China: Proof there's life beyond the Great Wall

Jeremy Atiyah recommends Chinese destinations off the beaten track.

12:01AM BST 23 Oct 2004

Hangzhou 
In the 13th century, this was not only the capital of China but probably the largest and richest city on earth - to which Marco Polo notably bore witness.

Today it is still one of the most attractive cities in China. Its outstanding feature, around which the city curls, is the so-called West Lake, famed throughout China for its vistas of trees, hills, flowers, causeways, fishing boats, pavilions, temples and pagodas.

Spending a few days cycling or walking by the lake is a quintessential Chinese experience. Hangzhou can be reached by train in a couple of hours from Shanghai.

Harbin 
China's northernmost large city is as cold as Siberia in midwinter, with temperatures hovering between -20 and -30C. Thanks to the climate, the local people have been able to establish one of the world's largest ice- and snow-carving festivals.

The so-called Ice Lantern Festival lasts throughout January and into February. During these weeks you can visit entire buildings of ice that have been constructed on the frozen Songhua River, some of them many storeys high (slightly scaled-down replicas of the world's most famous buildings are currently in vogue).

Dress warmly and book early - the number of annual visitors, mainly from Hong Kong and Taiwan, now exceeds two million. Activities on offer include riding in horse-drawn sledges and swimming in holes cut in the ice.

The city itself is fascinating, much influenced by its proximity to Russia, with onion-domed Orthodox churches and colonial architecture aplenty. You can reach it on an overnight train ride from Beijing.

Holy mountains 
Some are sacred to Buddhism, others to Taoism, though the untrained eye will find them hard to distinguish. Either way, they have immense cultural and historical resonance and the Chinese set great store by them. Originally they were climbed by emperors and monks - and they have been scaled by pilgrims and tourists ever since.

Visiting any of the mountains today will provide you not only with classic Chinese scenery (temples and pinnacles emerging from misty bamboo forests, twisted pine trees on isolated ledges) but also with enthusiastic and gregarious Chinese multitudes, all "doing" tourism in the 21st century.

Among the most notable of the holy mountains are Huang Shan in Anhui province (easily accessible from Shanghai), Tai Shan in Shandong province, and Emei Shan in Sichuan province.

Qufu 
You can't get much closer to the heart and soul of China than this, the birthplace of the great sage Confucius. For 2,500 years until the beginning of the 20th century, his descendants (the "first family under heaven") lived continuously in the centre of town at the fabulous Confucius Mansion, open to visitors.

The adjacent Confucius Temple is one of the grandest complexes of its kind in China, falling little short of Beijing's Forbidden City.

Qufu is a small, inexpensive, out-of-the-way town, with few foreign tourists and a splendidly tranquil feel - as well as some great Confucius souvenirs. Reach it on an overnight train from Beijing.

Sichuan 
The Three Gorges are all that most tourists see of China's most populous province, but you could easily spend a lifetime holidaying here, starting out from Chongqing, one of the world's vastest cities, heading on to the Wolong Panda Reserve and climbing up into the rugged fringes of the Tibetan plateau.

The region's capital, Chengdu, is one of the most attractive large cities in China and famous for its teahouses. You can also join endless games of chess, take in an evening performance of Sichuan Opera and feast on some of the best food in China. You can fly into Chengdu from any of China's large cities, though it's an awfully long way by train.

Tibet 
Whatever your views on the political status of modern Tibet, you'll have to enter China if you wish to visit this vast, beautiful region.

A convenient and hassle-free way to see Tibet is to book a one-way tour from Kathmandu (in Nepal) to Lhasa, along the Friendship Highway. Spend a week at it and you'll get to see many of Tibet's best-known monasteries, including those near Shigatse and Gyantse. A side trip to Everest Base Camp is also possible.

Lhasa is not quite the Shangri-la it once was. Traffic and high-rise office blocks now litter the downtown district, but its principal sights - above all, the Potala Palace - are still captivating.

Travelling on from here into the rest of China, you can either fly or take an exceedingly long and uncomfortable bus ride (unless you can wait until 2006, when China's rail network is scheduled to reach Lhasa).

Yunnan 
Average winter temperatures in the regional capital, Kunming, are about 20C warmer than in Beijing. For many travellers the best way to enter Yunnan is by flying from Thailand. You can also get there by bus from Luang Prabang, in Laos, or by train from Hanoi, Vietnam.

Apart from the weather, highlights include the small and traditional towns of Dali and Lijian, both touristy - but not too touristy - and no more than a short bike ride away from beautiful countryside.

In the far south, on the borders with Burma and Laos, lies remote and semi-tropical Xishuangbanna, where tourists trek though jungles populated by elephants and tribal peoples. Kunming is a three-hour flight from Beijing and about two hours from Hong Kong.