advice on visiting china
 

Has anyone ever been to Shanxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunnan? Do you think provinces are worth traveling though? Thanks!

If it's your first trip to China and you only have a few weeks, the answer is no. If not, then you should let us know your areas of interest when traveling, the 4 provinces are all off the beaten pathes.

China is a large country and each province is pretty large, and there are interesting place to visit in each.

Shanxi has lots of interesting religious and historical stuff near Datung, plus there's a very well preserved historical city of Pingyao.

Henan has two historical capitals - Kaifeng and Luoyang. And there's also Shaolin Temple.

Hubei is one that's somewhat weak in places to visit, but Yichang near where the huge Three Gorges Dam is being finished, and is a major port for Yangtze cruises.

In northwest Hunan is the Zhangjiajie national park that's really magnificent (but being overtaken by tourists, like many other attractions).

So, each of these provinces have something to offer.

I had forgotten that Datong was in Shanxi province until rkkwan mentioned it. I stopped off there two years ago between Ulan Baator and Beijing. Don't know that I would make a special detour, but I found it worth the two night stop.

The town is very dusty, because of the nearby coal mines. The locals also seemed to think part of down town was unsafe for foreigners. Very little English was spoken, even in my fairly upmarket hotel.

I was principally interested in the nine dragon screen, the Yungang Buddhist caves and the Hanging Monastery. If you've seen the screen in the Forbidden City you only need to see the one in Datong if you're really in to dragons (I am). Equally, I thought the Dunhuang caves were more intersting than the ones at Datong, but I was still glad I saw both them and the monastery. I arranged a car, driver and guide for the out of town sites. I also visited some temples in town - dusty, quiet and atmospheric.

If you are coming to China for the first time, i suggest Beijing, Shanghai and Xian city which are top attractions of China.Maybe this site can give you some inspirations and advices, http://www.travelchinaservice.com