past, The Peninsula has (Jingde Zhen): A restored porcelain long been the grand old hotel of workshop complete with ancient Hong Kong. It boasts an ornate lobby kilns and water hammers that now popular for people-watching, some of functions as an artists’ retreat in a Hong Kong’s best restaurants, and superb rural location. While much of gorgeous rooms with sweeping views China’s historical architecture is of Victoria Harbour. See p. 562. being demolished wholesale, here is a • Yangshuo Shengdi (Mountain place that reveres its past and deserves Retreat) (Yangshuo): Situated in one our support. See p. 528. of the area’s most picturesque settings,

11 The Best Buys • Chen Lu (Shanxi): Seventeen small several markets in China, especially at factories turn out different styles of Beijing’s Silk Street and Hongqiao pottery, and their showrooms have markets, Shanghai’s Xiangyang Lu starting prices so low you’ll volunteer market, and Shenzhen’s Luo Hu to pay more. You can also buy origi- Commercial City (not quite as nal works in the houses of individual cheaply). See chapters 4, 9, and 10. artisans. See p. 273. • Factory 798 (Beijing): We were sure • Ba Xian An (Xi’an): There are fakes that an ad hoc gathering of designers, aplenty, as everywhere else, but this painters, and sculptors selling avant- bustling antiques market, fed by con- garde art in a former military complex tinuous new discoveries in the sur- wasn’t something the regime would rounding plain, is too atmospheric to tolerate for long. We were wrong. miss. See p. 267. Market rents are now charged, so • Jatson School (Lhasa): High-quality don’t expect to pick up a bargain, but Tibetan handicrafts, including tradi- the Dashanzi art district makes for a tional Tibetan clothing, paper, thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of incense, mandala thangkas, yak-hide gallery- and cafe-hopping. See p. 122. boots, ceramic dolls, door hangings, • Khawachen Carpet and Wool bags, and cowboy hats, are all made Handicraft Co. Ltd (Lhasa): This on-site and sold at very fair prices. U.S.-Tibetan factory’s carpets have Your money goes to support Tibetan rich but tasteful shades woven into poor, orphaned, and children with delightful traditional patterns. Car- disabilities. See p. 787. pets can also be made to order. You’ll • Fake Name-Brand Clothing and pay much less here than in New York Accessories: Adequate to near-per- or even Beijing. See p. 788. fect imitations of items by North • Qipao: Tailors in Beijing and Shang- Face, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and just hai will cut a custom-fit qipao, the about any other expensive label you tight-fitting traditional dress better can think of can be had for a song at known by its Cantonese name 05_181843 ch01.qxp 2/25/08 9:19 PM Page 17

THE BEST BUYS 17 cheongsam, sometimes for hundreds the popular tourist destinations have of dollars less than in Hong Kong shops selling silver Miao headdresses, and the West. A quality tailored those will to venture out to the lands dress, lined with silk and finished of the more obscure ethnic minorities with handmade buttons, typically will be justly rewarded. A traditional costs between $100 and $200. Bouyi jacket from a weekly market Slightly less fancy versions go for as near Luoping now holds pride of place little as $50. See chapters 4 and 9. in my own girlfriends’ wardrobe, while • Bamboo: The ecologically minded the World Vision charity in Yuanyang will be impressed and amazed at the supports local embroidery coopera- versatility of this wondrous plant. tives that produces a range of designs Apart from the usual carvings, look from a world almost forgotten in the for bamboo fiber that has been made new millennium. into everything from socks to bath Note: Pearls, antiques, jade, jewelry in towels and the delicious Anji Science general, and objets d’art are fakes or are Bamboo Beer. not worth the asking price (usually both). • Minority Fabrics and Costumes Unless you are an expert or are happy to (Yunnan and Guizhou): While all of have a fake, do not buy these things.