Product Description

Your holiday starts the moment you open the guide … "The best guide available. Packed to the brim with colour photos, maps and essential information." Amazon Reader review. This new fully-updated Eyewitness Travel Guide reveals the magnificence of China's greatest sights, including in-depth coverage of the Forbidden City and Terracotta Soldiers. The guide provides expert tips for visiting the Great Wall, cruising through the stunning Yangzi Three Gorges, and exploring the ultra-modern cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Explore China's cultural heritage through richly illustrated features – on everything from Beijing Opera to Confucianism, calligraphy and the cult of Mao. The best places to stay and eat have been provided by resident experts and recommendations on regional specialities will ensure that China’s best dishes don’t miss your palate. With cutaways and floor plans of all the major sights, markets and festivals listed town by town, walks, scenic routes and themed tours, experience the diverse flavours of China with The Eyewitness Travel Guide. Winner of the Guardian & Observer ‘Best Guide Books' Award and Wanderlust Magazine Silver Award for 'Top Guidebook'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7912 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 672 pages

Review
A pleasurable read with ravishing photography plus maps and plans of supreme quality.' The Observer

'A must for anyone who is interested in China.' Amazon Reader review

Customer Reviews

Bamboozled? buy this one
Firstly, this is a very chunky guide but then China is a vast country, so at the price of heaving this around in your bag, you'll have a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated book which contains chapters on all of the provinces with lots of information on the larger cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong etc as well as their surrounding areas.
The front of the book is divided into sections which give a marvelous introduction to the country - for example, Landscape and Wildlife, Arts, Architecture, Religion and Philosophy, History (including a dynasty timeline) and more.
The back of the book contains many pages of practical information, including accommodation, travel arrangements, places to eat etc.

The main attraction of the eyewitness books are their fantastic illustrations which really bring a country to life before you've even traveled. For a two week trip covering Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing I found this guide to be superb.

Stunningly Crisp Photos, Useful Info, Very Heavy
If it's photography you like, this is a good choice. There are lots of glossy shots here for the eye to fawn over. And, it must be said, quite a bit of data is on offer; stuff you won't find even in the text predominant guides. Another wonderful feature is the excellent site maps. The one of Yunnan Province's Dali Old Town looks almost three dimensional. There are only two drawbacks, really: there's not enough text to sustain you on those long train rides, and it weighs a ton. If a couple were going on a juant around the Middle Kingdom, the 'Eyewitness Travel Guide - China' would make an ideal second guide. You wouldn't have to wonder what the proper name of that gate-like structure in front of you was. You'd just look it up in "architecture" and know it was called an ornamental archway. Moreover, you could learn what all its bits and baubs were labeled as and what their purpose was. This is a book for the thinking traveller.

Troy Parfitt, author of Notes from the Other China - Adventures in Asia

China (eyewitness Travel Guides).
A must for anyone who is interested in China. Wonderful colour photographs, tons of helpful information. This Eyewitness Travel Guide covers every aspect of China, as a place to visit and to study. The only down side is that it is fairly heavy due to it comprehensive contents. But if it means leaving a few pairs of shoes behind to fit this in the luggage then I think its worth it! If funds at present, like me, don't allow you to travel to China then the next best thing is this book, buy it now!