The Imperial Palace, home to 24 Emperors between 1420 and 1911. Great squares, halls and gates contrast with the intricate networks of side halls, gardens, courtyards and quarters for those who lived in this "city within a city".

The world's largest city square and enduring symbol of China's national pride, surrounded by many imposing buildings including the Heavenly Gate (entry to the Forbidden City), Museums, government buildings and Chairman Mao's Mausole

This less-crowded section of the Great Wall is a pleasant drive 90km NE of Beijing. A cable car takes you to a good section (avoiding a very steep climb), where you can walk along the wall, through the watch towers and enjoy superb views as it snakes across the hills and mountains. You can return by cable car, walk down or walk along the wall for about an hour to descend by chairlift. Wear good walking shoes and protection from the weather.

The place which was visited yearly by the emperors who performed intricate rituals to insure a good harvest for the whole nation at ancient times.

The burial site of the emperor Wanli, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 48 years until his death in 1620, it is the only underground tomb of the thirteen Imperial Ming tombs ever excavated.

The path lined with stone statues of animals, mystical beasts and officials who are supposed to serve the emperor in his afterlife, through which the sitting emperors would go to perform memorial rituals for the ancestors once a yea

Beijing is a city of amazing contrasts - an ancient capital with some incredible historical sites and a bustling modern metropolis getting ready to host the 2008 Olympics.

Founded in 1864, the Quanjude Restaurant is the largest roast duck restaurant in Beijing if not in the world.

Built during the 14th century on Tang dynasty foundations and they date from the Ming dynasty. The walls are the largest and best-preserved ancient fortress in the world. There is a gate in each of the four sides, and the gate towers built over each gate look lofty and magnificent and form a tight defence engineering system.

Discovered in 1974 by local farmers digging a well, this is one of the most significant archeological finds of the 20th century. These 6,000 life-size painted Terracotta Warriors and Horses --individually sculpted from real-life models and arranged in battle formation have been protecting the mausoleum of the first emperor in Chinese history--Emperor QinShihuang for 2,200 years ago.

Regarded by many as a symbol of the city Xian, the pagoda was built in 652 A.D. in the Tang Dynasty to house the sutras brought back from India by the famous monk Xuan-zang.

Often ranked as China's best museum, it is the biggest museum in China with a fine collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts.

Outside the Yu Garden, a bustling market with different snacks and trinkets.

Where the great trading houses and banks had their headquarters in the 1920s and the 1930s. The Bund is about about a mile long, it is the city's fulcrum.

Known as "China's No.1 Shopping Street" with a huge selection of merchandise on sale.

It stands opposite to the Bund in the Pudong area of Shanghai. Located on the bank of the Huangpu River, it is 468 meters high which makes it the highest TV tower in Asia and the third highest tower in the world. From the sightseeing floor, you can get a bird's eye view of the exciting city of Shanghai.

The large-scale modern State-class museum, is situated at the western side of the "Wild Goose Pagoda" in Xian City. It covers an area of about 70,000 square meters, the architectural area of which is 55,000 odd square meters. It was completed on June 20, 1991 and open to the public.

With 900 years of history, this treasure house holds a large collection of the earliest stone steles of different periods, from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. All together, there are 3,000 steles and the museum is divided into seven exhibition halls, which mainly display calligraphy, painting and historical records. All of these record some achievement in the development of the Chinese culture and reflect the historical facts of the cultural exchange between China and other countries.

Situated on the central plain of China, one of cradles of the Chinese civilization, Luoyang was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.

13 kilometers to the west of Luoyang, Longmen Grottoes is one of the four largest grottoes in China. Live cultural relics lie amid green mountains and serpentine rivers. As early as 1961, Longmen Grottoes had been authorized by the central government of PRC as a key national cultural relic protection unit. It was authorized in 1982 by central government as one of the 44 National Parks of China. In 2000, it was enlisted into the List of World Heritage.

China's first Buddhist Temple built in AD 68 in the Eastern Han Dynasty is named after the two white horses that carried the Buddhist scriptures back from old India. The temple was used to house the scriptures.

One of China's oldest Buddhist temples built in 495 AD on the Shaoshi Peak, from which it took its name. The temple was also the birthplace of one of the world's most famous martial arts movements. Among so many cultural relics inside the temple, the Forest of Pagodas dating back as far as the Tang Dynasty is a must-see.

A cemetery of 246 dagobas for noted monks dating from AD 791 to 1995, with different Buddhist patterns and inscriptions carved to depict briefly the life of the monks for whom the dagobas were built. The dagobas vary greatly in size, height, age and in their cross section to show the hierarchical ranking of their respective occupants.

With people's growing interest in Shaolin Kung Fu, there have been more and more visitors to Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan Province, which is known as the birthplace of kung fu. Through the authentic Kung Fu performance, you will know more about Chinese martial arts and the spirit of this traditional art.

Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan province.