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China Attractions

Nanjing City Wall

Nanjing City Wall, constructed during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties between 1365 and 1386, originally stretched over 30km which made it the longest city wall in the world.  Now, with about two thirds of the wall still intact it still remains the longest city wall in China.  It reaches all...

Nanjing City Wall, constructed during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties between 1365 and 1386, originally stretched over 30km which made it the longest city wall in the world.  Now, with about two thirds of the wall still intact it still remains the longest city wall in China.  It reaches all the way from the North end of Xuanwu Lake to the south-west corner of Purple Mountain.  It snakes along the edge of Qinhuai River and heads back north all the way up to Yuejiang Tower (阅江楼).

 
Touring the Wall
 
Zhonghua Men Fortress (Zhonghua Men Chengbao, 中华门城堡)
 
Zhonghua Men is the most famous and most fortified gate of the wall.  It was constructed with 1000kg vertically sliding doors and contained 27 vaults that could hold thousands of soldiers.  The idea was that if an enemy entered, the doors could be slammed shut. The enemy, trapped inside, would then be ambushed by soldiers inside.  Enemy armies avoided this super-fortified gate in favour of attacking Nanjing via weaker points along the wall.
 
Zhonghua Men fortress is located across the bridge from Yuhua Lu (雨花路) and about 500 meters east of Zhongshan Nan Lu (中山南路).  There are several buses that stop within view of this gate.
 
For 20 yuan you can climb up to the top of this fortress to get a good view of the city near Qinhuai river.
 
Qinhuai River - A 10 minute walk east of Zhonghuamen
 
West of Zhonghua Men Fortress
 
About 2 blocks to the west of Zhonghua Men Fortress, there is an entrance to the top of the wall that goes almost unnoticed.  There is no entrance fee here and the gate seems to always be open.  Perhaps the scattering of construction materials on top are an indication of more development to come.  However, this location is not considered to be very safe since there have been robberies here.
 
This part of the wall runs along Xigan Chang Xiang (西干长巷).  One the south side of the wall to see the Qinhuai River and the road below. On the other side is old-style housing and factories and Xinjiekou in the distance.
 
 
To get to this portion of the wall, you must enter from the east corner.  To get there from Zhonghua Men, first walk (bike, skip, whatever) towards the river, follow the road to the west and cross under the bridge.  There are signs prohibiting bicycles from entering this road but they are the type of signs that nobody really pays attention to, including the guards.  Once you get to the east corner, follow the stairs on the North side of the road up to the entrance.
 
There is also an entrance to Xigan Chang Xiang on the west end just off of Fengtai Lu (风台路).  If you come from this direction, it would be about a ten minute walk to the east corner.
 
Jiefang Men
Admission fee: 15 yuan.
 
Jiefang Gate is located on the south side of Xuanwu Lake and just north of Jiming Temple (Jiming Si, 鸡鸣寺).  This small gate is another point where it is possible to walk on top of the wall.
 
Walking upwards from the entrance point leads to a small display about the city wall in which there is a model of how the wall and the rest of Nanjing looked in the past.  Walking west leads towards Jiming Temple.  Walking north-west leads towards Xuanwu Men.  Walking east leads towards a store located inside the wall that sells crystal and then Jiuhuashan (九华山), both of which are also entrances to the top of the wall.
 
Xuanwu Men
 
Xuanwu Gate is the most popular entrance to Xuanwu Lake.  You cannot get on top of the wall at this point.  For many people this gate will be the most convenient to reach since it is just one block east of the aptly named Xuanwu Men subway station.
 
The 13 Original Gates
 
Originally there were 13 gates (门, men): 
Taiping Men (太平门)
Chaoyang Men (朝阳门) - Now called Zhongshan Men (中山门)
Zhengyang Men (正阳门) - Now called Guanghua Men (光华门)
Tongji Men (通济门)
Jubao Men (聚宝门) - Now called Zhonghua Men (中华门)
Sanshan Men (三山门) - Now called Shuixi Men (水西门)
Shicheng Men (石城门) - Now called Hanzhong Men (汉中门)
Qingliang Men (清凉门)
Dinghuai Men (定淮门)
Yifeng Men (仪风门) - Now called Jinxing Zhong Men (今兴中门)
Zhongfu Men (钟阜门)
Jinchuan Men (金川门)
Shence Men (神策门) - Now called Heping Men (和平门)
 
Link: Xi’an City Wall

Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport

Opening in 1983, Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport offers direct flights between Xiamen and more than 75 cities both within ...

Opening in 1983, Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport offers direct flights between Xiamen and more than 75 cities both within China and abroad.  It is touted as of being one of the 10 busiest airports in China, and is able to handle 10 million passengers annually.  Over 21 airlines operate out of Xiamen Airport.

The faculties and services within the airport include: Modern clean western style restrooms, a baby changing room, moving walkways, free luggage carts, several restaurants, gift and convenience shops, a medical center, and a business center.  There are a number of ATMs provided by several Chinese banks, with foreign currency exchange service available at the Bank of China.  Xiamen airport provides counters for hotel and tourism information, lost luggage, left luggage and lost and found articles.

Transportation:

There is an efficiently operated taxi stand just outside the arrival level. Metered taxis cost 8 RMB for the first 3 KM and 2 RMB per KM thereafter. Downtown Xiamen is about 10 KMs from the airport, so the taxi should cost less than 50 RMB for most destinations in the area.

The shuttle bus to downtown costs 6 RMB. The shuttle bus can be caught just west of the terminal. It runs from 7AM to 9 PM daily.

Use the public bus for an even cheaper (1 RMB) means to reach your destination.  Buses 27, 37, 41, 81 and 91 can be picked up just east of the terminal, and run until 10:30 PM each night.

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Top China Tours

$238 Per Day

Private Hangzhou Day Trip from Shanghai by Bullet Train

Take in the highlights of beautiful Hangzhou on a private full-day tour from Shanghai. After hotel pickup and transfer by high-speed train to Hangzhou, your private guide takes you to see some city attractions, such as Faxi temple. Moreover, enjoy a tasty lunch at a local restaurant before heading to Longjing village. There, learn about the process of farming and producing dragonwell tea, the region’s most famous product. Finally, enjoy a scenic boat cruise on UNESCO World Heritage-listed West Lake before returning to Shanghai.

This is a private, full-day trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou. After you are picked up in your hotel lobby in the early morning, you will take a bullet train to Hangzhou. This is the fastest way to Hangzhou and you can experience train speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour. Your tour begins at one of Hangzhou's signature sites, the West Lake. Enjoy a lake cruise to see the top ten West Lake scenic views. You will then be taken to experience the wonderful cuisine of Hangzhou at a local restaurant. After lunch, you will visit Faxi temple, a well-known Temple dating back to the Jin Dynasty. See its famous wooden Buddha. Here, you will see fewer tourists and more locals. Finally, enjoy a cup of green tea when you visit the famous Longjing village to see wild fields of Longjing tea bushes where the locals produce the world famous green tea- Longjing Tea. In the village, all locals are tea farmers and you will see the entire procedure of making the famous tea and will get the chance to taste the best quality emperor tea. Afterwards, you will take the bullet train back to Shanghai and you will be returned to your hotel.


$150 Per Day

Guangzhou

Day 1 Arrive in Guangzhou

Arrive in Guangzhou in the morning, you will be met and transferred to hotel, then visit Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. The Memorial Hall is a very famous historical scenic spot. It is in memory of Sun Yat-sen, the great revolutionary forerunner. After that proceed to visit the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family. It is a unique site for offering up sacrifices to worship ancestors of 72 Chen families in Guangdong. This ancestral temple is also the largest, best preserved and best decorated ancient architecture existing in Guangdong province.

Day 2 Guanzhou Tour 

After breakfast, you will go to Yuexiu Park first, the largest and the most famous park in downtown Guangzhou. There are three artificial lakes and seven hills of Yuexiu Mountain. Then you will visit Temple of Six Banyan Trees, which is one of the four best Buddhist temples in Guangzhou and located on the Liurong Road (meaning the Six Banyan Trees Road). The Nanyue King Tomb Museum is a must-see Guangzhou attraction, which dates back to 2,000 years ago, is the earliest large scale painted stone chamber tomb ever found south of the Five Ridges. Buried with the tomb owner in a jade shroud are a gold seal and a lot of exquisite jade adornments. It has become a world famous museum. After the day tour you will be transferred to airport for your next destination.

$53 Per Day

Pingyao Highlights Walking Tour

Pingyao Highlights Walking Day Tour

With our guide to know the Ancient Pingyao better!

Our guide will meet you at your hotel lobby at 08:00 or 08:30, then show you the ticket office to get the ticket for the museums we will visit later.

First we will visit the 700 years old City wall, We will climb up from south gate and have a walk on the wall. We are not sure how many km we can walk, because of the renovating of the wall. Normally we will walk from south gate to the Yunlu Exit.

Then visit the Confucius temple, there is a old building named Dacheng Hall which is over 840 years old. From outside, we can see the big wood joints to lift the big roof around the building which is named Dougong. Due to this design, there are less columns inside the hall for giving the big space for the statues and the prayer. We have chance to see the Confucius statue and learn the philosophy of Confucius. If you like, you can pray for you and your children to get better study.

There is the Paper Cutting master named Wentao nearby the exit of Confucius temple. She is very smart and create the new style paper cutting with much more details and good wishes on it. Her products are made by hanks. It is worth to visit and buy as a souvenir from Pingyao. From the table standing and wall hangings. Please remember, take the red one because of red is the traditional and happy color. But the white one is the best. It is really difficult to choose, because of all of them are really nice.

Then you can have coffee break or tea break if you need at Chummy coffee, after this, visit the City god temple (ChenghuangMiao) which is most beautiful temple inside the wall. Because of the roof is covered by the colorful glazed tiles. There is not only city god and also the three money gods, Now you know why pingyao was the financial center.

Next we will visit the Ancient government building, to see the pingyao politics center in the ancient time. It is the complete building with officials bed room, kitchen and private garden. Follow the guide to look the official’s life from the 250km far away from the hometown.

Have a stroll in the alley to the Rishengchang exchange bank, which is the first bank all of china.You can not miss it.

After lunch, walk to the Ming and Qing street, this is the shopping street full of the stores on the both side of street. You can find alot things here , from post card to lacquered boxes, and wall panels. One more place to see, it is the Armed escort agency also named security and transport service for the business man before the bank founded.

Inlcusions

1.private english speaking tour guide servcie

2.bottle water for the tour