592 Best Sights in China

Circling the walls of the Jokhang Temple, the Barkhor is not only Tibetan Buddhism's holiest pilgrimage circuit but also the best spot in Lhasa for people-watching. Look for monks sitting before their alms bowls while the faithful constantly spin their prayer wheels. Unless you want to shock the devout with your blatant disregard for tradition, flow with the crowd in a clockwise direction. This wide pedestrian street is also souvenir central, crammed with stalls where vendors sell prayer shawls, silver jewelry, wall hangings, and just about anything that screams "I've been to Tibet!" Don't even think about paying what the vendors ask; many of the items can easily be bargained down to less than a quarter of the original price.

Chairman Mao and the party's favorite spot for sand, sun, and seafood, Beidaihe, (250 km [170 miles] northeast of Beijing) is one of China's few beach resorts (though it's definitely no Bali). This crowded spot is just 2½ hours by train from Beijing Station. Nearly every building in town has been converted to a hotel, and every restaurant has tanks of pick-your-own seafood lining the street.

A white stupa is perched on a small island just north of the south gate of this park. Also at the south entrance is Round City, which contains a white-jade Buddha and an enormous jade bowl given to Kublai Khan. Nearby, the well-restored Temple of Eternal Peace houses a variety of Buddhas. Climb to the stupa from Yongan Temple. Once there, you can pay an extra Y1 to ascend the Buddha-bedecked Shanyin Hall.

The lake is Beijing's largest and most beautiful public waterway. On summer weekends the lake teems with paddleboats. The Five Dragon Pavilion, on Beihai's northwest shore, was built in 1602 by a Ming Dynasty emperor who liked to fish under the moon.

This little-known museum, located inside a Ming Dynasty temple, exhibits photos, objects, and elaborate models of ancient Chinese architecture—from ancient huts and mud houses to Ming and Qing Dynasty palaces. The sand-table model of old Beijing is fascinating.

Sitting at the feet of the Western Hills in Beijing's northwestern suburbs, the Beijing Botanical Garden, opened in 1955, hosts China's largest plant collection: 6,000 different plant species from all over northern China, including 2,000 types of trees and bushes, more than 1,600 species of tropical and subtropical plants, 1,900 kinds of fruit trees, and 500 flower species. With its state-of-the-art greenhouse and a variety of different gardens, this is a pleasant place to explore, especially in spring, when the peach trees burst with pretty blooms. An added feature is the wonderful Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which has an enormous statue that, it's said, took 7,000 slaves to build.

Though visitors usually go straight to see the giant pandas, don't miss the other interesting animals, like tigers from the northeast, yaks from Tibet, enormous sea turtles from China's seas, and red pandas from Sichuan. The zoo started out as a garden belonging to one of the sons of Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty. In 1747, the Qianlong emperor had it refurbished (along with other imperial properties, including the summer palaces) and turned it into a park in honor of his mother's 60th birthday. In 1901, the Empress Dowager gave it another extensive facelift and used it to house a collection of animals given to her as a gift by a Chinese minister who had bought them during a trip to Germany. By the 1930s, most of the animals had died and were stuffed and put on display in a museum on the grounds.

Xi'an's most recognizable structure, the Bell Tower was built in the late 14th century in what was then the center of the city. It's still good as a reference point—the tower marks the point where Xi Dajie (West Main Street) becomes Dong Dajie (East Main Street) and Bei Dajie (North Main Street) becomes Nan Dajie (South Main Street). To reach the tower, which stands isolated in the middle of a traffic circle, use any of the eight entrances to the underground passageway. Once inside the building, you'll see Ming Dynasty bells on display. Concerts are given six times daily (9:10, 10:30, 11:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30). For Y5 you can make your own music by ringing a copy of the large iron bell that gives the tower its name. Don't miss the panoramic views of the city from the third-floor balcony.

One of Hong Kong's few examples of French colonial architecture, Béthanie was built in 1875 by the French Mission as a sanatorium for priests and missionaries recovering from tropical diseases. The Hong Kong Government took over the building in the 1970s and leased it to the University of Hong Kong; and at the turn of the 21st century, the property was extensively restored and was subsequently declared a historic monument. Béthanie houses a photogenic neo-Gothic chapel—a popular wedding venue—a theater, a small basement museum, an exhibition hall, and facilities for the School of Film and Television. Guided tours are available for booking via Cityline ( www.cityline.com) and last about 30 minutes.

In a breathtaking valley inside the Flaming Mountains is this ancient temple complex, built between the 5th and 7th century by slaves whose entire lives went into the construction. Many of the fine examples of Buddhist sculpture and wall frescoes were destroyed after Islam came to the region in the 13th century. Other sculptures and frescoes, including several whole murals of Buddhist monks, were removed by 20th-century archaeologists like German Albert von Le Coq, who shipped his finds back to Berlin. Although they remain a feat of early engineering, the caves are in atrocious condition. Go just to see the site itself and the surrounding valley, which is magnificent. The views of the scorched, lunar landscape leading up to the site, which clings to one flank of a steep, scenic valley, make the trip worth the effort. Avoid the nearby Buddha Cave constructed in 1980 by a local artist; it isn't worth an additional Y20.

This 18th-century temple shields China's biggest bell and more than 400 smaller bells and gongs from the Ming, Song, and Yuan dynasties. The Buddhist temple—originally used for rain prayers—was restored after major damage inflicted during the Cultural Revolution. The bells here range from a giant 7 meters (23 feet) high to hand-sized chimes, many of them corroded to a pale green by time.

The giant, two-story bell, inscribed with the texts of more than 100 Buddhist scriptures (230,000 Chinese characters), is also said to be China's loudest. Believed to have been cast during Emperor Yongle's reign, the sound of this 46-ton relic can carry more than 15 km (10 miles) when struck forcibly. The bell rings 108 times on special occasions like Spring Festival, one strike for each of the 108 personal worries defined in Buddhism. People used to throw coins into a hole in the top of the bell for luck. The money was swept up by the monks and used to buy food. Enough money was collected in a month to buy provisions that would last for a year.

You can ride the subway to the temple: transfer from Dongzhimen on Line 2 to the above-ground Line 13 and go one stop north to Dazhong Si station.

These double-decker tourist buses cover three routes—Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and Stanley—with recorded commentary in ten languages. Tourists can hop on or off at any stop along the way to take in the neighborhood sights. There's also a night-time bus tour that takes visitors through the neon-lit streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, and Yau Ma Tei.

This impressively tall pagoda lies 4 km (2½ miles) southeast of South Gate, on the grounds of the still-active Temple of Thanksgiving (Da Ci'en Si). The pagoda was constructed adjacent to the Tang palace in the 7th century to house scriptures brought back from India by a monk named Xuan Zang. It's been rebuilt numerous times since then, most recently during the Qing Dynasty, in Ming style. A park and huge plaza surround the temple, and locals gather here after work to fly kites, stroll hand in hand, and practice calligraphy. There is a popular water-fountain show synchronized to music at noon and 9 pm. The main entrance gate to the temple is on the plaza's southern edge.

Formerly the campus of St. Paul's College, Bishop's House dates back to 1843. This historic Victorian building, which is a pale shade of yellow, served as the official residence of the Anglican bishop.

Outside the Old Town, Black Dragon Pool Park has a tranquil pavilion where locals come to play cards and drink tea. The park is one of the most popular places to photograph nearby Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The park is home to the Dongba Research Institute Museum (Dōngba wénhuà bówùguǎn), devoted to Naxi Dongba culture.

A rare example of Lingnan-style architecture, this historic 1920s tenement painted an eye-catching cobalt blue once housed a clinic and martial arts school. Now a community hub and museum, it offers a glimpse into old Hong Kong. Nearby are other similar houses in bright orange and yellow.

The oldest existing garden in Suzhou, the Blue Wave Pavilion dates back more than 900 years to the Song Dynasty. With a rambling, maze-like design, the grounds feel a little wilder than other Suzhou gardens. The central pond is surrounded by a wooden walkway; gaze into the water at the reflection of the upturned eaves of the surrounding buildings. More than 100 different latticework motifs in the windows provide visual variety as you saunter through the covered corridor that winds through the grounds. The Pure Fragrance Pavilion showcases Qing Dynasty furniture at its most extreme; the entire suite is created from gnarled banyan root.

This sculpture garden on the southeastern tip of Gulangyu Island is a fitting seaside memorial to Zhen Chenggong, also known as Koxinga, a famous Ming general who fought to protect China from the invading Manchus. A massive stone statue of him stares eastward from a perch hanging over the sea.

From dawn to dusk, Macau’s most popular park comes alive with tai chi practitioners, palm readers, couples, students, and men locked in Chinese chess battles under banyan trees. Developed in the 18th century, the gardens were built on the estate once occupied by the chairman of the British East India Company. When the British moved out in 1835, the land’s new Portuguese owners built a grotto around the country’s greatest poet, Luís de Camões, who spent years in exile in Macau. Now the park’s most iconic spot, Camões Grotto shelters a bronze bust of the poet within a rocky niche, while a bronze sculpture at the entrance symbolizes Portugal and China’s historic ties. Nearby, Casa Garden, a smaller park that now houses the Orient Foundation, features landscaped grounds, a brick pathway, and a lily-filled pond.

Guangzhou's skyline wouldn't be as colorful without the Canton Tower, one of the world's tallest TV towers. The 112-story building outstretches even Toronto's CN Tower. Resembling a thin champagne bottle, the building turns into a kaleidoscope of color at night. There are excellent photo opportunities on the observation decks and a section of transparent floors where you can get an eagle's view of the cityscape. The tower features the world's tallest Bubble Tram, which has 16 transparent passenger cars. One revolution takes about 20 minutes. There are also two revolving restaurants and a coffee shop.

Moved to an architecturally striking new home west of Tiananmen Square in 2005, this is one of China's' finest cultural museums. Artifacts are housed in a multistoried bronze cylinder that dominates the building's facade, while paintings, calligraphy, and photographs of historic Beijing fill the remaining exhibition halls. The museum gets extra points for clear English descriptions and modern, informative displays. Entry is free, but tickets must be booked (via the website) in advance.

Opened in 1970 by Dr. Stanley Ho, this iconic Macau gaming den, unmissable with its flashing neon marquee, is replete with ancient jade ships in the halls, gilded staircases, and more baccarat tables than you can shake a craps stick at. Most of the gamblers are from neighboring Guangdong province, and Cantonese is the lingua franca. Other popular pastimes at this storied casino revolve around international fine-dining venues and colorful coffee shops, if you care to wander around the maze of marbled floors and low ceilings.

The art deco–style Cathay Cinema was one of the first movie theaters in Shanghai and, indeed, still shows a mix of Chinese and Western films. The theater was a favorite of Shanghainese author Eileen Chang, of Lust, Caution fame.

Near the Bazi Bridge is the bright pink Catholic Church of St. Joseph, dating from the turn of the 20th century. A hybrid of styles, the Italian-inspired interior is decorated with Bible passages written in Chinese calligraphy.

A former slaughterhouse has been transformed into an artistic hub, housing a number of artists' studios, galleries, and theater groups, including 1a Space, an experimental art venue, and On & On Theatre Workshop, a professional theater company. Individual artists and galleries keep erratic hours, and what you see will depend on who's open to the public at any given time.

Hong Kong's maritime past and present are much in evidence on Causeway Bay's waterfront. Beginning in 1883, those who lived on sampans and old-fashioned junks gathered during bad weather in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, the first of its kind in the territory. Most boat-dwellers have moved to dry land, so these days yachts and speedboats moor here. A few traditional sampans, crewed primarily by elderly women, still ferry owners to their sailboats.

The fast-rising CBD encompasses the China World Trade Center (the third tower, completed in 2010, is the tallest building in Beijing) and a slew of new and impressive skyscrapers, some designed by internationally known architects. One example is the CCTV Tower, by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren. The multimillion-dollar complex employs a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections, and its distinctive shape has earned it the moniker "big pants." Nearby is The Place, a shopping mall best known for its massive canopy-style LED screen.

Once a bustling commercial market selling meat and produce, Central Market is today one of Hong Kong’s rare heritage success stories. Rather than tearing down the 1939 building---one of the city’s few surviving structures designed in the art deco--adjacent Streamline Moderne style---it has been redeveloped into a tourist-focused hub of market-style shops selling old-timey souvenirs, a food court, and areas for art exhibitions. The architecture is certainly worth admiring, and a small museum exhibit downstairs tells the story of the market of yesteryear.

Clad in reflective gold, silver, and copper-colored glass, this glitzy triangular building was built in 1992, at the height of Hong Kong's success. At the time it was briefly the territory's tallest building, but Two IFC soon beat it by 130 feet and, later, ICC by 360 feet. Note the colorful fluorescent lights atop the building; they actually are a clock that indicates time by changing colors every 15 minutes.

By far the best way to navigate the steep slopes that rise up from the Western and Central districts toward Mid-Levels is the world's longest covered outdoor escalator. Free of charge and protected from the elements, this series of moving walkways makes the uphill journey a cinch. It connects to several main residential streets, the bars, and restaurants of SoHo, and also provides direct access to Tai Kwun via a ramp. From 6 to 10 am the escalators only move downward, carrying an endless stream of workers and their cups of coffee. The escalator ceases operation at midnight.

If you're staying in Pudong, this giant swath of green is a great place to take kids, as it has a variety of bicycles for hire, good flat paths for Rollerblading, and pleasure boats. On a nice day, pack a lunch and head to the designated picnic areas, fly a kite in the open areas, or take a walk among the trees.