Kina

Visst kan man längta ut i världen för att se nya saker – men Kinas nya turistattraktion är kanske inget för den som är rädd för höjder eller tvivlar på karusellers säkerhet. Då njuter man nog inte!

An easy half-hour metro ride will take day-trippers from Guǎngzhōu to this city. Fóshān (佛山; literally ‘Buddha Hill’) was famous for its ceramics in the Ming dynasty. Today, it’s better known as the birthplace of two kung fu icons, Wong Fei Hung and Ip Man (Bruce Lee's master), and the Wing Chun style of kung fu developed here.

Pingyao (平遥, Píngyáo) is China’s best-preserved ancient walled town. If you have any China mileage under your belt you'll appreciate the town’s age-old charms. While some ‘ancient’ cities may rustle together an unconvincing display of old city walls, sporadic temples or the occasional ragged alley thrust beneath apartment blocks, Pingyao has managed to keep its beguiling narrative largely intact: red-lantern–hung lanes set against silhouettes of imposing town walls, ancient towers poking into the north China sky, and an entire brood of creaking temples. In recent years, shops on the main commercial streets have developed a penchant for disco lighting, light-box menus and noise-making costumed jesters. But outside these central areas, the ancient city is little changed.

Like many of the other famous water towns, Wūzhèn (乌镇) was part of the Grand Canal and prospered from trade and silk production. It's a major tourist attraction, and with its crowds and rows of souvenir shops its easy to write off Wūzhèn as inauthentic. But then you turn a corner and get a view of, say, an ancient stone bridge curving over a canal or a row of weathered Qing dynasty wooden homes, and realise: this place really is beautiful. It's also easily explored, with good transit links.

Zhūhǎi (珠海) is close enough to Macau for a day trip without any maniacal driving. Never too hot or too frosty, Zhūhǎi is the just-right popular Chinese getaway – especially in summer – with plenty of seaside glitz. Yet it remains laid-back, and what helps it really shine is the natural beauty of its gardens and an attractive, relatively clean port.

Situated on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, this lively and hugely diverse provincial capital makes a good base from which to dive into the surrounding sights and on to the more remote regions of Qinghai and beyond. Though many travellers use Xining (西宁, Xīníng) as a jumping-off or landing point from the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, it’s also a wonderful place to encounter the province’s varied cultures – Muslim (Hui, Salar and Uyghur), Tibetan and Han Chinese – especially the rich culinary mix that these groups bring together. There's superb food and a scattering of tempting cafes as well as an outstanding museum of Tibetan culture, some beautiful temples and mosques, plus the remains of the old city wall, so try not to race through without putting aside some time to explore.

History and hedonism run side by side in Liáoníng (辽宁). Walled Ming dynasty cities rub up against booming beach resorts, while imperial palaces sit in the centre of bustling modern cities. Nothing quite captures the fun and distinction, however, as much as seaside Dàlián, with its golden coastline and summer beer festival, and former battlegrounds where Russian and Japanese armies wrestled for control of the region in the early 20th century. In Dāndōng, regional tensions of recent history are causing some spine-tingling at the border with North Korea. The Yālù River here brings you within glimpsing distance of the hermit kingdom from a boat deck or halfway across a bridge.

Gingerly stepping along a trail swept with scree to allow an old fellow with a donkey to pass; resting atop a rock, exhausted, looking up to see the snow-shrouded peaks, then down to see the lingering rays dancing on the rippling waters a thousand metres below. That pretty much sums up Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡, Hǔtiào Xiá), long one of the great treks of southwest China. Add in modern development, power lines and water pipes that follow the high trail, and a few stretches of road walking: this is no longer wild nature, but the views are still grand and it's still worth the trip.

In Xīnjiāng's capital, Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐; Wūlǔmùqí), high-rise apartments form a modern skyline that will soon dash any thoughts of spotting wandering camels and ancient caravanserais. The vast majority of its inhabitants are Han Chinese, and the city is one of the least typical of Xīnjiāng, though glimpses of the distant Tiān Shān mountains provide a taste of the extraordinary landscapes awaiting you elsewhere.

From ancient walled capital to showpiece megacity in barely a century, Beijing (Běijīng, 北京), spins a breathless yarn of triumph, tragedy, endurance and innovation.