While living in China I primarily did most of my traveling for work related reasons. Sometimes, a visit to a factory in another province was literally an overnight trek (remind me to tell you the story of the duck tape on the wing!), but I always tried as hard as possible to see the surrounding area as much as possible.

Every province, every district, every village even, had its own unique culture, language, and history. While much of that has been eroded today by the Central Government enforcing certain things, like only Mandarin to be taught in schools, it is still very possible to meet people who seem like they’re caught in time.

The country is large (roughly 100,000 sq. miles larger than the US) and has many amazing China tourist attractions for you to visit.

With more than 22 provinces, four directly controlled municipalities, two self-governing special administrative areas and five autonomous regions, it is hard to list a few of the top-notch tourist spots in the country.

I have had the chance to visit some pretty exotic places in China, which I have shared some in this article. I have also mentioned the places that might not be worth your time.

China Tourist Attractions – Sights to See!

Beijing has been China’s capital for more than 700 (rather young, China has had 5 capitals in its long history, Beijing being the newest) years and is indeed one of the finest cities to visit in the country. Some of the best attractions of the city include the famous Great Wall of China, the interesting Forbidden City, the fascinating Temple of Heaven, the lovely Summer Palace and the Olympic Village. Also, I personally always found the Ming Tombs to be very interesting.

Shanghai is another wonderful city in China and has a very dynamic atmosphere that has modernity like that of New York. Some of the sights for you to visit are the Jade Buddha Temple, Yuyuan Garden and going on the Huangpu River cruise, and the TV Tower, and an amazing walk along the Bund (***Watch out for pickpockets!!!). There is also an incredible historical side to the city, some great museums, and even the old Jewish ghetto that was used by the Japanese to keep Jews during WWII.

Xi’an is an amazing place to visit if interest historical sites. It houses a huge number of amazing relics and ancient sites. The Entombed Warriors, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the First Emperor’s Tomb, the Great Mosque and the Ancient City Wall are some of the top sites to see in the city. For seeing the Giant Pandas, you must visit Chengdu.

Guilin is a beautiful city in the country, and is often regarded as one of the most gorgeous cities in the world. You must visit Long sheng and Yangzhou if you want to have a relaxing time amidst scenic views.

Hangzhou is another city with breathtaking views. Besides the views, it has places like Thousand Islets Lake, Wuhan, Xizang, National Tea Museum and National Silk Museum for you to visit.

China Tourist Attractions – Sights You Should Avoid

Mao’s Mausoleum is a place that can be missed while you are in Beijing. Cameras are not allowed there because of security reasons and the guides at the sight are thugs, waiting to scam the tourists.

The Banpo Neolithic Village and Fang Shui Museum in Xi’an are two other popular tourist traps of the city. Not only are they are also overcrowded and the guides there are always seeking tourists to scam them. Although the famous backstreet of this city hosts great souvenirs of both, Xi’an and China, but many of the vendors there are scammers as well. If you want to purchase a memento from there, make sure to bargain a lot on the price offered to you.

These are just some of the awesome China tourist attractions to visit.

I’ll be writing soon about my two week journey with my Grandpa when he came to visit me in China. Our trip started in Hong Kong, went to Beijing, Shanghai, Zhujiaojiao, and Xi’an. It was an extraordinary trip that anyone should take if given the opportunity.

Enjoy!