Wonders of China

About China

China located to the east of Asia, surrounded by the seas of the Oriental China, the Bay of Korea, the Yellow Sea and the sea of the south of China, between North Korea and Vietnam. China is the fourth biggest country after Russia, Canada, and the USA.China's geography is highly diverse, with hills, plains, and river deltas in the east and deserts, high plateaus, and mountains in the west. History and politics aside, China is a land of superlatives, encompassing the Yangtze River, the Silk Road, the bamboo forests of the giant panda and misty peaks immortalised in traditional ink paintings.Climate is equally varied, ranging from tropical in the south (Hainan) to sub arctic in north eastern China (Manchuria). The geography of China causes an unequal demographic distribution; 94 per cent of the population is located in the part east of the country. Shandong the province, with its soft coastal climate, has 91 million persons, but Tibet, with its harsh climate of plateau of mountain, has only 2.6 millions.China has 33 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Chinese food ranks among the world's great cuisines. From acrobatics to martial arts, calligraphy to Chinese opera, the vibrant, distinctive culture of this great land is everywhere to be seen. Spectacular Tibet(Xihang) has been open to tourists since 1980.China has one of the world's oldest people and continuous civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia. Historically China's cultural sphere has been very influential in East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion, customs, and writing system being adapted, to varying degrees, by its neighbours Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.China is the world’s third largest net importer of oil behind the United States and Japan, an important factor in world oil markets. With near 1.3 billions of people, the 20 percent of the Earth population, China is the world’s most populous country and has in recent year’s undergone economic growth at constantly high levels. It has had a dramatic impact on the reduction of poverty, and is contributing significantly towards the attainment of global MDG targets. At the same time, however, it has led to considerable income and regional disparities, has resulted in a high degree of environmental degradation, and has created vulnerable groups of the population.China is the cultural treasure-house of East Asia with 5,000 years of tumultuous history place. The Great Wall, X'ian's Terracotta Army, the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square, etc. they with history and legend. Flexibility and patience are still required to travel around China but, in return, China rewards visitors with memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Stone Forest

The Stone Forest (Shilin) is situated in the Lunan Yu Autonomous County, 126 kilometers southeast of Kunming Qujing Prefecture in Yunnan Province, with an elevation ranging from 1,625 to 1,900 meters above sea level; it is known as the "First Wonder of the World ". The Stone Forest is connected with Kunming both by highway and railway, enjoying an easily accessible transport.The stone forest is a special type of karst landform. Its towering rock pillars in high concentration (between 5 and 30m) like a forest of stones, hence the name. These rock pillars, high and strangely shaped, spread widely in an area of over 26,000ha. Only 80ha of this area are open to visitors. The rock pillars are well preserved.In addition, there are numerous karst caves fraught with stalagmite, stalactite, stone pillar, stone corridor and five underground rivers, lakes, ponds and waterfalls. Found also in the scenic zone are 65 reservoirs and ponds with a total storage capacity of 50 million cubic meters and good water quality.The rocks have memorable names such as Ten Thousand Year Mushroom (10m high), Mother and Son, Camel Riding on Elephant, Avalokitesvara Rock, Buddha Stone, Rhinoceros looking at the moon and beautiful maiden ascending from the water, etc.The Stone Forest is endowed with a pleasant climate, and it is adorned with more than 400 kinds of flowers and is divided into several scenic areas with names like Greater Stone Forest, Lesser Stone forest, Outer Stone Forest, Underground Stone Forest, Stone Forest Lake, and Da Dieshui Falls.Among the most wonderful attractions in this area are the following eight scenic spots: Large & Small Stone Forests, Naigu Stone Forests, Large & Small Zhiyun Caves, Qingfeng Cave, Long Lake, Moon Lake, Fairy Lake and Feilong Falls. Also standing upright in the Stone Forest are innumerable cliffs and majestic peaks. The Lunan Stone Forest is composed mainly of peculiar rock pillars supplemented with karst caves, lakes, waterfalls and other scenic attractions.Major Stone Forest, Minor Stone Forest, and Naigu Stone Forest have stones in various formations like animals, plants, and even human figures can be found here. Some are elegant, some are rugged, and each with its own distinguishing characteristics. Subterranean Stone Forest in Zhiyun Cave, an underground stone forest distributed among several caves occupying a total area of about three square kilometers.Also you can find the Long Lake, it is a Karsts lake that is three kilometers long and only 300 meters wide. The lake features underwater stalagmites and stalactites and a small island in the center of the water.From afar, it really looks like a dense forest but as you walk closer, you will find "trees" are all slender stone pinnacles. The Yi and Sani ethnic group who live there are hardworking, good singers and good dancers. Their folklore and culture are colorful and multifarious, backed up by a long history.

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings; the Temple of Heaven is situated in the southern part of Beijing about 6 Km away from the centre of the city. It is three times the area of the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 273 hectares.The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low also the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of “The heaven is round and the earth is square”.The most wonderful buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north.The Circular Altar has three encrusted terraces with white marble. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is a big palace, 38 meters in height and 30 meters in diameter, stands on a round foundation built with three levels of marble stones. Inside the Hall are 28 huge posts. The four posts along the inner circle represent the four seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 posts along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and 12 posts along the outer circle represent 12 Shichen (One Shichen in the past equalled two hours and a whole day was divided into 12 Shichens).The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. The Hall has a altar named Altar for Grain Prayers which is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters. Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven. The structure of it is like that of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, but smaller in size. The structure was made of bricks and timber.The Vermilion Steps Bridge connects the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The south end of the Bridge is lower than its north end. The emperors in the past believed that they could go to heaven through this Bridge, which is why this bridge is also called Sacred Way. A Yu Route and a Wang Route are on two sides of the Sacred Way. The former one is only for the emperors to walk on and the later one is for the princes and the high officials to pass.Three Echo Stones is outside of the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Another interesting and famous place for you to visit is called Echo Wall owning special feature. The wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Its perimeter is 193 meters.Besides carefully designed buildings, there are also some other scenes that you can enjoy like Nine-Dragon Cypress. It got its name from branches which look like nine dragons wind with each other. It was said that the cypress was planted more than 500 years ago.The Temple of Heaven is a very popular park for exercising, and particularly for practicing taiji bailong ball, which is a paddleball variation of Tai Chi. Developed by Chinese Olympic boxing coach Bai Rong, taiji bailong ball is known as Rhythmball in North America.

West Lake

The West Lake is located in the historic center of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province of eastern China, undoubtedly the most renowned feature of Hangzhou, noted for the scenic beauty that blends naturally with many famous historical and cultural sites.The West Lake Scenic Area Covers an area of 60 square kilometers, out of which the West Lake occupies 6 square kilometers with 3.2 kilometers from north to south and 2.8 kilometers from west to east. The lake has a circumference of 15 kilometers and the average depth of the West Lake is 2.27 meters, and the capacity is about 14,290,000 cubic meters. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with an area of around 6.5 square kilometers.The lake is divided by Gu Shan, Bai, Su and Yanggong Causeways into five areas; these sections are known as Outer Lake (Wai Hu) the largest of all, North Inner Lake (Beili Hu), West Inner Lake (Xili Hu), South Lake (Xiaonan Hu), and Lake Yue (Yue Hu).There are also four islands: Gushan, Xiao Yingzhou, Ruangongdun and Huxinting (Mid-Lake Pavilion). The islands Xiao Yingzhou and its both smaller sisters Huxinting and Ruangongdun have also been artificially created, in similar fashion to the two dams and the lake in general, whereby Xiao Yingzhou (little paradise island) was planned to resemble the form of a wheel, arousing the impression of a “lake within the lake”.On the south end of the Xiao Yingzhou Island (Island of Little Oceans), you can see three stone pagodas on the lake. Within the island are four small lakes. It is here that people can view the famous Three Pools Mirroring the Moon in the evenings when the candles are lit.Two famous dams divide the west lake into three parts. The Su-dam which was erected by the Song-poet Su Dongpo and is well-known for its six fabulously decorated bridges, which even were exactly copied to decorate the Summer Palace of Beijing. The other dam, on the northwest side of the West Lake, is named after Bai Juyi (also a poet) and called Bai-dam (Bai-Di). It has been built some time earlier than the other one, namely at times of the Tang-Dynasty.West Lake also provides a sanctuary for many different types of bird which nest on the many islets on it so take a pair of binoculars to get close up to the action.

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties.The steps that form the Great Wall of China are very steep and tall in some areas. Tourists often become exhausted climbing the wall and walk no more than a kilometre or two (around a mile). In some areas the blocks were cemented with a mixture of glutinous rice and egg white. In the extreme western desert locations, where good materials are scarce, the wall was constructed from dirt rammed between rough wood tied together with woven mats.The Wall is included in lists of the "Seven Medieval Wonders of the World" but was of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks.It is the world's longest human made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km in total. It is also the largest human made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass.Three sections are in Beijing municipality, which was renovated and which is regularly visited by modern tourists. One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes. It runs 11 kilometres long, ranges from 5 to 8 meters in height, and 6 meters across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters across the top. Wangjinglou is one of Jinshanling's 67 watchtowers, 980 meters above sea level.South East of Jinshanling, is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for approximately 2.25 kilometers. It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east. Another notable section lies near the eastern extremity of the wall, where the first pass of the Great Wall was built on the Shanhaiguan, the first mountain the Great Wall climbs. Jia Shan is also here, as is the Jiumenkou, which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge.

Potala Palace

This ancient architectural complex is considered a model of Tibetan architecture. Located on the Red Hill in Lhasa, Tibet, it is 3,700 meters above sea level and covers an area of over 360,000 square meters, measuring 360 meters from east to west and 270 meters from south to north.The present Potala Palace is 119 meters height with 13 floors. The building measures 400 meters east- west and 350 meters north-south, with sloping walls of stone of 3 m thick, and 5 m thick in the base, and with the copper covering foundations, this in order that the building is to proof of earthquakes.It is famous for its high historical value and kept numerous treasures in it. Divided into White and Red Palaces, the complex was one of the world’s tallest buildings before the era of modern skyscrapers. The White Palace, comprising halls, temples and courtyards, serves as the living quarters of the Dalai Lama.The Red Palace includes various chambers for worshipping Buddha and chambers housing the eight stupa that contain the remains of fifth through thirteenth Dalai Lama. All the stupas are covered with gold foil. The most magnificent stupa belongs to the fifth Dalai Lama. The palace also collected a large number of sculptures, murals, scripture and other valuable cultural relics.The main central hall of the Red Palace is the Great West Hall which consists of four great chapels that proclaim the glory and power of the builder of the Potala, the Fifth Dalai Lama. The hall is noted for its fine murals reminiscent of Persian miniatures, depicting events in the fifth Dalai Lama's life.On the north side of the Red Palace is the holiest shrine of the Potala. A large blue and gold inscription over the door was written by the 19th century Tongzhi Emperor of China. It contains a small ancient jewel encrusted statue of Avalokiteshvara and two of his attendants. On the floor below, a low, dark passage leads into the Dharma Cave where Songsten Gampo is believed to have studied Buddhism. In the holy cave are images of Songsten Gampo, his wives, his chief minister and Sambhota, the scholar who developed Tibetan writing in the company of his many divinities.The North Chapel centers on a crowned Sakyamuni Buddha on the left and the Fifth Dalai Lama on the right seated on magnificent gold thrones. Their equal height and shared aura implies equal status. On the far left of the chapel is the gold stupa tomb of the Eleventh Dalai Lama who died as a child. On the right of the chapel are Avalokiteshvara and his historical incarnations including Songsten Gampo and the first four Dalai Lamas.

Yungang Grottoes

The Yungang Grottoes are an ancient Buddhist temple; it is located in Datong city in the Chinese province of Shanxi, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues; represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China of the 5th and 6th centuries.The site is exactly located about 16 km south-west of the city, in the valley of the Shi Li River at the base of the Wuzhou Shan Mountains. The grottoes were mainly constructed in the period between 460 and 525 during the Northern Wei Dynasty.The cave is an extraordinary sample of art that combines forms of traditional Chinese art with the foreign influence, especially the Greek and the Indian. The sculptures are a real work of art that with its vigorous features and a rich variety that range from the smallest of only 2 centimeters high to the tallest a Buda of 17 meters high.The Yungang Grottoes are divided into three zones: east, west and central and numbered from east to west. Caves 1 and 2 contain carved pagodas. Cave 3 is the largest in this group, although it contains only a seated Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas.The best of Yungang's art is reflected everything in the caves 5 and 6, where you can find carved in the walls wonderfully Buddhist tales. The cave 5 also contains to colossal based Buda almost 17m high place.Cave 6 contains a splendidly carved pagoda, and an entrance flanked by fierce guardians. In the centre of the rear chamber stands a two-storey pagoda-pillar about 15m high. On the lower part of the pagoda are four niches with carved images, including one of the Maitreya Buddha(Future Buddha). Gautama Buddha's life story from birth to his attainment are carved in the east, south, and west walls of the cave and on two sides of the pagoda.Caves 7 and 8 are linked and contain carvings with Hindu influences. Shiva, with eight arms and three heads, and seated on a bull, is on one side of the entrance to cave 8. On the other side is the versatile Indra, perched on a peacock. Caves 9 and 10 are notable for their front pillars and figures bearing musical instruments. These instruments appear again in cave 12, while cave 13 has a 15m high Buddha statue, its right hand propped up by a figurine.These caves were carved in about AD 460 and the Buddha in each one represents an emperor from the Northern Wei dynasty. The Buddha in cave 18 represents Emperor Taiwu, who was once a great patron of Buddhism, but later came to favor Taoism.Taiwu's grandson Emperor Wencheng, who restored Buddhism to the dynasty, is represented such as seated Buddha of 14m high in cave 20. The cave 21 and the others in forward are small, and there can not be compared with the others that are in better preserved. All together the site is composed of 252 caves with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao, with their strict unity of layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art.

Terra Cotta Warriors

The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses are the most important archeological excavations of the 20th century located lies 35 kilometers east of Xi'an, at the base of Lishan Mountain. Life size figures of terracotta warriors and horses arranged in battle formations are the star features at the museum.The museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters, divided into three sections: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit in that order. Altogether over 7000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. Most of them have been restored to their previous magnificence.There are four main categories of figures: chariot warriors, infantrymen, cavalrymen, and horses. There are generals, middle ranking officers, lower ranking officers, ordinary soldiers, and resistant warriors. The soldiers are divided into infantry armed with swords and spears, archers, crossbow archers, cavalry, chariot drivers and officers. Among the infantrymen there are some with armor and others without. Chariots are respectively designed for commanders, aide officers of a squad of three or four soldiers.Excavations indicate that the cavalry functioned as an autonomous force in battle, with chariots in performance a vital strategic role. A shopping center nearby also provides visitors buy small replicas of the warriors, horses and chariots as souvenirs for a couple of Yuan.In the Pit No. 1 includes: Large body of troops from the left group marshaled in battle order. With 14,260 square meters, it is the largest of the three pits. Five slopping entrances reach down to it from the east and west. Ten partitioning walls separate the underground army into different columns.The walls are reinforced by stout beams, which are covered by reeds and earth. The floor is paved with black bricks. There are more than 6,000 terracotta warriors and horses into battle line formation. Three columns in front of each battalion performing the role of being the vanguard, each unit of 70 soldiers, making a total of 210 soldiers who fulfilled the role of being the resistance or vanguard in the battleThe Pit No. 2 is 20 meters due east of Pit No. 1. It is 6,000 square meters subdivided into L-Shaped foursquare sections, where archeologists unearthed 1,000 warriors, 500 horses, and 89 wooden chariots. The horses are both for pulling chariots and for carrying riders.The first module is the unit at the eastern end, within which displayed a matrix of 334 warriors. The second module is the unit at the south end including first to eighth passing holes and sixty-four battle vehicles, each of which has three sergeant figurines. The third module is the central unit in the pit including passing holes ninth to eleventh, nineteen war tanks and over 100 pieces of unarmed soldiers. The fourth module is the unit in northern half of the pit, including passing holes twelfth through fourteenth, 6 chariots, and 124 horses and cavalry.For reach to the Pit No. 3 have to walk 25 meters north from Pit No. 1. It was discovered within a month after the archeologists had found Pit No. 2. It is a concave structure of 520 square meters. There are only one car, 4 horses, and 68 pottery figurines in this pit. The formation of these pottery figurines is different from the first and second pit, they were displayed in the combat formation.There are animal bones and deer horns strewn about, probably sacrifices offered on the eve of a battle. These are half size scale models of real chariots, faithfully copied down to the last detail, complete with horses and people. They are constructed with bronze and cast bullion. There are 1720 gold and silver pieces, weighing 7 kilograms. The chariot has been painted white by conservation workers.

Hanging Temple

Hanging Monastery or Temple is an architectural wonder. It was built on a cliff near Mount Heng in the province of Shanxi. The city is adjacent to Datong, 65 kilometers northwest. It is located at the foot of Heng Shan (Heng Mountain), 50 meters above the ground.The monks who built this temple had three basic reasons, the first build a house of worship to show their determination. The second reason is to avoid the terrible flood, besides the top of the mountain protects the temple of rain, snow and also decreases the damage from long time sunshine, and the third is to promote unity among the Chinese people through a combination of the three major religions: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.An architectural complex was built on the base of the natural hollows and outcrops along the contour of the cliff. Over 40 halls, cabinets and pavilions within an area of 152.5 square meters are connected each other by corridors, bridges, boardwalks. They are evenly distributed and well balanced in height.Inside the monastery, the sculptures of Sakyamuni, Confucius and Laotzu appear together, which is unusual. The halls contain about 80 sculptures some are cast with bronze, some with iron, some with clay and some are carved out of stone, some are made of copper and terracotta. The features are vividly carved.The Hanging Monastery can easily be reached on foot. Another increasingly popular activity (not for the claustrophobic) is to head underground to view an operating Chinese coal mine first hand.

Seven Star Park

Located at the east bank of Li River, the park is 1.5 kilometers from the downtown area of Guilin. The park is named after from its seven peaks resemble the pattern of the Big Dipper constellation. It is the largest park, consists of some of the most spectacular sights in the city. Some of the pincipal attractions of the park are the Seven Star Cave, Dragon Hiding Cave, Flowers Bridge, etc.The park is endowed with elegant mountains, clear water, miraculous stone forest, deep and serene valleys, plentiful animals and plants and valued cultural relics.The Flower Bridge (Hua Qiao) is the main entrance to the Park, an elegant arched structure dating from the Song Dynasty that crosses the confluence of East River and Lingjian Stream that passes through the park.Putuo Mountain, where Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is worshiped, is the main body of the park. It abounds with caves and pavilions. At the southwestern foot of the mountain lies the natural air condition Xuanfeng Cave.At the top of the mountain are Putuo Stone Forest, Xuanwu Pavilion and Zhaixing Pavilion. In addition, there are numerous valuable tablets on the mountain. Light of China Square is between Putuo Mountain and Crescent Mountain. It boasts of two craftworks, one is the stone that was used to carving murals and the other is Shi Ji Bao Ding (the precious Ding of the century). The mural, made up of more than 100 stone carvings, epitomizes 5000-year Chinese civilization. Shi Ji Bao Ding (has a height of 4.6 meters)symbolizes that the country flourishes and people live in peace.At halfway up the mountain, you will see Putuo Jingshe. At the west of the mountain, you will see the renowned Seven Stars Cave, which is also called Qixia Cave or Bixu Cave. With the multifarious stalactites, stalagmites and stone pillars formed by the dissolved limestone, the cave was called 'Residence of the Immortals'.The Cave has been a tourist attraction since the Tang Dynasty. The temperature inside the Cave always remains 20 degrees Celsius all year around. The Cave is divided into three main parts. The upper part of the Cave is very high and steep. The middle part is an 814-meter-long tunnel serving to be the touring area. The lower part is an underground water channel where tourists can sit in a small boat and tour around the Cave. In addition, the equipped lighting adds an enchanting touch to the spectacular scene.As another attraction in the park, Camel Hill is situated a little further away from the Putuo Hill and Cresent Hill. It is called Camel Hill because this limestone outcrop looks really like a camel resting among the trees, hence the name.This delightful park that encompasses hills and natural waterways is a great attractions, favorite to the local people and tourists alike. And thanks to the pleasant climate here, you can pay a visit to Seven Stars Park at any time of year.

Yellow Crane Tower

This place is known like 'The First Scenery under Heaven'; The Yellow Crane Tower is one of the most famous towers to the south of the Rio Yangtze. It is situated on Snake Hill in Wuhan in the province of Hubei.The tower is based on an original design realized during the Qing Dynasty. The tower is of 51.4 meters of high and has five levels or floors. The appearance of the tower is the same does not matter of that direction or side is viewed. The roof is covered by 100,000 yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.On each floor has a theme, for example, the theme of the first floor is about legend. On the wall, there is a nine meter long and six-meter wide painted porcelain picture which depicts clouds, rivers and cranes to represent a romantic mood in the heaven.The midmost Zaojing stands over 10 meters high. On the front wall is a huge ceramic mural painting of "White Cloud and Yellow Crane". The tower is filled with gorgeous murals with many poems, beautiful furniture pieces and smaller scale models of the tower complex and other famous sights in China like the Forbidden City.At the two side of it are two mural paintings. One is "Sun Quan Built Town". It describes the history of the successive birth of the Yellow Crane Tower and Wuchang Town vividly. The other is "Zhou Yu Made a Feast". It reflects the activity that the famous persons of the Three Kingdoms come to the Yellow Crane Tower.On top of the tower, tourists can obtain a fabulous panoramic view of the Yangtze River its bridge and the surrounding buildings in Wuhan City. Outside the tower, there are bronze yellow cranes, memorial gateways and pavilions. At night, the tower is intensely illuminated which gives to the tower an extraordinary appearance that fascinates the tourists.Around the main tower, there are many others buildings, such as, the White Cloud Tower, the Shengxiang Pagoda, the Stele Gallery, the Temple Gate, etc. The White Cloud Tower of 29.7 meters high stands behind the Yellow Crane Tower. Together, the two towers form the nickname of Wuhan.The statues of two cranes are standing above a Snake and a Turtle. There is a legend about the two Cranes having descended from heaven and uniting the Snake and the Turtle which then helped to control the floods along the Yangtze River which had killed so many people. Snake Hill and Turtle hill are the two hills which the structures of the Tower and the Bell of one thousand years good luck are built on. The tourists buy small replies of bronze of these statues for the good luck.

Tiger Hill

Tiger Hill Pagoda or the Yunyan Pagoda is a Chinese pagoda situated outside Changmen, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The millennium old Tiger Hill Pagoda, also known as the Leaning Tower, stands on top of the Tiger Hill and is regarded as the symbol of Suzhou. Also it is called with its other names including Huqiu Tower, the Leaning Tower of China or The Yunyan Temple Tower.The Tiger hill Pagoda has seven floors rising to a height of 48 meters. This octagonal building was built with blue bricks. That stone brackets provide decorative detail. There is no internal stairway to climb to the different levels.The entire structure weighs some 6,000,000 kg, supported by internal brick columns. The tower leans roughly 3.5 degrees due to the cracking of two supporting columns.The Tiger Hill Pagoda is the principal recreation of the popular Yuyan Temple, the night scene around it is beautiful because the area is decorated with excellent illumination of vivid colors. This added a great attraction in Suzhou night tour.

Yuyuan Garden

Yuyuan Garden is located in Anren Jie in the center of Shanghai's Old City, not far from the Bund and adjacent to the Old Town God Temple. It is a classical southern style Chinese garden.The garden covers an important space and includes a few halls, and other buildings of interest; cultural vestiges including century-old furniture, calligraphy, and paintings of famous artists, clay sculptures and brick carvings, some inscriptions and couplets.In the garden it is possible to find zigzag paths, wonderfully decorated, on the walls dragoons of bricks that interlaces and they give the impression of being alive, the only sight of its class.The Five-Dragon Wall subdivides one of the most beautiful gardens of China into six separate viewpoints, the Grand Rockery, Ten-Thousand-Flower Pavilion, Hall of Heralding Spring, Hall of Jade Magnificence, Inner Garden, and Lotus Pool.The Inner Garden is a garden within the Yuyuan Garden in which pavilions, towers, hills, ponds, etc., are artificial. The Pavilion of Spring in the northeast section of the park is famous for being the headquarters of the anti-imperialist "Little Sword Society”, which in 1853 led an uprising against Qing rule and occupied Shanghai for 17 months. Weapons, coins and other objects used by the society are now housed in an exhibition hall.The Treasure in the Universe consists of ingenuous and exquisite Jade Stone, Accumulated Water Veranda, Jade Hall, Dragon Winding Bridge and other building. The exquisite and ingenuous Jade, located across from Yuhua Hall, is one of the three well-known stones in the south of China with the characteristics of wrinkle, thinness, slimness, filter and transparency. The rock is 3.3 meters in height and has 72 holes. What is interesting about this rock is that if you burn a joss stick just below the rock, the smoke will magically float out from all of the holes. Similarly, when you pour water into the rock from top, the water will flow out from each hole creating a spectacular sight to see.The Urban Mountain Forest is located at the west of the garden district; there are Shansui hall, Rain Swirling Tower, Grand Artificial Hill, Hall of Elegance and other scenic sights. In the Hualin Charming Valley are waterside pavilion, winding corridors, Yihang, Floral Tower and other scenic sites.

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

This amazing tower that radiated sunrays and functioned as a center of pilgrimage stands tall among world wonders. It was constructed by the Chinese Emperor Yung Le around 15th century. With 260 feet high octagonal in shape with 97 feet in diameter, the tower was the largest building in China at the time of its construction. It was existed up to the middle of the 19th century.This Buddhist Pagoda had two damages the first was a bolt of lightning that struck in 180, but the manmade disaster in the shape of Taiping Revolution was detrimental and marked its end. During the period 1840-1850 the rebels took control of the area when smashed the stairs to stop others from using it as a platform, then around 1856 the same destroyed the remaining parts of this marvel in vengeance. For years the remnants of the structure were lying uncared and recently Chinese Government has started to rebuild its rich ancestry.The Porcelain Tower in its golden times was covered with superior quality white and shining porcelain bricks interlaid with colored stones. The entire area reflected sunrays in light during days and numerous lights were hung to illuminate the pictures of flowers, animals, landscapes and Buddhist images during nights. Possibly the spiral staircase had 140 steps that matched with the number of lamps that illuminated the outer wall.When the tower was built, it was one of the largest buildings in China rising up to a height of 260 ft; in addition its octagonal shape has a base of about 97ft in diameter. Originally the plan was added more storeys, in a sense only a few Chinese pagodas surpass its height, such as Liaodi Pagoda of 11th century in Hebei or the non-existent 330 ft tall of 7th century in Chang’an.Designed by the Chinese Emperor Yongle and first discovered by the Western world when European travelers visited it. Since it was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the tower has seen as a national treasure to both locals and other cultures around the world.A sublimely elegant example of Buddhist Architecture by those who have seen it in first person and during the early 19th century Le Compte a French mathematician has rightly written “The best contrived and the structure of all the east”, this remark contain all.

Lingering Garden

Lingering Garden is the best garden in Suzhou, it covers an area of 23,310 square meters. It is recognized for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural form.The whole garden possesses 42 rooms and halls , a 670-meter-long roofed walkway, 200 lattice-windows of different kinds, 44 parallel stone carvings, 373 steles, and 17 such valuable old trees as gingko, southern wisteria, etc.The garden is divided into four sections: artificial hills in the west, pastoral scenery in the north, hall and pavilion structures in the east and hills and waters at the center. A winding corridor of over 1,000 meters links them.The western part of the garden is a fine example of beautiful earthen hills studded with yellow stones and covered with maple trees. An artificial hill made of rocks from Taihu Lake is the major component of Suzhou garden.In the central part of the garden stands a man-made mountain and a shore of an artificial lake, also it is possible to find and see a long scroll of traditional Chinese painting, this work was realized by more than hundred calligraphers of the different dynasties as Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, which describe and tell the evolutionary course of Chinese calligraphy of 1,000 year.In the southwest part of the garden exist many attractive buildings such as the Hanbi Moutain Villa, the Pellucid Tower, the Green Shade Pavilion, the Zigzag Stream Tower, the Hao Pu Pavilion, and the Refreshing Breeze Pavilion by the lake.In the oriental part of the garden exists formations of twisted Taihu limestone rock formations, bordered by beautiful meandering paths decorated with mosaics of animals and birds. Also it is possible to observe that in the western side of Yuan Liu's garden mimics a woody glen.A small entry of the garden drives to several spaces of calmness such as: The admirable Crane House, the Small Garden of Stone Forest, the Return-to-Read Study in the east with the Celestial Hall of Five Peaks as the chief structure are laid out in such a way that the indoor spaces have been brought into perfect harmony with the outdoor spaces. With an evocation of infinite, which were satisfactorily done to be labyrinthine.

Flaming Mountain

The Flaming Mountain is located in north Turphan Basin of Xinjiang Province. The Flame Mountain starts from Langan Quicksand River of Shanshan County and ends at the Peach Channel in the Turpan Basin.It lies 10 km east of Turpan city, covering about 100 km from east to west with a width of 9 km. The average height is 500m, but the high peak (831 meter) rises above Shengjinkou, a vital pass of the ancient city of Gaochang. The mountain is combination of red sand and rocks that makes the mountain looks like a red dragon sleeping on the area basin.If you look the mountain from a distance, under the sunlight, the heat wave and the floating clouds will make you have the illusion that the mountain is on fire as tongues of fire. Every summer when the sun shines, the mountain could reach 80°C in temperature. A huge thermometer at the centre of the Flaming Mountain Museum will show you how hot it is. People from Xin Jiang Province said, "You can fry eggs in the sand and bake the bread in the wilderness". In winter, when the snow falls, the mountain will remain its appearance without any snow or ice on it.At the foot of the mountain are several hidden valleys that contrast with the desert that surrounding the mountain. The natural conditions of these valleys, which abound with various plants and trees, are quite different. The most famous ones include Grape Valley, Peach Valley, Wood Valley and Shengjinkou Valley.Many clear spring water flows out of the ground are used to irrigate the entire valley. People live in the area depend on those springs, they also use it to farm lands and grow crops like grapes, peach, melon etc. This green valley is rich with waters, villages and sweet tasting fruits, the valley are likes a green precious stone lying in the gate of the red flaming hills, the views are magnificent.In addition to this, there are other scenic spots inside the Flame Mountain Tourist Zone including the Shengjinkou Canyon, Horse Fastening Stake, Foot Resting Stone, the Group Sculpture of the Pilgrimage of Xuanzang. The grotto and fresco of Tang Dynasty and Han Dynasty and other cultural sites and so on.In the commercial area you can find crafts people with a wide range of products that celebrate the cultural, folk, regional folk memory. Souvenir like knives, hats, flowers, palm leaves, fans, thermometers, etc..

Red Hill

Red Hill, also known as Tiger Head Hill or Tiger Head Peak, is considered a symbol of Urumqi, owing to its uniqueness; it is located at the heart of the city and the mountain peak stands 1391 meters above sea level.When the sunlight hits the hills of Hongshan, the rocks of the mountain reflected a bright red color, so that people call it Hongshan ("Red Mountain"). It is 1.5 kilometers long, one kilometer wide and 1 km wide from east to west with an altitude of 910 meters above sea level. On the opposite side less than 1 km away from the Red Hill is Yamalik Hill.There used to be a number of historical sites on the hill. As early as the time of the nomadic Oyrat Tribe, an "Ebo" was built at the top of the hill; "Ebo" is the name for a kind of cairn used by the tribesmen to worship and offer sacrifice to their gods.The park is a pleasant place to visit. You can see it for the first time since the moment you enter this modern city, Urumqi. The view from the mountaintop of the surrounding mountains and breathtaking climb worth while.

Elephant Trunk Hill

Elephant Trunk Hill is located in the city center, on the western bank of Li River Scenery. The Elephant Hill sits in the point where Guilin Peach River joining to the Li River. Elephant Trunk Hill is regarded as the symbol of Guilin. Originally named "Li Hill", "Yi Hill" and "Chenshui Hill". The hill is 3.6 hundred million years old.The name was chosen because the shape of the hill is just like an elephant drinking from the Li River with its trunk. The clear and green water of Li River at the foot make Elephant Trunk Hill one of the most famous hills in Guilin City. Of course, all the great limestone formations in Guilin and down the Li River resemble someone or something; you only need to have a good imagination.Shui Yue Cave (Water Moon Cave) is between the trunk and the legs, which is a semi-round cave penetrated by water. The inverted reflection of the cave in water plus the part above forms a full moon, this phenomenon is unique. There are over 70 inscriptions carved in the cave from the Tang and Song dynasties were found on the walls in and around this cave, praising the beauty of hills and waters nearby. Visitors can pass through the cave by boat.Another cave regarded as the eyes of the elephant lies in the hillside. It provides tourists an ideal location to enjoy the panoramic view of Guilin. The pagoda looks like a precious vase on the back of an elephant seen from distance and many beautiful legends about the pagoda with good wishes are said among people.There is an island out in the Li River called Love Island. It is a beautiful little island covered with bamboo groves and dedicated to lovers. It has many winding paths, and many stone statues dedicated to love and it is a good place to relax and spend some time with special someone.On calm days, this giant elephant is reflected on the mirror-like surface of the river and in the evening, when viewed under a moonlit sky, the hill creates a lasting and magical impression.