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Sooth Your Soul on Fabled Yellow Mountain 3-Day, $811 USD - China Highlights
Fantastic Tour of Ancient Lijiang 3-Day, $289 USD - China Highlights
The Wonders of Urumqi,Turpan Hami and Dunhuang, An Exciting 7 -Day Adventure , $1420 USD - China Highlights
An Amazing Discovery Tour, Featured Lhasa and Shigatse 6-Day,$1094 USD - China Highlights
A Charming Tour around Suzhou and the Water Village-Tongli 4-Day, $425 USD-Special for the 10th Anniversary of China Highlights
China’s Five Most Beautiful Villages: A Photo Essay
- Text and Photos by Tom Carter
China is Asia's greatest paradox: the fastest growing economy in the world is also history's oldest civilization. It is where steel and glass skylines are haloed by crumbling walls, and well-heeled bankers rub shoulders with barefooted ethnic minorities.
During my two-year journey to every province and autonomous region in the People's Republic, I have been blessed to visit both the gleaming metropolises of China's future and the sepia-toned remnants of its past.
The following series of photos is taken from my upcoming book of photography ‘CHINA: Portrait of a People.' They capture those remote villages that have yet to meet China's wrecking ball. For a glimpse into China's true history, an excursion in the opposite direction from the crowds, off the proverbial beaten path, will reward the intrepid traveler with sites and experiences incomparable.
An Overview: Official Flowers of Chinese Cities
Chinese : 桂花 gui hua
English : Osmanthus
Latin : Flos Osmanthi Fragrantis
Suzhou Hefei Guilin Hangzhou
Three of the four cities that boast sweet osmanthus as their official flower are also some of the biggest tourist destinations in China. Tiny and delicate, they are particularly prominent in Suzhou's many world-renowned gardens. Similarly, Hangzhou has taken advantage of their autumnal blooming season to feature them during its annual West Lake Osmanthus Festival in September. Yet despite the efforts of these two cities to claim the flower as their own, Guilin, or ‘The Forest of Osmanthus," as its name means in Chinese, has them both beaten: botanists believe the plant has been in the city for more than 10,000 years, and you can still buy a sweet wine made from the flower in the city today.
Chinese : 梅花 mei hua
English : Plum Blossom
Latin : Prunus Mei
Nanjing Wuhan
The plum blossom blooms particularly early in the year, giving visitors a chance to see them in full force before these two summer ‘furnaces,' reach their unbearably hot peaks. In Chinese paintings and literature the flower represents courage, noble thoughts, hope, and strong will. A source of great pride, both cities have plum blossom festivals in late winter displaying not only the flowers, but also calligraphy and paintings that show off the plum blossom's beauty.
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