China

The Place

There are no blank spaces left in China today. What were once exotic and remote places are now only exotic. Travelling the country is increasingly easier than you might expect, to the chagrin of old-scbool adventurers.

Contemporary travellers will readily see that China is no monolithic culture. The influence of the Han Chinese may seem ubiquitous, but the rich Turkic culture of Xinjiang, the lively colours of Yunnan, or the lofty mantrasof Tibet are just as much a part of China. Visitors may also come to recognise differences between the northern and southern Han themselves.

The northern part of China extends from Dongbei (known in the West as Manchuria) in the northeast, across the Gobi Desert and along the Silk Road to Xinjiang, in the far west. The central belt of China follows the grandest of rivers, Chang Jiang, or the Yangtsi. This river divides China north and south, along the way slicing into the earth to create Sanxia, the Three Gorges, before emptying into the sea near Shanghai.

Southern China is of a distinctly different cast. Along the southeast coast are the feisty entrepreneurial regions centred around Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Further to the west, the faces, clothes and languages change, until by the time you have reached Tibet you may well feel in a different country (which many Tibetans also feel, but we won't go into that here).