Places in China — Beautiful Sceneries and Exceptional Cultural Attractions

There are many attractive places in China that are worth visiting, from extraordinary feats with great historical and cultural values to stunningly beautiful natural sceneries with fascinating legends.

Five Great Mountains

In the Chinese creation myth, Pan Gu’s head and limbs incarnated into the Five Great Mountains after he departed.

They are divine, magnificent, and spectacular, where they were believed as the path to heaven or the residence of different deities.

Therefore, in those great mountains, emperors held grand ceremonies to worship heaven and pray for blessing, and Taoists and Buddhists built temples to practice.

In addition, mountains seem eternal, compare to human history; hence, they also have accumulated lots of folktales and legends that passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years.

Therefore, besides amazing natural scenes, every mountain’s origin, historical and cultural values are interesting as well.

Mount Tai

Mount Tai was the most sacred place in history, where accomplished emperors used to hold grand Fengshan ceremonies to worship heaven and earth.

In mythology and religion, it is believed the place that connects immortal deities, humans, and ghosts.

Mount Hua

Mount Hua, the steepest mountain in China, has been respected as the origin place of Chinese culture and the holy land of the Taoism Religion.

Photo by Taoming.

North Mount Heng

North Mount Heng is famous for the Hanging Temple, a splendid representative of syncretism of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

Besides, it had been an important military site in history, which left there many battlefield-related ruins.

South Mount Heng

South Mount Heng is the representative of longevity in Chinese culture and an important center of private Confucianism academies in history.

Mount Song

Mount Song had been believed as The Centre of Heaven and Earth in ancient Chinese culture, where locate the oldest observatory and the famous Shaolin Monastery.

Exceptional Mountain Landscapes in China

Besides Five Great Mountains, there are many other magnificent mountains that have amazing natural scenes, fascinating legends, and significant historical, cultural, and religious values.

Wudang Mountains

Wudang Mountains, the holy land of Taoism Religion, is a National Geopark with spectacular natural sceneries and the center of Wudang Kung Fu.

As the imperial Taoist place of the Ming Dynasty (1368 — 1644), the building complexes there hold exceptional artistic and architectural values.

Huangshan Mountain

Huangshan Mountain, named after Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) the culture hero and ancestor of Chinese Han people, is a magnificent landscape with exceptional scenic views and cultural attractions, and an influential place that has been praised in tens of thousands of articles, poems, and paintings throughout history.

Mount Wutai

Mount Wutai is one of the five Buddhism holy lands in the world, the place where Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism have been thriving and coexisting in harmony for centuries.

Besides, ancient building complexes of Wutai are of great value, the oldest existing wooden structure building constructed in 782 is located there.

Photo by Tiejiache.

Mount Lu

Mount Lu, a splendid mountain with extraordinary natural sceneries, has ancient buildings of six religions, including Taoism, Buddhism, Christian, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam.

Mount Wuyi

Mount Wuyi is a grand mountain that has many mysterious coffins in the cliff, millennial city ruins of ancient Minyue Culture, historical Confucianism academies, and temples scattering on.

Mount Emei

Mount Emei is one of the holiest Buddhism places and the dojo of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (Puxian Pusa), where has giant Golden Buddhas on the peak.

Photo by Chongqing Xiaoya.

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a World Geopark with large numbers of plant and animal species, is famous for its thousands of unique quartzite sandstone pillars and Karst landscape nearby.

Photo by Song Shoufu.

Lake Landscapes

According to Tao Te Ching, water is the finest good. It is soft, shapeless, stays low and indisputable, nurtures everything in the universe; besides, it is the strongest force that is capable of destroying everything.

Confucius respected the water as insistent, targeted, and pure, which contains many good virtues that a decent person should obtain.

Therefore, lakes in China hold fascinating cultural meanings, as well as mysterious origins, attractive legends, and significant historical values.

West Lake

West Lake in Hangzhou is a picturesque cultural landscape with exceptional aesthetics, beautiful folklores, and invaluable historical relics that has been eulogized for thousands of years.

Photo by Dadaowuyan.

poyang lake by Liao Hao.jpg

Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, is an area with invaluable ruins, important historic events, interesting folklores, mysterious Devil's Triangle, and picturesque scenes.

Photo by Liao Hao.

Taihu Lake

Taihu Lake, the cradle of Wuyue Culture, is a huge Freshwater Lake with stunningly beautiful natural views.

Qiandao Lake

Thousand Island Lake or Qiandao Lake is a beautiful artificial lake scattered with 1078 islands, surrounded by invaluable cultural sites, and with ancient cities and villages submerged underwater.

Chaohu Lake

Chaohu Lake, formed after an affluent state was devoured and buried by water, has picturesque natural views and exceptional cultural values, including ruins of the underwater ancient city.

East Lake

East Lake, the center of ancient Chu Culture, is a large city lake with picturesque natural views, surrounded by beautiful specialized botanical gardens and rich cultural sites, including ancient ruins, grand museums, universities, etc.

Dongting Lake

Dongting Lake used to be named the Dream of Cloud, is a cultural landscape that was eulogized by famous scholars, and an important military site that many important historic events took place.

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Ancient Cities

While many modern cities look somehow resemble, there are some special ancient cities in China, which are unique, beautiful, and hold great architectural and cultural values.

Dunhuang

Dunhuang, an important garrison city on the northwest of the Han Dynasty (202 BC — 220 AD) and a trade center along the Silk Road, is an attraction with exceptional historical, religious, artistic, and cultural values, and surrounded by the magnificent Gobi Desert and mysterious Yardang Landforms.

Ancient City Pingyao

Ancient City Pingyao, rebuilt in 1370, is the best representative of a traditional Han county-level city of the Ming (1368 — 1644) and Qing (1638 — 1912) Dynasties.

Huizhou in Anhui

Huizhou is a well-preserved, ink-painting-style ancient city that originated and developed the Huizhou Culture, one of the most important regional cultures in China.

Lijiang

Lijiang is a city that resided by different ethnic groups of China, preserved ancient building complexes, and surrounded by stunning natural views, including magnificent snow mountains, lakes, and rivers.

Photo by Shi Xiongfeng.

Jiuzhaigou

Jiuzhaigou, named after nine stockaded villages of Tibetan that have been living in this area in history, is a county inhabited by many minority ethnic groups of China, and famous for its stunning, colorful waterscapes, diverse ecosystems, picturesque terraces, and impressive karst views.

Photo by Zeng Yongqian.

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Cultural Landmarks

They are marvelous and spectacular manmade feats, with exceptional architectural values, interesting stories, and fascinating histories.

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China, an extraordinary military defensive system for thousands of years of history, is an embodiment of ancient military and a significant icon of Chinese culture.

Terracotta Army

Terracotta Army, which consisted of over 8000 life-sized terracotta soldiers, horses, and chariots, is the guarding troop of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (259 BC — 210 BC).

Photo by Zhao Zhen.

Silk Road

Silk Road was an ancient trade route network that connected the east and the west since the Han Dynasty (202 BC — 220 AD), today usually refers to the historic Trade Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor.

Photo by Sun Zhicheng

Forbidden City

Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 — 1912), is the largest existing imperial palace in the world.

Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven was the sacred place for the emperors of the Ming (1368 — 1644) and Qing (1636 — 1912) Dynasties to hold sacrificial ceremonies to heaven.

Potala Palace

Potala Palace, a grand fortress locate in Lhasa of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, is the highest ancient palace in the world and a valuable museum of Tibetan history and culture.

Gardens

Taoism and Confucianism both value the idea of “Integration of Universe and Humanity”.

Under this ideology, ancient Chinese gardens look like miniatures natural landscapes, with exquisite buildings dotted inside.

However, classic Chinese gardens in history still fall into two major categories: the Royal Garden in the north and the Private Garden in the south.

The Royal ones are grand and luxurious, which included real mountains and lakes inside, constructed with spectacular imperial architectures, and witnessed important histories.

Summer Palace and Chengde Mountain Resort are perfect examples of imperial gardens of the Qing Dynasty (1636 — 1912).

Chengde Mountain Resort by Official Site

Chengde Mountain Resort, Photo from Official Site of Chengde.

Classic southern-style private gardens, represented by the Humble Administrator's Garden and Lingering Garden in Suzhou, are much smaller and exquisite, which used brilliant skills to place buildings, ancient philosophy, natural views, and poetic designs in limited spaces.

Lingering Garden, Photo from The Official Site of Suzhou Travel.

Grottoes

Buddhist Grottoes are invaluable art wonders, which show aspects of the society that constructed them, including history, architecture, ceremony, military activity, transportation, musical instrument, dance, costume, makeup, and business.

Mogao Caves

Mogao Caves, constructed from the 4th to the 14th century, is the largest-scale Buddhist art wonder that preserved frescoes, figurines, scrolls, and relics with unparalleled historic and cultural values.

Yungang Grottoes

Yungang Grottoes, built from 460 to 524, are exceptional caves that present the localization and secularization of Buddhist arts in China.

Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes, constructed under the support of royals of the Northern Wei (386 — 534) and Tang (618 — 907), are invaluable imperial Buddhist stone carving arts.