China
China is a cultural region and civilization which is a multinational entity over a large area of East Asia, due to the Chinese Civil War which ended in 1949 there are now two separate political entries of China, they are; The Republic of China which tends to be known as Taiwan and has control over countries such as Taiwan, Matsu, Kinmen and Penghu, the second is known as the Peoples Republic of China, which has control over the mainland of China and is known as China, and also has control of the self-governed areas in Hong Kong.
China has one of - if not the oldest civilisation and has one of the oldest written language systems and is also seen as a major place for inventions. A lot of China's culture has been passed onto a number of its neighbouring countries such as Japan and Korea.
The Peoples Republic of China is the largest country in East Asia, with the capital of Beijing and is home to one fifth of the whole world's population. They are ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single party and are a socialist republic which has control over 22 provinces, 5 regions, 4 municipalities and 2 special administrative regions - Hong Kong and Macau.
The Republic of China known as Taiwan is a state in East Asia which was originally part of a single party state that was globally recognised but it now a democratic state that doesn't have that amount of recognition anymore. The Republic of China now only has control over Taiwan and some other small islands however it is one of the founding members of the United Nations.
In recent times China hosted the 2008 Olympics in Beijing , not only did this bring a lot people to China for the games but it has also resulted in Beijing seeing a massive increase in the amount of people coming to visit the country since the games in 2008. Not only has Beijing seen a tourist increase but neighbouring countries which hosted some of the games have also welcomed a high number of tourists since 2008, these are countries such as Hong Kong, who held the Equestrian events and Qingdao, who held sailing events.
Spread across 9.6 million acres whether you are in the area of the Peoples Republic of China or the Republic of China, the country has an extremely rich and detailed history which you are able to feel when you visit a number of their iconic places, take a look at our list of just some of them below;
The Great Wall of China - is in the northern area of China, which was built then rebuilt and maintained during the 5th century BC and 16th century in order to protect the northern boarders of the Chinese Empire from any Xiongnu attacks. The wall goes from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west and reaches a massive 5,500 miles and was listed as World Heritage in 1987. They're a number of tours that go along the Great Wall, whether you want to do a day trip climbing just part o the wall or for more experience hikers there are longer and specifically designed tours available. Tourist's can now also have the chance to sleep in the Great Wall with trips now offering this chance, you are able to sleep under the star whilst laying on one of most famous and iconic structures.
The Forbidden City - can be find in the middle to Beijing and was the palace of China from the Ming dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, this making it the home of Emperors and ceremonies for around five century's, the palace is now the home of the Palace Museum. The palace was built in 1406 to 1420, for this reason when you visit the palace you get a real sense of traditional Chinese architecture. The Forbidden City was registered as World Heritage in 1987. The Palace Museum not holds art from the Ming and Qing Dynasty but also collections that have been built from this. The Palace is listed along with Buckingham Palace in the UK, the White House in Washington, and Palace Versailles in France and the Kremlin in Russia as one of the five most important palaces in the world. The Forbidden city covers around 150,000 square metres within its ground it contains around 980 buildings, bring a total of 8,740 rooms. Today there are a number of tours that take place through-out the year if the Forbidden City, on these tours you enter the Meridian Gates where the emperor would have walked through, you then get taken across the Golden Steam Bridge arriving at the outer court where you can go to either of the two parts to the city which are the outer court or the inner palaces.
The Three Gorges - along the Yangtze River The Three Gorges is known for its absolutely breath taking views, from its magnificent valley's to its imposing limestone cliffs. The Three Gorges is extremely popular amongst tourists, the best way of seeing the beauty of the Three Gorges is by taking a river cruise, this allows you to see the Gorges at their best, but also due to the waters rising rapidly it also is the best way and the only way you can see some of the sights. The route through the Three Gorges also now acts as a water trade route between the East and the West. However there is currently the Three Gorges Dam project that should be finished in 2009 which the Government claim will make the sites better than ever - however other believe that due to the project some of the breath taking sites are disappearing!
Tourism