- Jiuzhai Gou(Sichuan):
This national park has dense forest, green meadows, rivers, rapids, ribbon lakes in various shades, and waterfalls of every kind - long and narrow, short and wide, terraced, rushing, and cascading. Of cultural interest are six Tibetan villages of the original nine from which this valley gets its name.
- Bayan Bulak (Xinjiang):
This tiny Mongolian hamlet surrounded by breathtaking grasslands is reached by a spectacular journey through pine forests, waterfalls, and wildflowers. It's also' close to vast Swan Lake, a breeding ground for elegant black swans.
- Changbai Shan (Jilin):
This long-dormant 2,600m (8,500-ft) high volcano is home to Tian Chi, a deep, pure, mist-enshrouded crater lake that straddles the China-North Korea border and is sacred to both Koreans and Manchurians. The northern approach to the lake, with its trail that climbs alongside the thundering Changbai Waterfall, is best in the fall. The western approach is ideal in early summer, when its vast fields of vibrant wildflowers are in full bloom.
- The Bridge of Taishun County (Zhejiang):
Within living memory, this mountainous area above Wenzhou had no highways other than the winding paths and steep, stone-flagged staircases slithering down slopes to cross fast-moving rivers at extraordinary "centipede bridges" - gorgeous hump-backed and often two-story constructions, with midstream shrines and topped with writhing ceramic dragons. Taishun still has many unmetalled roads, and as you follow the original paths through the lush countryside to find some hidden bridge, you pass water buffalo pulling ploughs.
- Amnye Machen (Qinghai):
The route around this holy mountain, for a while believed to be the world's highest, must be clockwise - turning back is sacrilegious. So once you start on the 3-day horse trek, or the 7 -10-day walk with the aid of a baggage-carrying yak, there is no turning back. But the scenery around the 6,282m (20,605-ft) peak, and the company of Tibetans, make the trek well worthwhile.
- Langmu Si (Gansu):
This Tibetan monastic center is largely unknown to Chinese tourists, and the tranquil mountain village is reminiscent of Lijiang before it was "discovered". The town is home to two major Tibetan monasteries, housing around 1,000 monks whose chanting of the scriptures may be heard through narrow ravines and moraine valleys crowded with wildflowers, or take a horse trek up Flower Cap Mountain to obtain stunning views as far as the holy mountain of Amnye Machen.
- Around Lijiang (Yunnan):
This area offers a wide variety of countryside experiences, from riding a chairlift up to the glacier park of the magnificent, snowcapped Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, to hiking the sheer-sided Tiger Leaping Gorge while the Yangzi river rages below, to being rowed in a "pig-trough" boat across the pristine Lugu Lake - China's answer to Lake Tahoe.
- Wulingyuan and Zhangjia Jie (Hunan): This scenic area is made up of three adjoining subtropical parklands, with quartzite sand stone peaks and pillars to rival Guilin's scenery. There are plentiful rare plants and insects, swarms of butterflies, a large cave with calcite deposits, and stunning views through bamboo, pine, and oak forest.
- Everest Base Camp (Tibet):
Whether by 3-hour drive from the village of Pelbar, or ba a 3- to 4-day trek from Tingri, the trip to the tented base camp (at 5,150m/16,890 ft) or to rooms in Rongbuk Monastery (at 4,980m/16,330 ft) offers unbeatable vistas of the world's toothiest snowcaps set against a startling cobalt sky.
- Hulun Buir Grasslands (Inner Mongolia):
Located just outside the remote border town of Manzhouli, the Hulun Buir's grasslands are the most pristine in China. This expanse of gentle emerald hills, perfectly punctuated with small streams and rocky outcrops, is all the more attractive for how difficult it is to reach.
- The leaning Towers of kaiping (Guangdong):
This country is littered with extraordinary towers called Diaolou - some of them squat brick fortress dating back to the 17th-century; others bizarre, alien watchtowers mostly built by Chinese who traveled out through the treaty ports and returned wealthy enough to build fortified residences. Up to nine stories high the towers sprout turrets and loopholes, balconies and cupolas, borrowed from half-understood European styles encountered anywhere from Macau to Manila. Daiolou tower over almost every village and rice paddy in the county.
- Rice Terraces ( Yunnan, Guangxi):
Some of southwest china's most spectacular vistas are of its terraced rice fields - golden yellow in the fall and sparkling silver in the spring - painstakingly hewn over hundreds of years by various minority groups.
- Huang Shan (Anhui):
The most famous mountain in China for scenic beauty, actually a group of 72 peaks, is known for its sea of clouds, strangely shaped rocks, unusual pine trees, and bubbling hot springs - four features that have inspired countless painters and poets for over 1,500 years.
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