China

J.D. Brown

China offers an intriguing visit for all. While group tours still provide the most efficient way to survey China's ancient hallmarks and treasures, travelers can do their own exploring these days, cutting costs and immersing themselves in the culture. As Asia's emerging superpower, China is more modern than mysterious these days. Adventurous travelers can either rely upon their hotel desks to set up customized day tours using local English-speaking guides or, armed with maps and guidebooks, strike out on their own, sampling China's enormous banquet of antiquities, natural wonders and modern transformations.

A China traveler should approach each city and region differently. In Beijing, the modern capital, the name of the game is sightseeing. Beijing has more major sites than any other city in China, and the greatest of these is the Great Wall, which should be first on a visitor's list. This "serpent of stone," stretching across 6,000 miles of northern China, welcomes travelers at a handful of locations located a few hours north of the capital via tour bus or taxi. The Great Wall at Badaling is the most popular but most crowded spot. At Mutianyu, the Wall is usually less crowded and the vistas more beautiful. At the more remote Simatai site, which often requires a hired car or taxi to reach, the Great Wall is closest to its original condition. Try to stroll as far as possible on whatever section of the Great Wall you choose; the unreconstructed portions are well worth seeing. The ramparts near Beijing were all completed under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), although the Great Wall dates back 25 centuries.

Beijing's other world-class site is the Forbidden City, the complex of courtyards and palaces in the heart of the city that served as the exclusive domain of emperors for 500 years. You can stroll through this time capsule and some of its 9,000 rooms in a few hours when assisted by a portable audio tape for rent near the south entrance. The most intriguing of the many exhibitions here is the collection of imperial timepieces in the Hall of Clocks.

Just across Changan Boulevard from the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square. Still haunted by the demonstrations that ended June 4, 1989, it is always a superb people-watching venue. The stone gate at the south end of the square is one of the few surviving pieces of Beijing's city walls, removed in 1958. The square is flanked on the east by the Museum of Chinese History, worth exploring only if you have the leisure, and the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the Chinese legislature, often open to tourists interested in politics and modern history. On the square itself is a curiosity, the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao, where the Great Helmsman (1893-1976) lies in state. If the lines aren't too long, this mummy repays a peek. Two other major sites, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven, are spectacular hallmarks as well, but if your time is limited, poke around the shopping streets of the city instead. Silk Alley on Jianguomenwai Street, directly east of the Forbidden City, is the most popular market-a warren of hawkers offering name-brand sportswear and other international goods. Buyers have to bargain hard and long to reach rock-bottom prices. Slightly better deals on the same clothing, as well as on luggage and pearls, can be had at the indoor Hongqiao Market northeast of the Temple of Heaven. The Panjiayuan Market, also called the Ghost Market, well south of city center, is the place to hunt for antiques and collectibles, especially early on Sundays. Shoppers seeking traditional arts and crafts should browse Liulichang Antiques Street, a quaint pedestrian walkway that brings to life an Old Beijing neighborhood.

The Lama Temple, Beijing's most renowned Buddhist site, is grand and ornate, but jammed with visitors. A more colorful, leisurely choice is the White Cloud Temple, where locals swarm to burn incense and pray to gods whose specialties range from helping you pass exams to increasing your lifespan.

Beijing cuisine, one of China's best, is known for Peking duck and steamed pastries. The down-home Sihexuan Restaurant in the Jinglun Hotel and the quite imperial Fangshan Restaurant inside Beihai Park are more memorable and less expensive places to try Northern China's best dishes than the standard Peking Duck restaurants most tour groups end up patronizing. A top international restaurant, known for its East/West fusion cuisine, is The Courtyard, with a trendy, local art gallery in the basement and a view of the Forbidden City's moat from the dining room. For hygienic street food, prepared in stainless steel carts, try the night market on Donghuamen Street, east of the Forbidden City and west of Wangfujing, Beijing's prime modern shopping avenue.

While Beijing's historical monuments cover the last 500 years, the sites of Xi'an, the ancient capital, dip even deeper into China's past. Xi'an's pagodas, stone monuments and artifacts date from the glorious Tang (618-906 A.D.) and Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D) dynasties, but the primary attraction goes back to the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (259-210 B.C.). Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Warriors, part of his immense underground mausoleum unearthed in 1974, are one of the world's foremost archaeological treasures. Group tours are the most informative way to view the 8,000 warriors and horses in the three excavated vaults, but Xi'an taxi drivers can get you there more cheaply.

In Xi'an, the byword is ancient history. Xi'an's city wall, although a mere 500 years old, can be more interesting than the Terra Cotta Warrior vaults, especially if you take time to survey the neighborhoods it spans. This is China's largest surviving city wall, and much of its nine-mile circumference-dotted with watchtowers and surrounded by a moat and park-is open for walking and biking.

Just inside the Xi'an city wall is the old Shaanxi Provincial Museum, better known as the Forest of Steles. Occupying a 14th-century Confucian temple complex, this museum preserves China's history on inscribed stone tablets. In the last of its four main galleries, artisans are busy making black-ink rubbings of the ancient stone inscriptions for sale on premises. More varied are the artifacts housed in the new Shaanxi History Museum south of the city wall. Its collection spans all the dynasties, highlighted by terra-cotta warriors and Tang Dynasty silks and ceramics.

Xi'an's city center is occupied by the 14th-century Bell Tower and Drum Tower, but it is more interesting to poke through the nearby street markets and alleys branching into the Moslem district. The historic gem here is the Great Mosque, a tranquil haven dating back to 742 A.D. South of the city wall, you'll find another hallmark, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayanta), erected in 652 A.D. and for 1,300 years the old capital's supreme skyscraper. You can still climb to the top of this seven-story shrine, built to honor China's most-famous wandering monk after his Silk Road pilgrimage to India. For scenery in China, Guilin (see photo Page 13) is the number one place. Its countless limestone pillars are the stuff of dreams and the subject of Old Cathay's quintessential ink-brush paintings. The towering pinnacles are immense and surreal; they can be climbed. Solitary Beauty Peak, for example, is located downtown on the campus of a teachers' college.

Even more magnificent karst scenery stretches south of Guilin along the Li River, where a barge cruise with lunch cooked aboard is an irresistible outing. Yangshuo, the town at the end of these four-hour Li River cruises, is even more charming than Guilin and worth an overnight stay. It is a backpacker town, meaning there are dozens of small cafes and inexpensive guesthouses that cater to Western travelers. Yangshuo is the place to rent a bicycle and explore the countryside.

The unofficial capital of China's future is Shanghai, and this is a city to explore on foot and by subway. Its most interesting neighborhoods, from the French Concession to the Bund, are contiguous and walkable. The Shanghai Museum, right in the middle of downtown, should be the first stop. It is China's finest museum by far, a lovely treasure-house worth repeated visits. The Bund, Shanghai's waterfront, is a museum in its own right-a collection of monumental European buildings that have somehow survived revolution and modernization. The architecture evokes Shanghai's colorful Colonial past as nothing else can. Take a one-mile stroll down the Bund, being sure to check out the Art Deco interiors of the Peace Hotel and the grand dome/lobby of the 1923 Hongkong and Shanghai Bank at No. 12. Shanghai's superb international restaurant, M on the Bund, is on the seventh floor of the historic building at No. 5, and it provides diners with a wonderful view of the harbor, and the Pudong New Area across the river, where the world's tallest building is under construction. Day or evening cruises of the extremely busy Huangpu River, Shanghai's lifeline of trade, can be booked at your hotel or on the docks, and the river traffic is fascinating.

A few blocks' walk southwest of the Bund is Shanghai's Old Town (Nan Shi), a traditional bazaar in a maze of pedestrian-only alleys, capped by China's most-perfect teahouse, Huxinting, and one of its supreme classical gardens, Yu Yuan, a 16th-century masterpiece. The teahouse and garden are places that reward those willing to slow down, sip a cup of green tea and savor the timeless settings.

Shanghai has always been China's premier shopping city, and the pedestrian mall of Nanjing Road has long contained China's best collection of big department stores and small silk shops, as well as a surprising number of Colonial-era buildings. The best shopping for Western designer-label clothing and accessories is found in the open-air Xiangyang Market on Huaihai Zhong Lu. The prices on everything from North Face parkas to Callaway golf sets are astounding, and some of the merchandise is genuine. The hottest spot for Shanghai dining and nightlife is the aptly named Heaven on Earth (Xintiandi), a restored section of a Shanghai Colonial-era neighborhood famed for its "stone gate" architecture. Actor Jackie Chan maintains one of the many restaurants (Star East) here.

Wherever one turns in China, from the imperial palaces of Beijing to the vibrant streets of Shanghai, modernization on a massive scale is under way; however, patches of China's past survive, and from these ancient remnants visitors can still weave their own China dreams.

J.D. Brown taught at a medical college in China and returned to write the China guidebooks for Frommer's and Berlitz. He frequently returns to China to research articles for magazines and newspapers worldwide.