In addition to the world-famous Great Wall, China also has many interesting and wonderful things for you to experience when you are traveling to China.
Are you interested in knowing the most 5 beautiful places in China that we can recommend to anyone who needs China Travel Tips? Don’t go anywhere, you have found the right place!
China Travel Tip 1: Explore the Guilin City
Famous for its magnificent natural beauty, the city of Guilin, located in southern China, is a place that is always on the must-visit list of backpackers. The rivers flowing around the city have unintentionally created beautiful stalactites, stalagmites, and caves here. Its magnificent sceneries are also the reason why this place became famous.
To get the best view, you should take a boat down the Li River that connects Guilin city and Yangshuo town. You can also book a guided tour of the city to explore the surrounding countryside. If you are an adventure enthusiast, rent a motorbike and explore this land by yourself.
China Travel Tip 2: Visit the Forbidden City
Before the Palace Museum was located inside, the world-famous Forbidden City was once the palace of 24 Chinese kings from the Qing to Ming dynasties (1420-1911). The Forbidden City has a total of 980 houses. The entire area of this place is up to 72 hectares. Moreover, in the collection of antiquities kept at the Palace Museum, you will admire millions of artifacts, from vivid paintings to pottery and bronze.
China Travel Tip 3: Swim, eat seafood, and climb mountains in Sanya
The coastal city of Sanya is located in the southernmost part of Hainan province, China. With beautiful bays, high-class resorts as well as pleasant weather all year round, this place is very suitable for summer vacations. However, this city is more than just the sea. You can try going to Chuan Yuan market to enjoy fresh seafood prepared by the chef on the spot. For a change of scenery, explore the Yanoda rainforest located about 35 kilometers from downtown Sanya. You can try climbing the mountain in the middle of the forest to see the majestic landscape below.
China Travel Tip 4: Enjoy the Panda Conservation Park Bifengxia
Home to more than 20 giant pandas, the Bifengxia panda sanctuary in Ya’an town in Sichuan province, China has the largest scale in the world. Established in 2004, the purpose of this sanctuary is to breed, care for and rescue these cute black and white animals. After purchasing admission tickets, you can explore the sanctuaries and see adorable newborn pandas at the “kindergarten” area. This reserve used to allow visitors to interact with pandas such as taking pictures, feeding, playing… but they stopped this activity in January last year to protect the species from infection.
China Travel Tip 5: Reach Tibet by Train
Departing from Beijing, you will have the opportunity to cross the highest plateau in the world by train to reach the Tibetan capital Lhasa. It was definitely a great experience. The journey will pass through the Chaka salt lake, the snow-capped mountains of the Kunlun mountain range, and the vast Changthang lawn, so you won’t feel bored during the 41-hour ride. The ride will end at a stop in the capital Lhasa. The Plata Palace located here was once an important residence of the Dalai Lama. Before you go to Tibet, you should note that you must have a Tibet Travel Permit (Tibet Travel Permit) to be allowed to visit.
Have you decided which place you want to visit first based on our China travel tips? Wherever you decide, we hope you will have the utmost memorable experiences. We are going to give you a bonus tip to make your trip better: Learn some easy useful Chinese terms and phrases with Pandanesefor free!
China is the most populous country in the world, along with vastness and diversity of products as well as climate, leading to clear differences between culinary cultures. That is why Chinese food cuisine is extremely diverse and unique, but still has its own characteristics of each region, rich, rich in identity, has a great influence on the cuisine of countries in the Asian region.
It can be said that the delicacy in the dishes is the full diversity in terms of aroma, color, taste to presentation and decoration. Delicious food must be eye-catching, with an aroma that captivates diners, a delicious taste of food made from fresh ingredients, and an impressive presentation. In addition, the dishes are also nutritious by the ingenious combination of foods and herbs such as sea cucumber, traditional Chinese medicine, etc.
The dishes are usually prepared in different styles such as warming, cooking, simmering, stir-frying, steaming, roasting, boiling, braising, dipping, etc. Each processing method brings a different aftertaste and feeling.
Chinese food cuisine is divided into 8 major schools: Shandong, Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui.
* Shandong: The first Chinese food cuisine is the Shandong culinary school. This is a province located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, where the land is fertile. Shandong is the breadbasket of China, vegetables here are also very diverse and abundant. All of the above factors have created a unique and leading Chinese cuisine. The characteristic of the cuisine of this land is the dishes with strong, strong flavors of frying, baking, steaming with fresh colors, very eye-catching. In particular, the dishes often use a lot of onions and garlic, especially seafood dishes. Braised snails, sweet and sour carp are the two most famous dishes of Shandong.
* Cantonese: As one of the 4 main culinary schools, Cantonese food cuisine constantly absorbs the quintessence of other schools and combines Western dishes in its dishes. Cantonese dishes are very diverse in ingredients and are prepared in 21 different ways of cooking: stir-fried, deep-fried, grilled, roasted, stewed, steamed, braised, steamed in a bowl, etc. Cantonese dishes need to ensure the “4 requirements” of color, flavor, taste, shape, fresh but not raw, fat but not boring, bar and not pale. The dish also needs to be suitable for the weather, autumn and summer need to be cool, winter and spring need to be dense. In terms of ingredient combination and taste, Cantonese people prefer raw cooking. Nowadays, Cantonese people love raw fish and raw fish porridge. Guangdong has some famous dishes such as: roasted suckling pig, salted steamed chicken, roasted goose, boiled chicken, char siu pork, steamed shrimp, braised snake chicken, etc.
* Hunan: Over 2000 years of existence and development, Hunan culinary school has perfected and asserted itself by unique delicacies. Hunan cuisine is famous for its 3 ingredients, which are Huong Giang basin kitchen, Dong Dinh lake area kitchen and Hunan mountain kitchen. The menus and baking art of Hunan dishes are exquisite and flawless. The basic taste of Hunan is fatty, sour-spicy, aromatic and light. The dishes are often used a lot of chili, garlic, shallots and sauces to enhance the flavor of the dish.
* Fujian: Fujian province’s delicacies are famous for the sophistication of the menu and the elaborate preparation and special processing. Formed on the culinary foundation of the cities of Fuzhou, Huanzhou and Xiamen. In general, the dishes here are a bit sweet and sour, less salty, the main ingredients are seafood, fresh and nutritious, and delicious mountain dishes. The most famous dish here is Buddha jumping the wall.
* Zhejiang: is a combination of specialty dishes of Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, but the most famous is still Hangzhou dishes. The dishes here are usually not greasy, focusing on freshness, softness and light aroma. The taste of Zhejiang cuisine is fresh, soft, frugal without being boring. The cooking process is very important so not only the taste is delicious but the presentation is also extremely eye-catching. Famous Hangzhou dishes such as Dong Pha pork, Hangzhou grilled chicken, Longjing spring rolls, Tay Ho carp…
* Jiangsu: Jiangsu dishes are very elaborately and beautifully decorated like a work of art. The specialty of Jiangsu dishes is “Focus on knife technique, delicate dishes, frugal taste” with steamed, simmered, and fried dishes. Jiangsu people do not like to use soy sauce in dishes, but prefer to add sugar and vinegar to create a “sour, sweet” taste. Steamed meat and crab meat is the most famous dish here.
* Anhui: Similar to Jiangsu, Anhui cuisine is also known for its use of wild ingredients and herbs. Anhui cuisine includes three main regions: Yangtze River, Yellow River and Southern Anhui, in which Southern Anhui cuisine plays a key role with its salty, delicious, and pleasant aroma. The most famous dish here is the gourd duck.
* Sichuan: with very spicy dishes. Szechuan dishes focus on color and flavor with many flavors of numbness, spicy, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, aromatic, skillfully mixed and flexible. Not only that, the dishes here also have many ways of changing flavors, suitable for the taste of each diner, suitable for each season and climate of the year.
Chinese food cuisine is considered to be oriental cuisine. Coming to the world of Chinese food cuisine is coming to traditional dishes from all parts of their country. Each region has its own culinary culture with its own unique characteristics. That’s why, not only Chinese but also foreign diners when setting foot in this country always take the time to experience regional specialties.
China is famous for its richness in arts, academia and cultures. One of the main reason being that the country has an extensive and deep ancient history.
Let’s find out the top 3 best amazing cultural facts about China. This knowledge can be so handy if you ever travel to China or have interaction with the Chinese.
Art, Academia and Literature
The Chinese invented many musical instruments, such as the ancient zigzag, the flute, and the erhu, which were popular throughout East and Southeast Asia, especially in areas within China’s sphere of influence. Sanh is a basic ingredient in Western free-reed instruments.
Chinese characters have had many variations and spellings throughout Chinese history, and by the mid-20th century were “simplified” in mainland China. Calligraphy is the main art form in China, considered by many to be above painting and music. Since often associated with the owners were elite mandarins-scholars, calligraphy works were subsequently commercialized, in which the works of famous artists were highly valued.
China has many beautiful landscapes and is the inspiration for many great works of Chinese art. For details, see the article Chinese Painting.
Calligraphy, sushi, and bonsai are all thousands of years old art forms that have spread to Japan and North Korea.
For centuries, China’s economic and social progress has been attributed to the high quality of feudal education. This leads to a meritocracy, although in reality only men and those with a relatively low life can take these exams, as well as requiring a diligent study. This is a completely different system from the Western blood-based aristocracy.
These exams require candidates to write essays as well as demonstrate an understanding of Confucian classics. Those who passed the highest exams became elite scholar-mandarins called doctors. The doctoral degree has a highly respected political-economic position in China and surrounding countries. And the evil of the cult of education in East Asian countries is still present to this day.
Chinese literature has a long history of development due to printing techniques dating back to the Song Dynasty. Before that, ancient books and books on religion and medicine were mainly written with brush (before that, on armor or on bamboo paper) and then released. Tens of thousands of ancient texts still exist today, from armor-bone scripts to Qing edicts, are discovered every day.
Chinese philosophers, writers and poets are largely respected and play an important role in maintaining and disseminating Chinese culture. A number of other scholars, are also noted for daring to sacrifice themselves for the public interest even against the will of the government.
Cultural Communication
China is one of those countries where there are cultural rules regarding communication that are expected to be followed. Let’s have a look at these cultural communication rules to see if you have ever encountered them in person or in the media.
Greeting
Do not shake hands firmly, but loosely or gently. Greet the most powerful person first, not the woman first. When introducing someone to someone, it is never allowed to use the index finger to point at that person, very rude, it is best to use the whole hand that has been stretched out and then point at that person.
Getting to know
When meeting to get acquainted, you can ask personal things such as whether you are married, how many children, even about salary. If you are asked that, you should not avoid answering. The topic of discussion when meeting and getting acquainted should be sports, preferably football, absolutely should not mention political topics, there should be no criticism.
Negotiation
Negotiating with the Chinese is not simple and often takes a long time. The beginning is usually a long party in which business is not discussed but saved for the end of the meal. If you don’t come to an agreement, don’t be upset, but try to be happy and affirm that you are very interested in reaching an agreement for business cooperation. Usually after a few days there will be positive changes.
Number 4
The Chinese abstain from the number 4 because in Chinese it can be understood as “death”. So don’t give anything related to this number.
Handing out business cards
Don’t forget to always carry a business card with you. When you give and receive business cards, do with both hands and remember to read the business card received before putting it away.
Dinner
Do not knock on the bowl with chopsticks because that is the behavior of beggars. Never stick chopsticks into a bowl of rice because only rice offered to the dead can do that. When dining at a Chinese place, you should not be afraid of the noises caused by eating and drinking. The Chinese consider it a sign that guests are eating well. When invited to a party, Chinese people are usually polite and reserved, you have to regularly invite them to eat and drink, pour drinks (wine, beer) often have to be full, if there is no waiter, men pour drinks. for women, superiors pour for subordinates.
Gifts
Giving gifts is a normal practice. Fruits, cakes or alcoholic beverages can be given, but watches are not allowed because “gifting a watch” in Chinese also means “going to a funeral”. If you are given a gift by a Chinese person, do not open the gift package in front of the giver.
Stay in hotels
It is recommended to stay in hotels of mid-range or higher because it is very important to know what class your partner belongs to in China. A very common question in China is “which hotel do you stay in?”.
Clothes
When doing business transactions, you must wear luxury: for men, dark suits and ties should be worn, jeans should not be worn, and colors should not be flashy. For women, it depends on the customs of their country. Usually dark pants and jackets.
Criticism
In China, you can’t criticize openly and openly, but you should interpret it in another way, such as the associate or employee did a good job, the next time will definitely be better.
Traditional Holidays
In China, people highly value traditional holidays. These are the times that everyone can get together and celebrate the traditions together. Since China is a big country, where people leave home to work in different cities and areas that make it difficult for them to see their loved ones on regular basis. Hence, the holidays are greatly appreciated and nicely celebrated by Chinese people.
New Year’s Eve (December 30 of the lunar calendar every year)
Lunar New Year (1st lunar month)
Lantern Festival (lunar day 15th day)
International Women’s Day (March 8)
Tree planting festival (March 12)
April Fools (April 1)
Qingming New Year (April 4)
International Labor (May 1)
Youth New Year (May 4)
Lunar New Year (May 5th of the lunar calendar)
Children’s New Year (June 1)
Party establishment date (July 1)
The death ceremony (July 7 of the lunar calendar, August 23 of the solar calendar)
The date of the founding of the army (August 1)
Mid-Autumn Festival (August 15 of the lunar calendar)
New Year’s Eve (September 9 of the lunar calendar)
Teachers’ Day (September 10)
Independence Day (October 1st)
The day when the man went to heaven (December 8 of the lunar calendar)
China, officially the People’s Republic of China is a sovereign country located in East Asia. It is the most populous country in the world and has the second-largest continental area in the world and the third or fourth-largest country by total area in the world.
Geography
China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia, and the third or fourth-largest country by total area, after Russia, Canada, and possibly the United States. China’s total area is often claimed to be about 9,600,000 square kilometers.
China has the longest total land border in the world, with 22,117 km from the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin. China shares borders with 14 other countries, holding the number one spot in the world alongside Russia.[85] China covers much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan[h], Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, and Korea. In addition, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines are also adjacent to China through the sea.
The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° North, and longitudes 73° and 135° East. China’s landscape varies considerably across its vast territory. In the east, along the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea coasts, there are wide and densely populated alluvial plains, while the vast steppe predominates at the edge of the Inner Mongolian plateau. Hills and low mountain ranges dominate the topography of South China, while the central-eastern region contains the deltas of China’s two largest rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers are Tay Giang, Hoai Ha, Mekong, Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) and Amur. In the west, there are great mountain ranges, the most prominent being the Himalayas. In the north, there are arid landscapes, such as the Gobi Desert and the Taklamakan Desert. The highest peak in the world is Mount Everest (8,848m) located on the China-Nepal border. The lowest point of China, and the third-lowest in the world, is the bed of Ai Ding Lake (-154m) in the Turpan Basin.
The dry season and the wet monsoon dominate much of China’s climate, resulting in marked temperature differences between winter and summer. During winter, northerly winds descend from high-latitude regions characterized by cold and dry; During summer, southerly winds from low-latitude coastal areas are characterized by warm and humid. China’s climate varies from region to region due to its highly complex topography. A major environmental problem in China is the continued expansion of deserts, especially the Gobi Desert.
HISTORY
China is one of the earliest cradles of human civilization. The Chinese civilization is also one of the few civilizations, along with ancient Mesopotamia (the Sumerians), India (the Indus Valley Civilization), Maya, and Ancient Egypt (although it may be from the Sumerians), created his own script.
The first dynasty according to Chinese historical documents was the Xia Dynasty; however, there is no archaeological evidence to verify the existence of this dynasty (when China grew economically and politically reformed and had enough human and intellectual resources to pursue more vigorously to prove an ancient history, there are a number of Neolithic sites given as well as some evidence gathered over time, demonstrating national identity, unity, and pride, or in other words is the expression of nationalism and nationalism).
The first dynasty that certainly existed was the Shang, which settled along the Yellow River basin, sometime between the 18th and 12th centuries BC. The Shang Dynasty was taken over by the Zhou Dynasty (12th to 5th centuries BC), which in turn was weakened by the loss of control over smaller territories to the lords; finally, in the Spring and Autumn period, many independent states rose up and fought successively, and only considered the Zhou state as the nominal center of power.
Finally, Qin Shi Huang took over all the countries and declared himself emperor in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty, a unified Chinese nation in terms of political institutions, writing, and an official language. first in Chinese history. However, this dynasty did not last long because it was too domineering and brutal and carried out “burning books and burying grapes” throughout the country (burning all books and killing Confucianists) in order to prevent further attempts. scrambled for the emperor’s power from its infancy, to monopolize ideology, and to unify the written language for easy administration.
After the collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 207 BC, the Han Dynasty lasted until 220 AD. Then came a period of strife when local leaders arose, calling themselves “Son of Heaven” and declaring that the Mandate of Heaven had changed. In 580, China was reunified under the Sui dynasty. During the Tang and Song dynasties, China entered its heyday.
For a long time, especially between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in terms of technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty finally fell to the Mongol invaders in 1279. The Mongol King Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty. Later, a peasant leader, Zhou Yuanzhang, drove out the Mongol government in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. Then the Manchus descended from the northeast to overthrow the Ming and establish it. Qing Dynasty, which lasted until the last emperor Puyi abdicated in 1911.
The characteristics of feudal China were that dynasties often toppled each other in a bloodbath, and the class that gained leadership often had to take special measures to maintain their power and contain the overthrown dynasty. . For example, the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, after taking over China, often applied policies to prevent the Manchus from being mixed into the sea of Han people because of their small population. These measures proved ineffective, however, and the Manchus were ultimately assimilated by Chinese culture.
By the 18th century, China had made significant technological advances over the peoples of Central Asia with whom it had fought for centuries, yet lagged far behind Europe. This shaped the landscape of the 19th century in which China stood on the defensive against European imperialism while displaying imperial expansion against Central Asia.
The main cause of the fall of the Chinese empire, however, was not the influence of Europe and the United States, as Western ethnocentrists believe, but could have been the result of a There were a series of serious internal upheavals, among them the rebellion named Thai Binh Thien Quoc, which lasted from 1851 to 1862.
Although eventually quelled by imperial forces, the civil war was among the bloodiest in human history – at least twenty million people were killed (more than the total number of deaths in World War II). first). Before this civil war, there were also some Muslim uprisings, especially in Central Asia.
After that, a major uprising broke out, although relatively small compared to the bloody Taiping Thien Quoc civil war. This uprising was called the Nghia Hoa Doan uprising with the aim of driving Westerners out of China. Although she agreed and even supported the insurgents, Empress Dowager Cixi helped foreign forces quell the uprising.
In 1912, after a long period of decline, China’s feudal system finally collapsed and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang established the Republic of China. The three decades that followed were a period of disunity – the period of the Warlords, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 and the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China.
The Communist Party of China established a communist state – the People’s Republic of China – which considers itself the successor state of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the government of the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to the island of Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized by the Western bloc and the United Nations as the legitimate government of all of China until the end of the decade. 1970s, after which most countries and the United Nations moved to recognize the People’s Republic of China.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Portugal, respectively, returned two concessions, Hong Kong and Macau on the south coast, to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 and 1999. Today’s context usually refers to the territory of the People’s Republic of China, or “Mainland China”, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.
The People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (from 1949 to the present) do not recognize each other diplomatically, because both sides claim to be the legitimate successor government of the Republic of China (Sun Yat-sen). including the Mainland and Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China repeatedly opposes the independence movement of Taiwan. Controversies mainly revolve around the nature and limitations of the concept of “China”, the possibility of reunification of China, and Taiwan’s political position.
