China Pictures
Photos

This is a monster of a country where a traveller could disappear for months or even years trying absorb the vastness of the land, the majestic sights and the variation of the cultures within it.

On the positive side China's history is staggering and the attractions are incredible - Beijing's Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Shanghai's new megastructures, the Terracotta Army in Xian, the Li River and pointy limestone hills around Yangshuo, desert towns of the old Silk Road, the monasteries of Tibet, to name but a few...while China's infrastructure is developing at warp speed and showing great efficiency.
Airports and metros/railways are user friendly and function almost perfectly; Shanghai's multi-billion dollar maglev line to the airport is especially impressive [Buses take 50 minutes from city centre to the airport but the maglev takes 7 minutes!] and plans are afoot to build something similar Shanghai - Beijing.
People too are more lively and open to foreigners than previously, while shopping is excellent and Chinese food is both varied, superb and occasionally revolting [Chow time?], though international cuisine is less interesting and often way more expensive than traditional food.

The negative side is mostly in the areas of crowds, traffic congestion and city pollution. Dust pollution is particularly bad in Beijing these days due to the massive construction projects underway all over the country, not to mention rising crime rates and industrial and internal combustion stink as rampant capitalism grabs the Chinese by their ancient stone balls.

As usual this selection of China pictures - mainly of Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Hanzhou, Yangsho, Yunnan, Sichuan and the Silk Road - merely offer a general idea as to what you may see when you travel around this mega-destination and are nowhere near complete since this is one of the world's fastest changing countries, as well as one of the biggest.

Other China Images: Silk Road Pictures Tibet Pictures