where to go in China ?

[fran1942]

I have been to Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Jinan, Tianjin, Hangzhou,

Looking to go back for another holiday, but cant decide which city to go to.

I was thinking of Xian or Dalian, but people tell me I am likely to get mugged or suffer other heinous activites if travelling alone in places like that. I am male, is it really that dangerous ?

Who can recommend a cool city to check out apart from the ones mentioned above.

I love attending English corners which are in desperate need of Europeans (but I guess all cities apart from Beijing fall into that category ?)

thanks for any recommendations.

[gougou]

I was thinking of Xian or Dalian, but people tell me I am likely to get mugged or suffer other heinous activites if travelling alone in places like that. I am male, is it really that dangerous ?

I've been to both cities; didn't feel any less safe then in Beijing.

Have you thought about Guangzhou, or the Southwest, e.g. Chengdu, Kunming?

[fran1942]

thanks for your comments.

I want to stay central or north. That is where I can utilise my mandarin properly.

thanks for any more suggestions on interesting cities to visit.

[gougou]

Actually, if Mandarin's your only reason, you might want to reconsider - Sichuanese is not far from Mandarin (I found it easier than Shandonghua, actually), and most people can speak decent Mandarin. Plus the city is a great place!

[imron]

If you're going for a holiday, then I would recommend Yunnan. Particularly Lijiang and Tiger-leaping gorge. Big cities are just big cities. People also speak reasonable Mandarin there, plus it's always good to have exposure to different accents.

[fran1942]

Gougou, what makes Sichuan such a great place ?

Are you talking about Chengdu ?

[gougou]

I've only been to Chengdu thus far, unfortunately, but I loved it there. The whole city is very laid-back, which is a welcome change from the hustle and bustle Beijing. The food is also great, if you're into spicy stuff. Apparently, the surroundings are beautiful as well, but as I've only been there on business trips, I didn't have chance to check them out yet.

[BrandeX]

Most people speak putonghua in the south.... it's where all the migrants go to.

[MartinF]

I heard Harbin is nice. It's got snow sculptures and the women are pretty.

[Lu]

Harbin is really, really, really cold in winter but the ice sculptures are so beautiful that they more than make up for that.

The rest of the year, I'd recommend Kaifeng. Some beautiful old architecture. And when you're in Henan, you can also go to Luoyang, and see the Longmen caves with all the big and small buddha statues.

Yunnan is great as well, they speak Mandarin there just fine, not to each other but they'll speak it to you. Great weather (also in winter), great landscapes, good food.

[Rincewind]

Fran1942, what dates are you planning your trip for? I think some people are assuming you're coming in winter.

I've heard some stories about Xian but as for Dalian, that city is safe. Liaoning province is an often neglected tourist destination. There is plenty to see here, it's safe, and the lack of other westerners will make it easy to practice your Mandarin.

[fran1942]

looking at going in June.

Starting to look like a toss up between Chengdu and Dalian.

I went to an English corner in Jinan once and got mobbed by 50+ students.

I actually really enjoyed that. Great way to meet people.

Is that more likely to happen in Chengdu or Dalian ?

[tigerfish]

I think Xi'an is better. Because Xi'an is one of the most famous city in China.

U can experience the ancient culture in Xi'an. And there are many tasty snacks.

U will like.

[floatingmoon]

HK is lots of fun. Great for shopping too. Try the special menu in McDonald, Pizza Hut and KFC. They have some fusion food there, that can only be found at HK.

There is a 志蓮temple near the "Daimond Mountain" mtr station. The temple is based on Tang dynasty design.

DunHuang, 敦煌。The stone cave craft in buddish temple are amazing.

Never been to Dali city 大理古城 (at Yunnan), but I heard that is pretty (家家有流水).

[triple]

Hk...it's a nice place...maybe not so interesting for macdonald...pizza bla bla and so on...for this kind of thing i think u don't need to travel so far!!

In china i really liked to visit Guilin(guandong province) there is a nice river... wild nature and in the night they offer amazing shows on the water with special lights effect!!!

by the way....I'm new...nice to meet all of u!!!

and SSSSSSOOOOOORRRY for my bad english!!

[liuzhou]

floatingmoon:

How bizarre! The first thing to recommend about Hong Kong is McDonald, Pizza Hut and KFC?

I would put that last. And anyway, almost every Chinese city has that.

triple:

We don't mind your bad English (It's not so bad!)

But your bad geography! Guilin is not in Guangdong. It's in Guangxi.

And although the surrounding countryside is beautiful, it's also the biggest tourist trap in China. I live just down the road.

[triple]

yeah!!!hihi!!

you are right!!!

bhe'..in any way it's very close to guangdong pv:tong

than i have been in many many other place but only for work and there are not so interesting for tourism!

[yonglin]

The rest of the year, I'd recommend Kaifeng.

I visited Kaifeng once because it was heavily written up in Lonely Planet. Personally, I think it was a quite boring little town, with a few scattered but not particularly interesting tourist spots. I guess it provides you with some "Old China" feel, since everyone over there rides bicycles on mud roads to get anywhere, but I'd probably prefer almost every other city that I've been visiting in China.

Xi'an is a really nice place to stay around in: it's very convenient and (most) people speak Mandarin in a very standard fashion. However, apart from 兵马俑 and 华山, there's not much to see around there, really. Take away 大雁塔 and you would think Xi'an was built 10 years ago: very little of the "Ancient Capital" feel remains.

If you just want to go for holiday, I dearly recommend you go to Xinjiang. Surely, your Chinese will be better than that of some of the locals', but the place is really, really quite amazing: from the urban sprawl of Urumqi (where most people are Han and speak Chinese), to the rural and remote parts in the West. Minority kids who had the opportunity to go to school will speak Mandarin well, older people not too much.