Originally Posted by travelling_flaneur (Post 17711005)

I travelled to China last year. It was awesome (it kind of ruined the rest of East Asia for me a bit because of the sheer scale of the history there), and as a matter of fact I'm planning yet another trip there this December.

So the answer's yes.



For me? I would love to visit Dunhuang, Xiahe, Quanzhou, the tulou, the Dazu rock carvings, all the temples around Changzhi. So many places, so little time! I'm currently planning out an itinerary and it's frankly a challenge to know what to prioritise.

For you, I highly recommend Shanxi province, I think it's got the most history in all of East Asia. I specifically recommend Pingyao, I was there last year and frankly it's pretty incredible. It's this whole preserved walled city in the middle of nowhere in the Loess Plateau, it was the banking centre of the Qing Dynasty, and though there is a fair bit of commercialisation on the main thoroughfares there's a lot of interesting alleyways and old temples and exhibitions you can explore away from that.

There's also a bunch of stuff around the city, including my favourite temple in Asia thus far - Shuanglin Temple. It contains over 2000 coloured clay sculptures from the 12th to 19th centuries, it's absolutely spectacular. Don't forget Zhenguo Temple too, the main wooden hall and the painted sculptures in that temple are over 1000 years old and dates back to the Five Dynasties.

Datong is also great, though the city itself is nothing to shout about; it's what's around it that is fantastic. The 1,500 year old Yungang Grottoes just a short DiDi ride away is an all-time historical site and is not to be missed under any circumstances. Think of walking into a cave the size of a cathedral covered from top to toe in religious carvings, now multiply that by a factor of 30, and you've got an idea of how amazing that site is.

Then there's the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, which is a nearly thousand-year old wooden pagoda that's over 67 metres tall, which survived seven earthquakes and had 200 rounds shot into it during the Sino-Japanese war. Another site of importance is the Hanging Temple, a Ming Dynasty temple precariously perched on the side of a cliff housing some incredible coloured sculptures. Oh and in the city proper, there are two Liao Dynasty temples that are not to be missed: Huayan and Shanhua Temple.

I doubt you've travelled there if not a local, since it's not a particularly popular part of the country (even my Mainland Chinese coworkers barely even know what there is to see there). So if I were you, that's where I'd be going.