Rated Tourist Attractions in China

When you first set eyes on Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan province, it's certainly not difficult to see how filmmaker James Cameron was able to draw inspiration from it. Cameron's box office hit, Avatar, could well have been set in this area of stunning natural beauty, its many unique pillar-like rock formations looking like some incredible alien landscape right out of a sci-fi movie. One of the tallest pillars, standing at an impressive 1,080-meters, has been renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain."

Widely considered one of the world's most dramatic city skylines - as much a result of its having one of the highest concentrations of skyscrapers as it is the presence of the tall hills that frame them - Hong Kong has for decades been the bustling capital of finance and commerce in this part of the Pacific. And it's a cityscape that can be enjoyed from a number of different vantages.

"The mountain is a Buddha and the Buddha is a mountain." So goes the famous Chinese saying, one that's attributed to the spectacular 71-meter-tall Leshan Giant Buddha. And it certainly makes sense as you stand at its feet as the colossal statue towers high above you.

In China's mountainous northeastern region is the old city of Shenyang. This important center for trade and culture is home to the Mausoleum of Light (Zhaoling), also known as the Northern Imperial Tomb. One of northeastern China's most important historic sites - it's included on the UNESCO World Heritage Site's list of Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties - the tomb is noted for its unique architectural style: a combination of traditionally arranged Chinese burial sites and castle-like buildings of the early Qing period.

Few cities in China can boast quite the same concentration of splendid historic sites and ancient temples as the city of Hangzhou (Hangchow). Capital of Zhejiang province and located at the southernmost end of China's famous Grand Canal, much of this rich collection is gathered around lovely West Lake, a six-kilometer-square stretch of water in the heart of the old city, which is surrounded by numerous hills, pagodas, and temples.

Known in China as Chang Jiang ("Long River"), the mighty Yangtze River extends more than 6,000 kilometers, making it the longest and most important river in China and the third longest in the world after the Amazon and the Nile.

No visit to China would be complete without at least one panda experience. While the country's top zoos boast many fine specimens of these fascinating creatures, the best place to see them in a close approximation to their natural habitat is at the excellent Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, located in the province of Sichuan. Here, you'll have the chance to watch as many as 80 pandas go about their daily routines, from foraging to playing in the facility's large park-like setting.

The town of Guilin, in the northeast corner of Guangxi, boasts some of China's most beautiful countryside and is famous for the Li River, which meanders through the town and surrounding karst mountains. While for hundreds of years this unique scenery has attracted poets and artists and has been the subject of countless fairy tales and legends, these days, it's popular with tourists from around the world wanting to see this natural splendor up close.

An easy 15-kilometer commute from Beijing, the sumptuous Imperial Summer Palace (Yíhé Yuán) is set amid more than 700 acres of beautiful parkland and is one of China's most visited attractions. While the palace itself was built in 1153, its large lake was added in the 14th century to enhance the Imperial Gardens.

It was while digging wells on the outskirts of Xi'an in the 1970s that farmers stumbled across what was to be China's most important archeological find: the Terracotta Army. Distributed over three large underground pits and built to guard the First Emperor's tomb, the find included more than 8,000 life-size warriors, some 520 horses, and more than 100 chariots, along with numerous other non-military characters dating from around 280 BC.