China had been on my list of places to visit ever since I became serious about traveling. After so many trips focused on miserably cold mountain climbs or trying to visit some of the most dangerous countries in the world, China felt almost like a vacation from my vacations.
Ironically, the main reason I came to China in the first place was because I needed to travel through Beijing on my way to North Korea. After returning from North Korea, I had plenty of time to start exploring China itself.
I found China surprisingly easy to backpack through, the people friendly, and the number of places to visit almost endless. After some of my previous trips, I’d nearly forgotten what it was like traveling somewhere with a well-developed tourism and transportation network.
China is nearly the size of the United States and contains an enormous range of landscapes, cultures, cities, and historical sites. Its long succession of kingdoms and dynasties also left behind some of the most impressive historical monuments I’ve seen anywhere.
On this trip I explored Beijing, walked along the Great Wall, visited Xi’an, climbed Mount Huashan, and saw some of the wildlife native to the Qinling Mountains. I also later traveled through Tibet and climbed Mount Everest from the Tibetan side. There is still an enormous amount of China I’d like to see, especially the mountains, forests, and tropical regions farther south and west.
Explore Beijing
Beijing is both China’s capital and one of its great historical centers. The city’s history stretches back more than 3,000 years, and it became the capital of a unified China during the Yuan dynasty. It remained the country’s political center through most of the Ming and Qing dynasties and again became the national capital in 1949.
Some of Beijing’s most famous sites include the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. Beyond the historic center, Beijing is an enormous modern metropolis with neighborhoods and districts extending far beyond the areas most visitors ever see.
Explore Xi’an
Xi’an has more than 3,000 years of history and served as the capital of several major Chinese dynasties under earlier names, including Chang’an. The old city remains enclosed by its massive Ming-era wall, one of the largest and best-preserved ancient city walls in China.
Temples, pagodas, the Great Mosque, and architecture from different periods of Chinese history can be found throughout the city. Just outside Xi’an is its most famous archaeological treasure, the Terracotta Army, where thousands of life-size clay soldiers, horses, and chariots were created more than 2,000 years ago for the tomb complex of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
Explore the Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is one of the most recognizable structures on Earth, forming an enormous network of fortifications constructed, rebuilt, and expanded across different periods of Chinese history. Contrary to a persistent myth, the wall is not readily visible to the naked eye from space.
Different sections of the Great Wall can look remarkably different. Some have been extensively restored, with imposing towers and stone staircases, while remote sections have deteriorated into crumbling walls and ruins gradually being reclaimed by vegetation. Together, these surviving sections reveal the immense scale of the defensive systems that once stretched across northern China.
Explore Mount Huashan
Mount Huashan is one of China’s Five Great Mountains, combining dramatic granite peaks with temples, steep stairways, cable cars, narrow ridges, and famously exposed mountain routes. Its religious importance stretches back centuries, with Taoist temples and shrines scattered across the mountain.
Visitors can experience Huashan in very different ways, from riding cable cars high onto the mountain to climbing the steep trails from below and staying overnight near the summits. Sheer cliffs and exposed pathways connect a series of peaks overlooking the surrounding mountains and plains.
Explore Zhouzhi Wildlife Reserve
Zhouzhi lies along the northern side of the Qinling Mountains west of Xi’an, within a region containing some of central China’s richest wildlife habitat. Protected forests in the area support rare native species including giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and Qinling takins.
The Qinling Mountains are particularly important for their distinctive population of giant pandas, which is geographically separated from the better-known panda populations farther southwest. Wildlife research and conservation facilities in the region also work with pandas and other endangered animals native to these mountains.
Explore Tibet
The Tibetan Plateau combines ancient monasteries and a distinctive Tibetan cultural heritage with some of the highest and most dramatic landscapes on Earth. Lhasa is its best-known cultural and historical center, home to landmarks such as the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple.
Beyond Lhasa, settlements, monasteries, enormous valleys, high mountain passes, and the peaks of the Himalayas extend across the plateau. Traveling overland toward the Nepalese border also provides access to the northern side of Mount Everest and some of the most extreme high-altitude terrain in the world.
Explore Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, rising to 8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 feet) along the border between Nepal and Tibet. The two sides provide dramatically different approaches to the mountain and form the starting points for its two principal commercial climbing routes.
The Nepalese approach passes through the Khumbu Valley before reaching Everest Base Camp below the Khumbu Icefall. From Tibet, the northern route approaches Everest across the Tibetan Plateau before climbing through the North Col and following the North and Northeast Ridges toward the summit.
