China should be high on your travel bucket list, despite its distance from the U.S., because of its diverse geography, impressive culture and hospitability to tourists, at least in its major cities and attractions.

Hence, despite having travelled extensively, we were excited after our 14-hour flight from New York on an Air China 747 rolled up to the gate at the gorgeous new Beijing International Airport.

Over the next nine days, we would experience both modern and historical China, a land of many surprises.

This tourist attraction is one of the few remaining city gates of the ancient Beijing fortifications; courtesy: Jeff Orenstein

Beijing

With our English-speaking guides, we toured Beijing and environs for three days for just a tantalizing taste of this capital with 22 million people.

We visited amazing sights like the Forbidden City and the nearby segment of the Great Wall, ate in many different restaurants, including the one that served Peking Duck to Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai.

In the process, we had ample opportunity to observe diverse neighborhoods and experienced world-class rush hour traffic and air pollution first-hand. We even had some free time to explore neighborhoods on foot without a guide.

The people were generally friendly and as curious about us as we were about them.

Chinese Lifestyle

A typical middle class family of three in West Central China has two wage earners, a car and leases a modern apartment of about 1,200 sq. feet (a lease in a big city runs about $300,000 total for 70 years—no real estate may be officially owned).

They pay about $4.00 a gallon for gasoline, buy their own health insurance and have considerable day-to-day personal freedom, though political freedoms are still quite limited and vocal dissidents are treated harshly.

Parents in the mostly one-child urban family lavish luxuries and education on their child, typically sacrificing their own access to amenities to give their children a leg-up in society.

As the government tries to cope with the obvious urban air quality problems, it has banned gasoline-powered motor scooters in many cities, causing a proliferation of buses, electric scooters and a major expansion of an already-extensive modern electric passenger rail system with urban commuter service, conventional trains and ultra-modern inter-city bullet trains.

The entrance to Beijing’s Forbidden City is an imposing structure. Equally impressive structures abound in the walled compound; courtesy: Jeff Orenstein

Country of Contrasts

Contemporary China is a country of contrasts.

We saw the modern, rapidly-developing China but our official guides, upon being asked about the hinterlands, readily admitted that there is still widespread poverty, choking pollution and minorities with less social and political clout than the dominant (95%) Han culture.

A visit to rapidly-changing China is quite an eye-opener.

It is an ancient and fiercely proud culture that has evolved steadily through history and making rapid strides today. Though small-level capitalism is flourishing and expanding, it is still largely a centrally-controlled economy with rampant, if slowing growth.

It is not easy to grasp or label the essence of contemporary China.

Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution is a nasty memory to older Chinese and only something that the huge, younger generation hears about, but did not experience. Most knowledgeable observers predict more change in the future as the middle class and capitalism continue to emerge and China moves from a regional to a world power.

Experience China

Despite the gradual but inevitable changes, China still remains a fascinating mixture of traditional Asian culture and its own version of an emerging Western-style economy.

Its huge population provides it with ready manpower but drains resources.

Our advice for visitors is to put away our Western political and cultural biases insofar as possible and experience China as it is, not the way we want it to be.

No matter when you go, it will surely be worth the trip.

-–>LEARN: How We Save Hundreds Off Airfare

China National Tourist Office

• Frequently Asked Questions

China Highlights

Visit China Government Guide

Beijing Tourist Guide

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Hangzhou Tourist Guide

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China can be reached by air, ship or train.

Many of the world’s major airlines fly to either Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) or Shanghai Pudong International (PVG), and both ultra-modern airports are connected to the nation’s high-speed rail system.

By train, China’s railroad system is emerging as one of the world’s best. Rail connections are even available from Europe for the very adventurous. Train travel between major cities is practical because of China’s great high speed rail network.

Cruise lines call at many ports, typically Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. There are also many internal river cruises that hit some fabulous tourist attractions.

Don’t try to drive; take a charter bus to explore China by highway. Taxis and public transportation are ubiquitous in major cities.

For more on transportation options in China, visit the National Tourist Office.