BEAUTIFUL ISLAND: CHINA

Huanglong

Huanglong is a scenic and historic interest area in the northwest part of Sichuan, China. It is located in the southern part of the Minshan mountain range, 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-northwest of the capital Chengdu. This area is known for its colorful pools formed by calcite deposits, especially in Huanglonggou (Yellow Dragon Gully), as well as diverse forest ecosystems, snow-capped peaks, waterfalls and hot springs. Huanglong is also home to many endangered species including the Giant Panda and the Sichuan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey. Huanglong was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992.

Huangshan Mountain

Huangshan Mountain, formerly called Yishan Mountain, is one of the ten celebrated scenic spots in China and the only one in mountainous region. It is located within the boundaries of Huangshan Mountain municipality in the south of Anhui Province. The Huangshan Mountain Mountains is about 40 km across form north to south and 30 km from east to west. Its sight - seeing area covers 154 square kilometers, so it is known as "five - hundred - li Huangshan Mountain".

Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

Himalayan Towers

The Himalayan Towers also called Stone star-shaped towers, are a series of stone towers located mostly in Kham, an ancient province of Tibet, in Sichuan and in Tibet. The towers are located in regions of Changthang, Gyalrong, Miniak and Kongpo. The towers can be found both in cities and in uninhabited regions. They have been described for the first time during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Carbon dating by Frederique Darragon shows they were built approximately 500 to 1,800 years ago. Since they are generally located in prosperous villages, it is believed that their primary function was as a demonstration of a family's prestige within the community. At that time, wealth was acquired especially by the trade with the Mongols. For strength, many of the towers use a star pattern of walls as opposed to a strictly rectangular method. Heights can exceed 60m. For more information see the work of Frederique Darragon, who has extensively studied the towers and written a book titled The Secret Towers of the Himalayas. She also filmed and co-produced a documentary also called "Secret Towers of the Himalayas".

Wudang Mountains

The Wudang Mountains also known as Wu Tang Shan or simply Wudang, are a small mountain range in the northwestern part of Hubei Province of People's Republic of China, just to the south of the city of Shiyan.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m2 (7,800,000 sq ft).

Potala Palace

The Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

Jiuzhaigou Valley

Jiuzhaigou Valley is a nature reserve and national park located in northern Sichuan province of southwestern China.

Jiuzhaigou Valley is part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and stretches over 72,000 hectares (180,000 acres). It is known for its many multi-level waterfalls, colorful lakes, and snow-capped peaks. Its elevation ranges from 2,000 to 4,500 metres (6,600 to 14,800 ft).

Jiuzhaigou Valley was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1992 and a World Biosphere Reserve in 1997. It belongs to the category V (Protected Landscape) in the IUCN system of protected area categorization.

Mogao Cave

The Mogao Caves or Mogao Grottoes,also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas form a system of 492 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves, however, this term is also used to include other Buddhist cave sites in the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, and the Yulin Caves farther away. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years.The first caves were dug out 366 CE as places of Buddhist meditation and worship.

Karakul Lake

The Karakul or Karakuli ("black lake") is a lake located 196 km from Kashgar, Xinjiang province, China, in Akto County, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture on the Karakoram Highway, before reaching Tashkurgan, the Khunjerab Pass on the China - Pakistan border and Sost in Pakistan.

Gulangyu Island

Gulangyu island off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province in southern China, about 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) in area. It is home to about 20,000 people and is a domestic tourist destination.

Visitors can reach it by ferry from Xiamen Island in about 5 minutes. Gulangyu Island is renowned for its beaches and winding lanes and its varied architecture.

The island is on China's list of National Scenic Spots and also ranks at the top of the list of the ten most-scenic areas in the province.

Administratively, the island presently forms Gulangyu Subdistrict of Xiamen's Siming District.

Mount Tai

Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak which is commonly reported as 1,545 metres (5,069 ft) tall, but is described by the PRC government as 1,532.7 metres (5,029 ft).

Tembok Besar China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC, these, later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall.Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.

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