With every new edition of this book, identifying the "Best of China" becomes a more and more difficult task. As this once isolated giant awakens, forces are being unleashed that impact tourism. Devastating pollution, widespread corruption, and the sheer volume of tourists have transformed many of China's best-known sights into filthy, overpriced circuses. To find the very best that China has to offer, it is sadly becoming more important to know what to avoid, rather than what to see.

Perhaps the best advice that we can give is to focus on nature. After suffering through the devastating Cultural Revolution, what little remains of the country's much-vaunted 5,000 years of culture is being lost in the rush to get rich -- even small cities have become heavily polluted sweatshops. Fortunately, China still has some of the most spectacular natural scenery on the planet. Many places within the People's Republic have only recently been opened to visitors, so we have only had a few decades to unlock some of this enormous realm's secrets. While we certainly do not claim to have uncovered everything, we have been truly inspired by this huge treasure house, and have included here what we have discovered so far.

China - Regions in Brief

Beijing, Tianjin & Hebei

While there's much talk of getting to the Three Gorges on the Yangzi River before the area's partial disappearance, the real urgency is to see what little is left of old Beijing , with its ancient housing and original Ming dynasty street plan. Thanks to new construction, whole city blocks can vanish at once, sometimes taking ancient, long-forgotten temples with them.

But while Beijing suffers from being communism's showpiece for the outside world and a victim of ersatz modernization, it still has far more to offer than several other Chinese cities put together, including some of China's most extravagant monuments, such as the Forbidden City. In addition, there's easy access to the surrounding province of Hebei with its sinuous sections of the Great Wall and vast tomb complexes.

The Northeast

Even if the Chinese no longer believe civilization ends at the Great Wall, most tourists still do. The frigid lands to the Northeast, once known as Tartary or Manchuria, represent one of the least-visited and most challenging regions in China, and its last great travel frontier.

Despite industrialization, the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilong Jiang, and the northern section of Inner Mongolia, still claim China's largest natural forest, its most pristine grasslands, and one of its most celebrated lakes (Tian Chi). You'll also find architectural remnants of the last 350 years -- early Qing palaces and tombs, incongruous Russian cupolas, and eerie structures left over from Japan's wartime occupation.

Around the Yellow River

As covered in this book, this region comprises an area of northern China that includes Shanxi, Ningxia, parts of Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia, roughly following the central loop of the Yellow River north of Xi'an. One of China's "cradles of civilization," the area is home to most of the country's oldest surviving timber-frame buildings, its oldest carved Buddhist grottoes, and Pingyao, one of its best-preserved walled cities.

The Silk Routes

From the ancient former capital of Xi'an, famed for the modern rediscovery of the Terra-Cotta Warriors, trade routes ran in all directions, but most famously (because they were given a clever name in the 19th c.) west and northwest through Gansu and Xinjiang, and on through the Middle East. Under the control of Tibetan, Mongol, Indo-European, and Turkic peoples more than of Chinese, these regions are still populated with Uighurs, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Tibetans, and others, some in tiny oasis communities on the rim of the Taklamakan Desert, which seem completely remote from China. The Silk Routes are littered with alien monuments and tombs, and with magnificent cave-temple sights such as Dunhuang, which demonstrate China's import of foreign religions and aesthetics as much as the wealth generated by its exports of silk.

Eastern Central China

Eastern central China, between the Yellow River (Huang He) and the Yangzi River (Chang Jiang), is an area covering the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui. Chinese culture developed and flourished with little outside influence here. Luoyang was the capital of nine dynasties, Kaifeng capital of six, and Nanjing capital of eight. The hometown of China's most important philosopher, Confucius, is here, as are several of China's holiest mountains, notably Tai Shan and Huang Shan, as well as that watery equivalent of the Great Wall, the Grand Canal.

Shanghai

Shanghai is the city China boosters love to cite as representing the country as a whole, but it in fact represents nothing except itself -- the country's wealthiest city, and with (if government figures are to be believed) the highest per-capita income. Look closer and you'll see many of its shiny new towers are incomplete or unoccupied. But the sweep of 19th- and early-20th-century architecture along The Bund, which looks as if the town halls of two dozen provincial British cities have been transported to a more exotic setting, and the maze of Art Deco masterpieces in the French Concession behind the Bund, make Shanghai the mainland's top East-meets-West destination, with the restaurants and a more relaxed and open-minded atmosphere to match. Nearby Hangzhou and Suzhou offer some of China's most famous scenery.

The Southeast

South of Shanghai and the Yangzi River, the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong have always been China's most outward looking. These areas, which boomed under the relatively open Tang dynasty and which were forced to reopen as "treaty ports" by the guns of the first multinationals in the 19th century, are also those most industrialized under the current "reform and opening" policy. Remembering that this is a guide for travelers rather than businesspeople, we have focused on areas of great natural beauty such as Anji and Yandangshan, rather than so called "developed" coastal cities where modern multinationals have offloaded their most substandard industrial plants and their most polluting industries. A bit inland, the impoverished pottery-producing province of Jiangxi shows the two-speed nature of China's growth.

Hong Kong & Macau

Two sets of pencil-slim towers jostle for position on either side of a harbor, close as bristles on a brush. Between them, ponderous oceangoing vessels slide past puttering junks, and century-old ferries waddle and weave across their paths. The mixture of Asia's finest hotels, territory-wide duty-free shopping, incense-filled working temples, and British double-decker buses makes this city-state worth flying to Asia to see in its own right. Macau, a little bit of misplaced Mediterranean, is a short ferry ride away.

The Southwest

Encompassing the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hainan Island, this region is home to some of China's most spectacular mountain scenery and three of Asia's mightiest rivers, resulting in some of the most breathtaking gorges and lush river valleys in the country.

Even more appealing: This region is easily the most ethnically diverse in China. Twenty-six of China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups can be found in the southwest, from the Mosu in Lugu Lake to the Dai in Xishuangbanna , from the Miao around Kaili to the Dong in San Jiang , each with different architecture, dress, traditions, and colorful festivals.

The Yangzi River

In addition to shared borders, the landlocked provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan and the municipality of Chongqing have in common the world's third-longest river, the Chang Jiang ("Long River," aka Yangzi or Yangtze). The home of five holy Buddhist and/or Daoist mountains, this area contains some of China's most beautiful scenery, particularly in northern Sichuan and northern Hunan.

Sichuan deserves exploration using Chengdu as a base, and the Hunan should be explored from Changsha. If you're taking the Three Gorges cruise (available indefinitely despite what you may have heard), try to at least leave yourself a few days on either end to explore Chongqing and Wuhan. And a day trip from Chongqing to the Buddhist grottoes at Dazu is well worth the time.

The Tibetan World

The Tibetan plateau is roughly the size of western Europe, with an average elevation of 4,700m (15,400 ft.). Ringed by vast mountain ranges such as the Kunlun range to the north and the Himalayas, the region offers towering scenic splendors as well as some of the richest minority culture within modern China's borders. Lhasa, former seat of the Dalai Lamas, is dominated physically by the vast Potala Palace, and emotionally by the fervor of the pilgrims to the Jokhang Temple. Fewer than half of the world's Tibetans now live in what is called Tibet -- much Tibetan territory has now been allocated to neighboring Chinese provinces, particularly Qinghai, where the authorities are less watchful and the atmosphere in both monasteries and on the streets more relaxed.

China - The Best Museums

Hong Kong Museum of History (Hong Kong): A life-size diorama of a Neolithic settlement, replicas of fishing boats and traditional houses, ethnic clothing, displays of colorful festivals, and whole streets of old shop frontages with their interiors removed piece by piece and rebuilt here, make this the most entertaining museum in China.

Shanxi Lishi Bowuguan (Xi'an): If you can visit only one museum in China, this should be it. An unrivaled collection of treasures, many demonstrating Xi'an's international contacts via the Silk Routes, is more professionally displayed here than almost anywhere else in the mainland.

Sanxing Dui Bowuguan (Chengdu): An attractive and well-laid-out museum housing items from a group of sacrificial pits, this is one of the most significant finds in 20th-century China.

Shanghai Bowuguan (Shanghai): In terms of display and English labeling, this ultramodern museum (lights fade as you approach cabinets), loaded with stunning antiquities, is China's most modern and inviting.

Nanjing Datusha Jinianguan (Nanjing): The deaths of over 300,000 Chinese, killed over the course of 6 weeks during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanjing, are commemorated here. Photographs and artifacts documenting the Japanese onslaught, the atrocities suffered, and the aftermath, are sobering, grisly, and shockingly effective.

Wang Anting Xiaoxiao Zhanlanguan (Chengdu): Located in a narrow lane west of the main town square, this small, one-of-a-kind museum contains tens of thousands of Mao pins, Cultural Revolution memorabilia, and vintage photographs. The museum occupies the living room of its devoted proprietor.

Quanzhou Taiwan Friendship Museum (Quanzhou): Although the Minnan design of this building is impressive, the real reason that I recommend it is to see how ridiculous (and increasingly frightening and dangerous) propaganda concerning Taiwan has become in the last few years. To paraphrase Rich Hall, in showpieces like this, China is somewhat like a beauty contestant, absolutely gorgeous until it opens its mouth.

China - The Best Temples & Shrines

Kong Miao (Qufu): One of China's greatest classical architectural complexes, this spectacular temple in Confucius's hometown is the largest and most magnificent of the hundreds of temples around the country honoring the sage. Greatly enlarged since it was originally built in 478 B.C., it has a series of gates and buildings aligned on a north-south axis and decorated with imperial flourishes like yellow-tiled roofs and dragon-entwined pillars.

Maiji Shan Shiku (Tianshui): This haystack-shaped mountain of soft red rock, covered in brilliant green foliage, is China's prettiest cave-temple site, and the only one where statuary has been added to the cave walls rather than carved out of them. Views from the stairs and walkways lacing the cliffs are spectacular (including those straight down).

Guan Yin Dong (Yandangshan): the Goddess of Mercy Cave consists of 10 stories of wooden timbers over 100m (328 ft.) high, and constructed deep inside a huge long vertical crevasse. Absolutely breathtaking and set in some of the most beautiful surroundings.

Zhengding (Hebei): Neither the most spectacular nor the best known of temple groups, but within a short walking distance of each other, are some of China's oldest surviving unimproved temple buildings (one of which houses a 30m-high/90-ft. multiarmed bronze of Guanyin), and a collection of ancient pagodas so varied it's almost as if they've been set out specifically to surprise you.

Jokhang Temple (Lhasa): The spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism, this temple should be visited twice: once to see the intense devotion of pilgrims circumnavigating it by prostrating themselves repeatedly across cobblestones made slippery by centuries of burning yak-butter lamps, and rubbing their foreheads against the statuary in the dim, smoky interior; and a second time in the afternoon for a closer look at the ancient images they venerate.

Temple of Heaven (Beijing): The circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, one of the finest achievements of Ming architecture, is almost as well known as a symbol of Beijing as the Tian'an Men, but the three-tiered sacrificial altar of plain stone is thought by many to be the most sublime object of beauty in China.

Sakya Monastery (Sajia Si) (Sakya): The massive 35m (115-ft.) windowless gray walls of Lhakhang Chenmo tower above the village and fields on the southern bank of the Trum Chu. Completed in 1274, this monastery fort was largely funded by Kublai Khan, and unlike the older temples of north Sakya, it survived the Cultural Revolution.

Mogao Shiku (Dunhuang): The biggest, best-preserved, and most significant site of Buddhist statuary and frescoes in all China, with the broadest historical range, the Mogao Caves, in their tranquil desert setting, should be your choice if you can see only one cave site.

Yonghe Gong (Beijing): After the Qing Yongzheng emperor moved into the Forbidden City, his personal residence was converted into this temple. Several impressive incense burners are scattered throughout the golden-roofed complex, also known as the Lama Temple. A 20m-tall (60-ft.) sandalwood statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha, fills the last building.

Baoding Shan (Dazu): Artistically among the subtlest and most sophisticated of China's Buddhist grottoes, these Song dynasty caves are situated around a horseshoe-shaped cove, at the center of which is lush forest.

Longmen Shiku (Dragon Gate Grottoes) (Luoyang): The grottoes go well beyond just the identity of a temple, as these caves are considered one of the best sculptural treasure-troves in China. The site comprises a mind-boggling 2,300 caves and niches with more than 2,800 inscriptions and over 100,000 Buddhist statues.

Yungang Shiku (Shanxi): These are the earliest Buddhist caves carved in China. Most were hollowed out over a 65-year period between 460 and 524. Viewed as a whole, they show a movement from Indian and central Asian artistic models to greater reliance on Chinese traditions.

China - The Best Castles, Palaces & Historic Homes

Wang Jia Dayuan (Pingyao): It took a century for this vast mansion to grow to 123 courtyards and 1,118 houses; the decorative lattice screens and windows, shaped openings between rooms and courtyards, and undulating walls are exquisite examples of Ming and Qing vernacular architecture.

Potala Palace (Lhasa): A monastery, a palace, and a prison, the Potala symbolizes the fusion of secular and religious power in Tibet in a vast, slab-sided, red-and-white agglomeration on a hilltop dominating central Lhasa. Despite the ruination of its surroundings, there's no more haunting sight within China's modern political boundaries, and nothing else that speaks so clearly of the otherness of Tibet.

The Forbidden City (Beijing): Preeminent among the surviving complexes of ancient buildings in China, the former residence of the emperors needs far more time than most tours give it.

Wei Huanggong (Changchun): Also known as the Puppet Emperor's Palace and best known in the west as the setting for part of Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor, this impressive palace complex, opened to visitors after an admirable full-scale restoration in 2002, was the residence of Henry Puyi, China's last emperor and subsequently puppet ruler of Japanese-controlled Manchukuo.

Wang Jia Dayuan (Hebei): With investment from a Beijing entrepreneur, part of a traditional courtyard mansion that once housed Shanhaiguan's wealthiest burgher has been magnificently restored and is expected to expand farther south. Set in the heart of the old walled town, it also boasts a folk museum crammed with curiosities. Four of the rooms are available for overnight stays, although you'll have to be out before the next day's visitors arrive.

Qiao Jia Dayuan (Pingyao): One of the loveliest of the several merchant family mansions of this area, this was the set for the film Raise the Red Lantern. With six large courtyards, 313 houses, and fine craftsmanship of lattices, lintels, carvings, wooden balustrades, and chimneys throughout, the 18th-century manse takes hours to explore.

Bishu Shanzhuang (Chengde): The imperial summer resort and its surrounding Eight Outer Temples form another of the greatest ancient architectural complexes of China, arranged around a green valley. The temples have bizarre borrowings from a number of minority architectural traditions, and both temples and palace have 18th-century replicas of buildings of which the country is most proud.

China - Favorite Experiences

Strolling Past the Old Russian Architecture in Harbin: At the heart of the Russian-built city, Zhongyang Dajie's unexpected cupola-topped Art Nouveau mansions are reminders of the 1920s and 1930s, when Harbin was the liveliest stop on this leg of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Exploring the Forbidden City's Forgotten Corners (Beijing): No one fails to be impressed by the grandeur of the Forbidden City's central axis, which is all most visitors see. But the quieter maze of pavilions, gardens, courtyards, and theaters to either side have the greater charm.

Dining on Shanghai's Bund: China's most famous waterfront street of colonial architecture, the Bund, has become the toniest address in town, with the redevelopment of a few formerly stodgy old buildings into some of the city's finest shopping and dining establishments. These rooftop restaurants offer unsurpassed views of Shanghai, old and new.

Cycling the City Wall in Xi'an: The largest city walls in China have been much pierced for modern purposes and can be tackled in a modern way, too, with a breezy, traffic-light-free ride above the rooftops on rented bicycles and tandems. Behold views of remnants of vernacular architecture, clustered around small temples.

Exploring Li Jiang's Old Town: Built over 800 years ago and partly rebuilt after a massive 1996 earthquake, Li Jiang's old town, with its maze of cobblestone streets, gurgling streams, and original and reconstructed traditional Naxi houses, is one of the most atmospheric places in China, hordes of tourists notwithstanding. Rise before the sun, then watch its golden rays filter through the gray winding streets, lighting up the dark wooden houses.

Walking on the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai (Beijing): The Great Wall, winding snakelike through the mountains, was meant to be walked. This magnificent 3-hour hike follows China's greatest monument through various states of repair, from freshly restored to thoroughly crumbling, over steep peaks and gentle flats, and through patches of wilderness and rugged farmland, with over two dozen watchtowers along the way.

Riding the Star Ferry (Hong Kong): There's no better way to get acquainted with Hong Kong than to ride the cheapest cruise in China. The century-old green-and-white Star ferries weave between tugs, junks, and oceangoing vessels in a 5-minute harbor crossing, and thanks to the wonderful Suzy Wong novel, remain one of the territories' premier attractions.

Exploring the karst scenery around Yangshuo: The cruise down the now-polluted Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo may be overexposed and overpriced, but the scenery area remains captivating. Avoid the pricey taxis and motorbike rentals and explore instead in traditional Chinese style, by bicycle. Both the Yulong River and the Jin Bao are still relatively peaceful as they flick lazily through serrated hills like dragon's teeth.

Unwinding in a Sichuan Teahouse: One of the great pleasures of being in Sichuan is drinking tea at a neighborhood teahouse. On any given afternoon at Qingyang Gong in Chengdu, for instance, seniors can be found playing mahjong with friends while their caged songbirds sit in nearby trees providing ambient music. As patrons eat watermelon seeds, nuts, dried squid, or beef jerky, attendants appear at regular intervals to refill their cups from copper kettles. For an afternoon of perfect relaxation, stop by and forget about sightseeing for a few hours.

Gazing at the Sea of Terra-Cotta Warriors at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang (Xi'an): The first sight of the tomb, in a hangarlike building, leaves many visitors stunned and awed. This destination is at the top of almost every visitor's list, and it does not disappoint.

Strolling in Shanghai's French Concession: The domain of the French community up until 1949 was colonial Shanghai's trendiest area, and it remains full of tree-lined boulevards, colonial mansions, and Art Deco masterpieces, now bundled up with phone lines and pole-hung washing. Some of the city's best shopping is also here. Just beyond the former concession is one of modern Shanghai's trendiest areas, the mega-development of restaurants and shops known as Xin Tiandi.

Getting Lost in the lanes around Beijing's Back Lakes: No other city in the world has anything quite like the hutong, narrow lanes once "as numberless as the hairs on an ox." Now rapidly vanishing, the best-preserved hutong are found around a pair of man-made lakes in the city center. This area is almost the last repository of Old Beijing's gritty, low-rise charm, dotted with tiny temples, hole-in-the-wall noodle shops, and quiet courtyard houses whose older residents still wear Mao suits.

Strolling the Old Neighborhoods of Kashgar: The dusty alleys, colorful residential doorways, and mud-brick walls remain as they have been for decades. Kids with henna-dyed feet and fingernails will approach you speaking a few words of Chinese and English; men with donkey carts trudge down narrow passages; bakers arrange round large slabs of nan in coal ovens built into the ground. Spending hours watching how citizens of Kashgar live is one of the most rewarding experiences along the Silk Road.

Taking a "Peapod" Boat on Shennong Stream (Yangzi River): Best of the Three Gorges cruise excursions, this 2-hour journey through a long, narrow canyon takes passengers to one of the famous suspended coffins of the Ba people, then returns them downstream in a fraction of the time. Along the way, howler monkeys may be spotted swinging through the trees, small waterfalls appear from the rocks, and swallows and other small birds flit about. The water in this small tributary is surprisingly clear, and the scenery and silence are thoroughly calming.