If you are looking for a change of scenery during the upcoming National Day holiday but don't wish to stray too far from Beijing, follow your compass west out to the Ming Dynasty village of Cuandixia.
Cruising is a relatively new travel experience for Chinese holiday-makers. Brad Webber joins a cruise and enjoys watching his fellow passengers as much as the sights.
Clockwise from top: The Commune villas are dispersed across the mountainside; an evening meal against an idyllic Great Wall scene, the living room of Bamboo Wall villa; guests enjoy a lunchtime meal; this stretch of the wall remains in its untouched form.
It can be easy to forget about the outside world if one spends too much time inside Beijing.
As the summer sun casts short shadows onto packed streets, METRO has the low-down on how to escape.
Catch the watery views at Zhouzhuang, only 50 kilometers from Shanghai, Wang Bian reports.
The Xiate Ancient Trail, one of the most treacherous sections of the historic Northern Silk Road, is famous for its flower-filled prairies, snow-capped mountains and glacier-fed rivers.
A lake dotted with islands and fringed by a laid-back city is a perfect setting, Matt Hodges reports.
Ningxia's desert sun shines light on the ancient secrets of its shadowy past.
Nedong county, southeast of Lhasa, is an oasis of tranquility and home to the region's first palace as also its first village, as Qi Xiao discovers
The birthplace of some of the nation's most illustrious sons and that of one of its four classic cuisines are just 140 km apart on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
A visit to the drum-shaped Micang Mountains and surrounding reserve offers a truly wild experience.