The Rough Guide to China
Language: English
Pages: 992
ISBN: 140934181X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Rough Guide to China is the definitive guide to this fascinating nation, with precise maps and detailed coverage of all the country's best attractions. Find detailed practical advice on the best things to see and do, with up-to-date descriptions of the top hotels, restaurants, and shops for all budgets.
This fully updated edition will help you delve into China's greatest treasures, whether you're climbing mountains in Tibet, exploring ancient temples in Xi'an, or clubbing in Shanghai. The Rough Guide to China also includes in-depth background on China's history and culture, and a language section to help you communicate with the people you meet.
China is one of the world's oldest civilizations and its newest great power; this book will help you understand and explore this extraordinary destination. Make the most of your time with The Rough Guide to China.
benefit the region’s agricultural potential over the millennia. However, the river’s popular nickname, “China’s Sorrow”, hints at the regular floods and changes of course that have repeatedly caused devastation – the waterway is often likened to a dragon, a reference not just to its sinuous course, but also to its uncontrollable nature, by turns benign and malevolent. On the flipside, it provides much-needed irrigation to areas otherwise arid and inhospitable, and has created some of China’s most
the national Chinese festivals are celebrated. A HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS CALENDAR January/February Two-week-long Spring Festival (see box below). Everything shuts down for a national holiday during the first week. February Tiancang Festival On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, Chinese peasants celebrate Tiancang, or Granary Filling Day, in the hope of ensuring a good harvest later in the year. March Guanyin’s Birthday Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, and probably China’s most popular
After the civil war in 1949, Yonghe Gong was declared a national monument and closed for the following thirty years. Remarkably, it escaped the ravages of the Cultural Revolution, when most of the city’s religious structures were destroyed or turned into factories and warehouses. The lamasery nowadays functions as an active Tibetan Buddhist centre, though it’s used basically for propaganda purposes, to show China guaranteeing and respecting the religious freedom of minorities. It’s questionable
single nail, the circular structure rises from another tiered marble terrace and has three blue-tiled roofs. Four compass-point pillars, representing the seasons, support the vault, enclosed in turn by twelve outer pillars (one for each month of the year and hour of the day). The dazzling colours of the interior, surrounding the central dragon motif on the coffered ceiling, give the hall an ultramodern look; it was in fact rebuilt, faithful to the Ming design, after the original was destroyed by
served here, and far more besides – the menu is full of Chinese staples, with a few more interesting items such as sauerkraut with lung, braised bullfrog in soy, and battered venison. The more interesting mains clock in at ¥60–100, though penny-pinchers will appreciate the spicy Sichuan noodles (¥8). Daily 11.30am–8.50pm. 2 Dongbei 162 Liaoning 176 Jilin 182 Heilongjiang CRANES AT ZHALONG NATURE RESERVE 158 DONGBEI Dongbei 3 Dongbei (ẫ⎦, GŅQJEĘL) – or, more evocatively, Manchuria – may