Shawn Low - Lonely Planet China

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Antique yet up-to-the-minute, familiar yet unrecognisable, outwardly urban but quintessentially rural, conservative yet path-breaking, space-age but old-fashioned, China is a land of mesmerising contradictions.

Watchtowers along the Great Wall near Beijing ()
VERA BOGAERTS / GETTY IMAGES

China is modernising at a head-spinning pace, but slick skyscrapers, Lamborghini showrooms and Maglev trains are little more than dazzling baubles. Lets face it: the worlds oldest continuous civilisation is bound to pull an artefact or two out of its hat. You wont find history at every turn three decades of full-throttle development and socialist iconoclasm have taken their toll but travel selectively in China and rich seams of antiquity pop into view. With tumble- down chunks of the Great Wall, mist-wreathed, temple-topped mountains, quaint villages, water towns and eye-catching ethnic borderlands, China is home to one of the worlds oldest and most remarkable civilisations. Youll need a well-made pair of travelling shoes and a strong stomach for long-distance wayfaring: Chinas artefacts are strewn about, so put some serious mileage under your soles.

China is vast. Off-the-scale massive. You simply have to get outside: island-hop in Hong Kong, gaze over the epic grasslands of Inner Mongolia or squint up at the mind-blowing peaks of the Himalayas. Expect to trek, cycle between fairy-tale karst pinnacles, or merely stand and ponder the desiccated enormity of the northwestern deserts or the preternatural mists of Chinas sacred mountains. Swoon before the rice terraces of the south, size up some awesome sand dunes in Gansu, trace the Great Wall as it meanders across mountain peaks, get lost in forests of bamboo, sail through dramatic river gorges or, when your energy fails you, flake out for a tan on a distant beach. Chinas sublime scenery is also richly flecked with seasonal shades, from the crimson leaves of autumn maples to the colourful azaleas of spring in Huangshan and the ice-encrusted roofs of mountaintop Buddhist temples. Your camera will be glued to your hand.

China may be fixated with food but treat yourself by swapping your meagre local Chinatown menu for the lavish Middle Kingdom cookbook. Wolf down Peking duck, size up a sizzling lamb kebab in Kaifeng or gobble down a bowl of Lanzhou noodles on the Silk Road. Spicy Hunan or Sichuan dishes really raise the temperature but dont forget about whats cooking along Chinas frontier lands always an excellent excuse to get off the beaten path. Impress your friends as you ganbei (down-in-one) the local firewater, sip an ice-cold beer in a slick Beijing bar or survey the Shanghai skyline through a raised cocktail glass. Culinary exploration is possibly the most enticing aspect of Middle Kingdom travel: youll return with stimulated taste buds and much cherished gastronomic memories.

Canals of Zhujiajiao ()
DIANA MAYFIELD / GETTY IMAGES

Not a city and no longer forbidden, Beijings enormous palace () is the be-all-and-end-all of dynastic grandeur with its vast halls and splendid gates. No other place in China teems with so much history, legend and good old-fashioned imperial intrigue. You may get totally lost here but youll always find something to write about on the first postcard you can lay your hands on. The complex also heads the list with one of Chinas most attractive admission prices and almost endless value-for-money sightseeing.

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Great Wall

Spotting it from space is both tough and pointless: the only place you can truly put the Great Wall () under your feet is in China. Select the Great Wall according to taste: perfectly chiselled, dilapidated, stripped of its bricks, overrun with saplings, coiling splendidly into the hills or returning to dust. The fortification is a fitting symbol of those perennial Chinese traits: diligence, mass manpower, ambitious vision and engineering skill (coupled with a distrust of the neighbours).

Part of the wall at Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing
TIM MAKINS / GETTY IMAGES

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Picture snowcapped mountains rising on either side of a gorge so deep that you can be 2km above the river rushing across the rocks far below. Then imagine winding up and down trails that pass through tiny farming villages, where you can rest while enjoying views so glorious they defy superlatives. Cutting through remote northwest Yunnan for 16 kilometres, Tiger Leaping Gorge () is a simply unmissable experience. Hikers returning from the gorge invariably give it glowing reviews.

YAN LIAO / ALAMY

The Bund, Shanghai

More than just a city, Shanghai is the countrys neon-lit beacon of change, opportunity and sophistication. Its sights set squarely on the not-too-distant future, Shanghai offers a taste of all the superlatives China can dare to dream up, from the worlds highest observation deck to its largest underground theatre. Whether youre just pulling in after an epic 40-hour train trip from Xinjiang or its your first stop, youll find plenty to indulge in here. Start with the Bund (), Shanghais iconic riverfront area where it all began.

View across to Pudong from the Bund
DAN HERRICK / GETTY IMAGES

Yangzi River Cruise

Snow melting from the worlds third pole the high-altitude TibetQinghai plateau is the source of Chinas mighty, life-giving Yangzi. The countrys longest river, the Yangzi surges westeast across the nation before pouring into the Pacific Ocean. It reaches a crescendo with the Three Gorges, carved out throughout the millennia by the inexorable persistence of the powerful waters. The gorges are a magnificent spectacle and a Yangzi River cruise () is a rare chance to hang up your travelling hat, take a seat and leisurely watch the drama unfold.