China is a large country at a size of 9,596,960 sq km. China was only partially open to the world from 1980 onwards and has been a communist country for many decades. Although there is much progress in the travel industry and infrastructure of China, there remain areas that need to be improved before it can match the level that most tourist would require.

However, much of the fun for travelling in China remain that it is different from the rest of the world. China will be the host nation for the Summer Olympics in Year 2008. Travel facilities and infrastructure will be improving quickly as we approach Year 2008.

China is rich in culture and history. Visit the Great Wall of China in Beijing, sip Chinese tea in Xiamen, dance with ethnic tribes in Yunnan, check out 19th Century European buildings in Qingdao, suntan at sunny Hainan Islands, ski at snowy Harbin - there are just so much to do and see in China! Go travel China now! Find out more at: http://www.chinese-culture.net

China will host the prestigious Summer Olympics Games in 2008. Already, Olympics fever has gripped China and we'll probably see another exciting Olympics in 2008.

The two cities that will host the Olympics in China are Beijing, which is China's national capital and Qingdao, a large seaside city in the province of Shandong, in north-east China.

City of Beijing
Beijing is the capital for China. It was also a capital for the last two monarchies (Qing and Ming Dynasties) that ruled China before being overthrown by Sun Yat Sun in 1911 and has been the capital since Mao Tse Tung declared China a People's Republic in 1949.

Beijing is located in northern China, close to Tianjin Municipality and partially surrounded by Hebei Province. The city covers an area of more than 16,800 square kilometers (6,487 square miles) and has a population of 13.82 million people. Beijing is at its best in late spring and autumn, particularly during the months of May, September and October when people can enjoy bright sunshine and blue skies.

As the capital of the People's Republic of China, Beijing is the nation's political, economic, cultural and educational center as well as being the China's most important center for international trade and communications. It has been the heart and soul of politics and society throughout its long history and consequently there is an unparalleled wealth of discovery to delight and intrigue travelers as they explore Beijing's ancient past and enjoy its exciting modern development.

Beijing is also the tourist capital of China, boasting of popular and favourite tourist sites such as :

Great Wall of China
Forbidden City
Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven
Ming tombs
Tiananmen Square.

Beijing will also be the host for the Summer Olympics in 2008. Already, Olympics fever has gripped the city as construction of new buildings, hotels and stadiums, sprucing of tourist facilities, cleaning up of air and water pollution takes on a fervent pace.

As one of the largest cities in China, Beijing suffers from traffic jams, pollution and housing shortage due to it's super rapid growth over the last 15 years. Beijing is now urgently resolving these problems so that it will be at it's best when the Olympic Games starts in Year 2008.

A Chinese visa is a permit issued by the Chinese visa authorities to an alien for entry into, exit from or transit through China. The Chinese visa authorities may issue a Diplomatic, Courtesy, Service or Ordinary Visa to an alien according to his status, purpose of visit to China or passport type. The Ordinary Visa consists of eight sub-categories, which are respectively marked with Chinese phonetic letters C, D, F, G, J-1, J-2, L, X and Z.

C Visa: Issued to crew members to perform duties on board an international train, airliner or other vessel, and their accompanying family members.

D Visa: Issued to an alien who comes to reside permanently in China.

F Visa: Issued to an alien who is invited to China for a visit, an investigation, a lecture, to do business, scientific-technological and culture exchanges, short-term advanced studies or intern practice for a period of no more than six months.

G Visa: Issued to an alien who transits through China.

J-1 Visa: Issued to foreign resident correspondents in China.

J-2 Visa: Issued to foreign correspondents who make short trips to China on reporting tasks.

L Visa: Issued to an alien who comes to China for sightseeing, family visiting or other private purposes.

X Visa : Issued to an alien who comes to China for study, advanced studies or intern practice for a period of more than six months.

Z Visa: Issued to an alien who comes to China for a post or employment, and his or her accompanying family members.

The lion dance originated in China close to a thousand years ago. The lion is traditionally regarded as a guardian creature associated with good luck, blessings and auspicious occasions. It is featured in Buddhist lore as well as local Chinese folklore for thousands of years.

The most common historical reference to Chinese Lion Dance is the story of Nian. According to legend, a monster, by the name of Nian, was terrorizing villages; eating the livestock, crops and villagers on every first day of the Chinese New Year. One day, a Buddhist monk visited the village and witnessed the events that had taken place. To rid the villagers of this monster, the monk instructed the villagers to get their best martial artists and build their own lion-like 'monster'.

In addition to this, the monk instructed the villagers to fill bamboo shoots with gunpowder and to cover the village in red decorations. The following year, when Nian came back, the village's best martial artists ran out with their 'monster', whilst the rest of the villagers rushed out banging their pots and pans, throwing their homemade firecrackers and waving home-made red flags and banners. Seeing this, Nian fled the village, scared for its life. From this day, the Chinese perform this dance to not only celebrate their besting of Nian, but also to ward off bad-spirits or, if Nian should return, scare it away.

Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorised into two styles, Northern and Southern. Northern dance was used as entertainment for the imperial court and as it's name suggest, is more popular in the Northern parts of China. The northern lion is usually red, orange, and yellow (sometimes with green fur for the female lion), shaggy in appearance, with a golden head. The northern dance is acrobatic and is mainly performed as entertainment. Lion lion dance is often performed by two people but it is not uncommon to find smaller lions performed by just one performer.

The Southern dance is a more popular lion dance because it's movement is much more elegant, acrobatic and entertaining. It is usually performed as a ceremony to exorcise evil spirits and to summon luck and fortune. The southern lion exhibits a wide variety of colour and has a distinctive head with large eyes, a mirror on the forehead, and a single horn at center of the head.

The Southern Lion Dance is always performed by two performers and often in pairs of two lions. Due to the higher physical demands of the Southern Lion Dance, it is required that the performers have some martial arts background.
The Lion dance is always accompanied by drums, gongs and cymbals that slows or speed up as the lion so dance. Lion dance are in popular demand during auspicious periods such as Chinese New Year, opening of new business, moving into a new residence etc.

For a period of time, lion dance was losing popularity due to it's association with gangsterism and rogue martial arts schools. However, many Chinese societies has seen lion dancing as an important element of Chinese culture and decided to promote the art aggressively, and of late, the art of lion dancing is back in mainstream Chinese culture and demand.

China is one of the easiest country in Asia today to have internet accessible to businesses, homes, travelers and students.

If you are a business traveler or tourist, you will be pleasantly surprised that almost all hotels, down to 3 stars hotels, even in more remote Chinese cities offer broadband internet access in their hotel rooms. Most rooms will have an Ethernet port for you to hook up to the hotel's broadband. Access is mostly automatically DHCP with dynamic IPs but in certain Chinese hotels, you may need to call the reception to allow access from your room.

You can also visit a cybercafe or 'wang ba' as they are known in China. Cybercafes are everywhere in China and can be a dingy 5 computer setup to large cybercafes with hundreds and hundreds of computers. Most cybercafes in China are patronized by young people whose sole purpose are computer games or online-chatting. These youngsters can spend days in the cybercafes without going home. If you find them too noisy for your liking, you can even request for a private VIP room to surf in peace and comfort!

As a foreigner, you will need to show your passport before you can be allowed access to a cybercafe. In many provinces, the local law requires your picture to be taken and your particulars submitted to a central database. The cybercafes are pretty strict about this or they are liable to have their operating licences taken away. Cybercafes are lucrative businesses in China and you can be sure that they implement the required laws most strictly!

One of the problem that you may face as a foreigner in China in a public cybercafe is that all the log-in procedures and computer operating systems will only be in Chinese even in the tourist areas. Hence, you will need the cybercafe operator assistance before you can eventually start answering all your Hotmails, YahooMails and Gmails.

If you like visiting coffee cafes, you will also find that many of the newer cafes in the big Chinese cities offer Ethernet points for you to plug in your laptop. Most of the time, usage is free. Simply ask the waitress for an Ethernet cable and a power socket. At this point of time in writing, wireless internet access does not seem to be entirely popular as compared to wired access in these cafes.

How are You? or Ni Hao Ma

Also commonly shorten to Ni Hao.

This is likely to be the first Chinese words that you will ever need to learn. Useful as a greeting or a ice-breaker. Suitable for use with Chinese friends of all ages and professions. Remember to use the Chinese phrase, Ni Hao, whenever you meet a Chinese friend or neighbor.

Thank You or Xie Xie.

Saying Thank you is another basic and polite term that is easy to remember and use.

Very Good or Hen Hao.

This is useful when giving praise for a job or task well done. Also useful as a reply to anyone who says "Ni Hao Ma?' to you.

Q: Ni Hao Ma? (How are you?)

A: Hen Hao (Very Good)

The same phrase, Hen Hao, can also be used as a praise or compliments to someone who has done a good job.

No Good or Bu Hao.

This is useful when there is a need to comment on a shoddy or incomplete job or task. Can also be used as a reply to Ni Hao Ma but may not be such a good reply.

Q: Ni Hao Ma? (How are you?)

A: Bu Hao (No Good)

Very Expensive or Hen Gui.

When bargaining at the shops, Hen Gui, is the best term to use when driving a hard bargain.

Don't want or No Bu Yao.

This is the best term to use for touts - street hawkers who approach you at every tourist stop to ask you to buy things. Bu Yao....will stop them in their track.

This is beautiful or Hen Piao Liang.

Use this phrase to praise something that is nice or beautiful. May also be used when meeting a pretty girl too!

Taxi or De Shi.

De Shi is the correct term but you should be understood even if you use the English word for Taxi. They sound alike anyway.

Good Bye or See You Again Zai Jian.

Well, I guess this is another term that will be easily understood even if the English word is used.

Excuse Me or Jie Guo.

There is always a crowd in touristy areas. There are so many Chinese who wants to see the same monuments too. Rather than push your way through the crowd, using the term Jie Guo may just open the path ahead for you!

Receipt or Fa Piao.

Always ask for the receipt or Fa Piao at the shops or from a taxi. This may be useful if you need to complain about a fraud or shoddy product. Also useful if you leave behind your bag or camera in the taxi.

I don't want or Wo Bu Yao.

Useful when refusing a tout or when offered a drink too many at the Dinner table.

Many young people feel that having your body inked can be a very rewarding experience which can last for the rest of your life. Chinese symbols and characters are taking the tattoo world by storm lately.

Many people who have Chinese tattoos feel that they are very much symbolic representations of their inner feelings and personality. That is the power of choosing a Chinese tattoo that represents your true self, so it is of the up most importance to select the Chinese Symbols perfect match the meanings you want to express through your tattoos.

China is a large country. Chances are, as a foreigner, you are likely to fly from city to city or spend most of your time in tour coaches or hired transportation. However, if you do spend any significant period of time in China on your own, why not dive into local Chinese public transportation.

Many of us came to China expecting half of the Chinese population to be on bicycles. Nothing can be further from the truth today. Personal cars and taxis seems to be the most common mode of transportation today and in fact, you can hardly see bicycles in the streets in some of the major cities in China! Many young adults in China may not even know how to cycle!

Taxis in China

If you are new to China, start with taxis. Taxis are easily flagged in the street and are generally clean and comfortable. Depending on the city you are in, fares starts from RMB5 (US$0.8) to RMB12 (US$1.2) and runs on taxi-meter. In most large Chinese cities, the driver will turn on the taxi-meter but in some of the smaller cities, taxi drivers may ignore the taxi meter and insist on a certain pre-determined price. Request that they turn on the meter or threaten to change to another taxi or report them to the authorities. Taxi licence are lucrative and most drivers will avoid getting into trouble with the Chinese authorities.

Most Chinese taxi drivers do not speak English and it may be advisable to carry your intended destination written in Chinese. Be aware that in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, even taxi drivers can get lost! So, always have your destination on hand or have the other party mobile phone on hand so that the driver can communicate with the other party direct for driving instructions.

Taxis will be able to print receipts. Always ask for a receipt at the end of a journey. In case you leave behind something, a receipt will be useful to trace the driver and the taxi.

Public Buses in China

Public bus in cities are the most common and popular form of public transport. Public bus fares in China are extremely cheap and usually cost a flat RMB1 or RMB 2 (US$0.15 to US$0.25). You pay the same price regardless of the distance you travel.

You can pay with coins or notes or you can get a smartcard which entitles you to a discount. Be careful when traveling in crowded buses as pickpockets are not unknown. Most of the big cities buses are air-conditioned.

Ask a Chinese colleague or friend to advise you on what buses to take.