top chinese travel website

70,000+ guests --> have traveled with us every year!

• 100% Tailor-made for Free Compact and Rich Schedules
• Surprisingly Low Prices No Trap of Optional Tours
• One-to-one Expert Service Selected Well-located Hotels

Best Private China Tours

China Small Group Tours 2024/2025

More china destinations.

• Best China Tours
• Yangtze Cruise
• Tibet Tours
• Great Wall Tours
• Zhangjiajie
• Luxury Packages
• More China Cities

China Travel Guide

• Forbidden City
• China Great Wall
• Li River Guilin
• Summer Palace
• Terracotta Army
• Yangtze River
• China History
• Chinese Food
• Ethnic Groups
• Chinese Zodiac
• Chinese New Year
• Railway Map
• Great Wall Map
• Beijing Subway
• Shanghai Subway
• Avoiding Traps
• Money & Cost
• Holidays in China
• China Tour Operator
• Tourist Visa
• 72-Hour Visa Free
• 144-Hour Visa Free
• Embassy in USA
• Embassy in UK
• Embassy in Australia
• Embassy in Canada
• Panda  
• Shaolin Kung Fu
• Forbidden City's Bureaucrat Hinders Post-Pandemic Tourism Boom
• China Continues to Ease Its Visa Requirements
• World’s Welding History Advanced for 2,000 Years by a Sanxingdui Archeological Discovery

• China Tours
• Top 10 Tours
• Group Tours
• Tailor-made
• Destinations
• Classic China Tours
• Scenic China Tours
• China Cultural Tours
• Yangtze River Cruises
• Silk Road Adventure
• Tibet Tours
• Yunnan Tours
• Beijing Tours
• Shanghai Tours
• Guilin Tours
• Chengdu Tours
• Zhangjiajie Tours
• Multi-country Asia Tours
• Thailand Tours
• Vietnam Tours
• Cambodia Tours
• Myanmar Tours
• Indonesia Tours
• Singapore Tours
• Nepal Tours
• India Tours
• Japan Tours
• South Korea Tours
• Zhangjiajie
• Yangtze River
• China Travel Tips
• Best Places in China
• Chinese Culture
• China Attractions
• The Great Wall
• China Panda
• High-speed Train
• The Silk Road
• Feedbacks & Reviews

Top 10 China Tours

The top 10 tours recommended below show you the authentic highlights of China, covering the most popular destinations in China, i.e. the capital city of Beijing, the historical city of Xi'an, the modern metropolis of Shanghai, the hometown of giant pandas of Chengdu, the most beautiful rural view of China-Guilin, the natural wonders-Zhangjiajie, etc. All are popular private & bespoke China tours. They are provided as an inspiration for your first-time or return trip to China.

Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai

View Details

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Yangtze Cruise, Yichang, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Guilin, Hong Kong

Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Chongqing, Yangtze Cruise, Yichang, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Yangtze Cruise, Yichang, Shanghai, Guilin, Hong Kong

Beijing, Xi'an, Zhangjiajie, Guilin, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Lhasa, Chengdu, Shanghai

Shanghai, Xi'an, Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumqi, Beijing

Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-la

Reviews from Our Travelers

Mr.Gyana Anthoni raj

Saudi Arabia

We booked the 8-day Beijing, Xian, & Shanghai tour with TCT. Our guides, Mr.Tylor and Ms. Muela, was a truly amazing guide in our entire trip. We thank and Appreciate TOP China Travel company and special thanks to Ms. Hanna, for their professional communication and service offered to us in organizing our tour package.

Mr.Patrick Keefe

United Kingdom

11 very enjoyable days. Ryan in Shanghai was excellent. We also really liked Sunrise on the Bund hotel there. The cruise could have been 2 nights & was a long way to go with late nights travelling but overall a great time including our activities in Hong Kong. Tracy Su has been helpful throughout the planning & visa process. Thank you all.

Mr.Rajaiyengar

I contacted Top China travel for a 13-day China vacation (Beijing/Xian/Guilin/Yangtze River cruise/Shanghai). Raylene did a good job in making all the arrangements: domestic flights, high speed rails, car transportation, hotels and English-speaking local tour guides. With all the hard work done for us by TCT we could really just relax & enjoy a tension free holiday! Thank you TCT!

Mr.Anthony Yamamoto

Thus far, we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everything has been very organized and playfully orchestrated. The group members have said that our trip has been extremely memorable and unforgettable. We will have lifetime experiences that will be treasured. Please convey to Raylene my appreciation. We appreciated everything that TCT did.

Abraham Zonana Nacach

I took a tour for 11 days with Top China travel, I and my 12 yrs old daughter. The tour include Beijing, X'ian,Guilin and Shangai. In general, the organization was great, including the driver, tour guides, hotels and, restaurants. All the intinerary descripton was done. We had a very good experience with TCT company, and I highly recomend them to travel around china.

Ms.Isobel Mahon

I would just like send an email following our trip to China. It was OUTSTANDING. The organisation was top class, from the buses, trains and plans. All guilds made us feel welcome and loved the experience. The food was great as well as hotels. We loved every second of the trip. Thank you for organising this. We will recommend TCT to everyone i know.

China City Tours

These best selling China tours are the most popular ones for visitors who plan to travel to China at all times.

China Group Tours 2023

China Group Tours are customized for individual travelers who are willing to meet new friends and share meals, vehicles, happiness China tours with each others.

Tailor My Itinerary

Number of travelers *.

Adult ( >11 years old )

Children ( 2-11 years old )

Infant ( < 2 years old )

Where to Visit

• Lhasa, Tibet
• Mt. Huangshan

Hotel Class

Special requests.

I agree to the Privacy Statement

Top Asia Tours including China

Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai

Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai, Seoul

Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Ho Chi Minh

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Siem Reap, Bangkok

Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket

Beijing, Xi'an, Lhasa, Kathmandu, Nagarkot

Tailor-made Your Trip

Free Design Itinerary and Quote for You !

Why Choose Top China Travel

Well-known Tour Brand

CITS 60-year history

Commended by TripAdvisor

Excellence award winner

Assist government reception

World celebrities with us

Professional Sales Team

All tour experts

10000+ Client’s Feedback

Our real happiness

Our Memberships

In major travel associations

We are member of

Follow us on

About us Contact us How to Book How to Pay Terms & Conditions Loyalty & Referral Programs All China Tours All City Tours All One Day Tours All Asia Tours Privacy Statement

Our license Number: L-GX-CJ00001

Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved Top China Travel

• [email protected]
• 86-773-286-5632 (Intl rates apply)

China Travel Guide

China with 3,600 years of written history, is a popular destination full of profound cultures, mysterious places, and stunning sights.

Our China guide gets you closer to top travel destinations, top things to do, and a useful travel guide. We are here to make you understand China more deeply and plan a trip easier.

• Capital: Beijing (since 1271)
• Population : 1.41 billion (2021)
• Area: 9.6 million km² (3.7 million mi²)
• Location: East Asia

Top Travel Destinations in China

China has many places worth visiting, such as Beijing and Xi’an for history and cultural experience, Guilin and Zhangjiajie for natural scenery, and Shanghai for the modern part of China.

Capital of China. Historical sites

Metropolis, and exotic culture

Visa-free, Vibrant Culture

Heaven on Earth, West Lake

Venice of the East, Classic Garden

Scenic area in China. Landscapes

Top Things to Do in China

With a vast territory and rich tourism resources, China is a paradise for tourists. No matter what kind of traveler you are, you will have a great experience when traveling in China. Here, we have listed the top 6 things to do for your China tour.

The Great Wall

The Greatest Human Feat

The Giant Panda

Say Hello to Cute Pandas

The Forbidden City

Explore the Imperial's Secret

The Terracotta Army

Meet the Ancient Soldiers

The Water Town

See Chinese Traditional Elegance

The Li River

The Most Beautiful River

Useful China Travel Tips

There are so many fantastic things for tourists to explore in China. Traveling to this vast country is not as tough as you thought. We have prepared useful travel tips to help you to plan your China trip.

Best Time to Visit China

How to plan a trip to china, how to get a china visa, customize your china tour, top attractions in china, china entry and exit requirements and procedures, china travel ideas.

China has unique natural landscapes, exotic Eastern cultures, and customs, adorable giant pandas, various Chinese foods, amazing kung fu, a unique tonal and pictographic language spoken by one-fifth of the world’s population, and many other fantastic things for you to explore.

Natural Beauty

• Top Mountains in China
• Top Hot Springs Resorts in China
• Top Rivers in China

History and Culture Experience

• How to Plan a Forbidden City Tour
• How to Experience Local Life in Beijing
• Exciting Tour Experience in Modern China

Seasons Travel

• Top Summer Destinations
• Top Autumn Destinations
• Top Winter Destinations
• Top China Ski Resorts
• Top China Hiking Routes
• Top Places to Go Rafting in China

Top Recommended China Tours

The classical China tours are designed for the first-time traveler to the top destinations while involving the top hot tourist attractions.

Classic China Tour

8 Days | Beijing - Xi'an - Shanghai

China golden triangle trip is usually chosen by the first-time traveler which includes the Must-sees in China.

Glories of China

11 days | Beijing – Xi’an – Chongqing – Yangtze – Yichang – Shanghai

Explore both ancient cultures and prosperous features and relax on the Yangtze River Cruise.

Essence and Nature Wonders

11 days | Beijing - Xi'an - Guilin/Yangshuo -Shanghai

Immerse yourself in Guilin’s karst landscape and take part in some special activities to experience local cultures.

Request a custom itinerary today and get one step closer to your personalized trip

Create Your Trip

• 86-19138970032 (GMT+8 18:00~09:00)

• Beijing Xian Tours
• Shanghai Beijing Tours
• Hong Kong Guilin Tours
• Hangzhou Suzhou Tours
• Kunming Lijiang Tours
• Shanghai Yangtze Cruise Tours
• Chengdu Tibet Tours
• More Short Stay Tours
• China Tours in January
• China Tours in February
• China Tours in March
• China Tours in April
• China Tours in May
• China Tours in June
• China Tours in July
• China Tours in August
• China Tours in September
• China Tours in October
• China Tours in November
• China Tours in December

• High Speed Trains
• China Yangtze Cruise Tour
• Photography
• Desert Adventure
• Ethnic Villages
• Biking Tours
• Kung Fu Tours
• Heritage Sites Exploration
• China Spring Tours
• China Summer Tours
• China Autumn Tours
• China Winter Tours

Notice! 2024 available cruise routes include 4~5 days Chongqing-Yichang(most classic) and 11~12 days Chongqing-Yichang-Shanghai(limited).

• Best-value Yangtze Cruises
• Top Family-friendly Cruise Ships
• Top 3 Luxury Yangtze River Cruises
• Yangtze River Highlights
• Yangtze River Cruise Routes
• Upstream or Downstream?
• Dining & Drinking
• Accommodations
• On-board Activities
• Yangtze Cruise Booking Steps

• Inner Mongolia

• Fanjingshan
• How to Plan Your First China Tour
• How to Plan Beijing Tour
• How to Plan Xian Tour
• How to Plan Shanghai Tour
• How to Plan Guilin Tour
• How to Plan Sichuan Tour
• How to Plan Family Tour
• 2024 China Travel Ideas
• Best Time to Visit China
• What to Pack for Your China Journey
• Make Payment in China & Currency Exchange
• Updated China Travel News
• Ultimate Chinese Visa Guide
• Chinese Visa Types
• Chinese Visa Requirements
• Do I Need a Visa for China
• Chinese Visa Application
• Chinese Visa Exemptions
• 144-hour Visa Free
• Shenzhen Visa on Arrival
• Hainan 30-day Visa Free
• Embassies & Consulates
• Invitation Letter
• Useful Visa FAQs & Tips
• Entry Regulations
• Baggage Allowance
• Customs Declaration
• Exit Regulation
• How to Book Train Tickets
• How to Collect Train Tickets
• How to Cancel & Alter Train Tickets
• How to Read Train Tickets
• China High Speed Train Types
• Seats Class & How to Choose
• Friendly Facilities on the Train
• The Train Station Departure Process
• Available Food and Drinks on the Train
• Western Toilets on the Train
• Luggage Racks & Baggage Allowance
• Beijing Train Stations
• Shanghai Train Stations
• Guilin Train Stations
• Xian Train Stations
• Chengdu Train Stations
• Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station
• Beijing - Xian
• Beijing - Shanghai
• Guangzhou - Shanghai
• Shenzhen - Shanghai
• Chengdu - Xian
• Shanghai - Hangzhou
• Shanghai - Xian
• Chengdu - Chongqing
• Kunming - Lijiang
• Beijing Capital International
• Beijing Daxing International
• Shanghai Pudong International
• Shanghai Hongqiao International
• Guangzhou Baiyun International
• Hangzhou Xiaoshan International
• Chengdu Tianfu International
• Chengdu Shuangliu International
• Xian Xianyang International
• Shanghai - Beijing
• Hong Kong - Shanghai
• Guangzhou - Beijing
• Chengdu - Lhasa
• Shanghai - Guilin
• Shanghai - Sanya
• Travel in Spring Season
• Travel in Summer Season
• Travel in Autumn Season
• Travel in Winter Season
• Weather in January
• Weather in February
• Weather in March
• Weather in April
• Weather in May
• Weather in June
• Weather in July
• Weather in August
• Weather in September
• Weather in October
• Weather in November
• Weather in December
• Top 10 China Destinations
• Top 15 Things to Do
• China World Heritage Sites
• Top 10 Best Natural Beauties
• Top 10 Museums in China
• Top 10 Old Towns & Villages
• Five Great Mountains in China
• Top 10 Monasteries & Temples
• Top 10 Ski Resorts
• Top 10 Beautiful Lakes in China
• 7 Best Beaches in Sanya
• Top 6 Beautiful Waterfalls
• Panda Volunteering
• Having fun on Ice and Snow Festival
• About Us Who We Are Our Team Why Travel with Us Feedback & Reviews Travel Stories Travelers' Gallery Payment Guide Customer Support Contact Us
• Tour Experiences

Destinations

• Travel Guide

Top 10 China Tours and Itineraries for 2024/2025

Whether your first or tenth journey through China, the Middle Kingdom offers endless opportunities for exploration. This vast nation's diversity in historical heritage, cultural influence, architecture, cuisine, and natural landscapes is truly inexhaustible. From the imperial glories of Beijing and Xi'an to the soaring skylines and neon-lit marvels of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the wonders never cease. Venture to Chengdu's panda sanctuaries or the holy Buddhist realm of Tibet. Marvel at Guilin's spectacular countryside vistas or the majestic Yangtze River. Our Top 10 Tours immerse you in China's finest highlights, revealing the most authentic cultures, and enveloping you in the nation's most fascinating scenery - a true treasure trove awaiting your discovery.

• Top hand-picked destinations, favored by thousands of travelers;
• Diverse experience to delight your trip from the beginning to the end;
• You are fully under care and companion ongoing the whole trip;
• All private tour with flexible departure;

We are one of the few China travel agencies who have kept active and received lots of feedbacks and reviews during pandemic years

Top 10 China Tours - private tour, flexible departure

Below Top 10 China Tours are more recommended as the first-timer China trips which covers the most classic travel destinations in China, such as Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Shanghai, Zhangjiajie, Chengdu, etc. If you want a tailor-made tour, you can use our helpful China Tour DIY Tool . The perfect China tour of your own is only several steps away by telling us your arrival date, favorite destinations or the simple things to do, preferred traveling pace and your group information.

China Golden Triangle

8 Days Best of China Tour

It is most recommended for those who want to visit China for the first time with short days. Great contrast of China’s past and present is the best highlight of this tour. Besides, great accommodation and dinning make your trip more enjoyable.

Destinations : Beijing(4D) | Xian(2D) | Shanghai(2D)

Highlights : Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, The Bund, Yu Garden...

from $1,432 / private tour, flexible departure

First Touch of China

10 days classic china tour from beijing.

This tour leads you to top 4 destinations you can’t miss. Experience the stunning diversity and contrasts of ancient tradition and modern fashion, discover the charm of ancient history, and get closer exploration some of the most beautiful scenery under heaven...

Destinations : Beijing(4D) | Xian(2D) | Guilin(2D) | Shanghai(2D)

Highlights : Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Li River, Yangshuo Town, The Bund...

from $1,999 / private tour, flexible departure

Travel China at Leisure

13 days classic china tour with yangtze cruise.

Want to explore China in a leisure way? This is the ideal trip. You will not only visit the Musts to Go – Beijing, Xian, etc, but also gain much fun and leisure time in Guilin. Furthermore, the relaxing cruise on the Yangtze River makes this trip memorable.

Destinations : Beijing(4D) | Xian(2D) | Guilin(2D) | Yangtze Cruise(3D) | Shanghai(2D)

Highlights : Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Li River, Yangtze River, the Bund...

from $2,478 / private tour, flexible departure

Wonders of China Tour

13 days china landscape tour including zhangjiajie.

Beijing, Xian and Shanghai represent the past, today and future of China. While only cultural experience is not fun enough. You should not miss the magnificent landscape of Guilin and Zhangjiajie which are two of most outstanding places to enjoy the natural beauty of China.

Destinations : Beijing (4D) | Xian (2D) | Zhangjiajie (3D) | Guilin (2D) | Shanghai (2D)

Highlights : Great Wall, Yangshuo, Longji Terrace, Zhangjiajie National Park, Terracotta Warriors...

from $2,695 / private tour, flexible departure

Authentic China

11 Days China Tour from Hong Kong

Take advantage of the convenient international arrival at Hong Kong and departure at Shanghai, then extend your vacation to discover the most authentic experience in other classic destinations - precious cultural relics, stunning landscapes, unique folk customs…

Destinations : Hong Kong(2D)| Beijing(4D) | Xian(2D) | Guilin(2D) | Shanghai(2D)

Highlights : Victoria Peak, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Li River, The Bund...

from $2,095 / private tour, flexible departure

Panoramic Impression of China

15 days china tour with tibet discovery & panda visit.

This tour gives you the panoramic impression of China - start from east China – Shanghai, and make a turn in the south Guilin, then go to the far west holy land Tibet, via southwest Chengdu, last tour the northern ancient capitals – Xian and Beijing.

Destinations : Shanghai(2D) | Guilin(2D) | Chengdu(2D) | Lhasa(3D) | Xian(2D) | Beijing(4D)

Highlights : the Bund, Li River, Giant Panda, Potala Palace, Terracotta Warriors, Great Wall...

from $3,266 / private tour, flexible departure

Encompassed China Highlights

17 days china paradise tour with tibet & yangtze.

This long vacation package almost sweeps all the best highlights of China in a single trip. It traverses China from north to south, west to east. The attractive diversity of China’s culture and nature embody fully without any reservation in this trip.

Destinations : Beijing(4D) | Xian(3D) | Lhasa(3D) | Chengdu(2D) | Yangtze Cruise(3D) | Shanghai(2D)

Highlights : Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Potala Palace, Giant Panda, Yangtze River, The Bund...

from $3,499 / private tour, flexible departure

Morbidezza of Southern China

9 days east china & mt. huang tour by high speed train.

Experiencing the exquisite Jiangnan-style elegance in Suzhou and Hangzhou, soaking in the excitement of Shanghai's vitality and busyness, being amazed at the four wonders of Huangshan...You will appreciate this deep exploration of China, and also the amazing experience of taking high speed train.

Destinations : Shanghai(2D)| Suzhou (2D) | Hangzhou(1D) | Huangshan(4D)

Highlights : The Bund, Lingering Garden, Suzhou Museum, West Lake, Tunxi Ancient Street, Mount Huangshan...

from $1,572 / private tour, flexible departure

Ancient Silk Road

10 days classic silk road tour from xian.

Start from Xian which was known as the starting point of ancient Silk Road, take a flight to visit Xinjiang (Urumqi, Kashgar and Turpan), then take a high speed train to explore the most legendary part of Silk Road - Dunhuang. Best experience of the frontier landscape and culture.

Destinations : Xian(3D) | Urumqi(1D) | Kashgar(2D) | Turpan(2D) | Dunhuang(2D)

Highlights : Terracotta Warriors, Heaven Lake, Id Kah Mosque, Bazaar, Karez System, Mogao Grottoes ...

from $2,566 / private tour, flexible departure

Leisure China Holiday Full of Fun

21 Days China Holiday with Yangtze River Cruise Tour

This 21 days' China holiday package tour covers most of the best highlights in China. You can exprience the classical culture of China in Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, also enjoy charming landscape in Guilin and Zhangjiajie. The relaxing Yangtze River Cruise will bring all the fatigue of long trip away from you.

Destinations : Hong Kong(2D) | Guilin(3D) | Chengdu(1D) | Chongqing (1D) | Yangtze Cruise (3) | Zhangjiajie (3D) | Shanghai(2D) | Xian(2D) | Beijing (3D)

Highlights : Li River, Yangshuo, Giant Panda, Zhangjiajie National Par, Three Gorges, Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors...

from $3,795 / private tour, flexible departure

China Trips You May Also Like

Having no idea how to start your China tour? Don’t worry! Why not to start from our popular gateway cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong or Chengdu? Or take the pick from our travel themes to match your own pace and needs. You can also get inspirations from our hand-picked essential short China trips, even let us customize a trip for you.

Start planning your tailor-made holiday to China by contacting one of our specialists. Once inquired, you’ll get a response within 0.5~23.5 hours.

• Affordable and valuable price
• 100% tailor-made packages
• Highly rated customers reviews
• Efficient customer support

China Tours

• Top 10 China Tours
• Classic China Tours
• China Tours from Beijing
• China Tours from Shanghai
• China Tours from Hong Kong
• China Tours from Chengdu
• Short China Trips
• Customize China Tour
• China Panda Tours
• Family Tour with Kids
• High-Speed Train Tour
• Silk Road Travel
• Yangtze River Cruise
• Hiking & Trekking Tours
• Photography Tours
• China Minority Travel
• Beijing Shanghai Tours
• Shanghai Yangtze Tours
• Chengdu Jiuzhaigou Tours
• Chengdu Lhasa Tours
• Suzhou Hangzhou Tours
• Guilin & Yangshuo
• Zhangjiajie

“Very good experience”

“WONDERFUL 25 DAYS IN CHINA - PRIVATE TOUR”

“Awesome China tour from northeast to southwest”

Any questions, please email us at: [email protected] or call us at: 86-19138970032 (Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. GMT+8)

• Terms & Condition
• Privacy Policy
• Customer Support

Copyright © 2011-2024. All rights reserved.

Cookie policy

We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website. Continue using our website means you agree with our cookie policy. For more info, please read here .

APRIL SALE:   Book now and get   up to 60% off!

China Tours & Trips

China, Asia's largest country, swings between the stunning modern vibes of Beijing and Shanghai and the centuries old culture and traditions of Tibet . Take a walk on the Great Wall of China , have a river cruise on Yangtze river with one of our adventures or visit Yunnan and fall in love with this country.

250+ China tour packages with 450 reviews

• In-depth Cultural
• Christmas & New Year

China Express

A fast paced tour for sure. A great way to experience Chinese people, culture, history and many awesome attractions. On the negative side - a bit too much walking with luggage, on/off public transport for me. Overall experience was still amazing and I would highly recommend.

8-Day Small Group China Tour to Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai

The tour really maximized our time by having all the tickets for the most popular sites booked beforehand so we were only waiting a couple of minutes to pick up the tickets versus hours if you were to book them yourself. In addition the food and hotel options were all of a very high quality. While I felt all the big attractions were a small bit of a let down; being way too packed with tourists, it was the more cultural activities (tea ceremony, visits with local families, kung fu show) which I have to admit before travelling sounded a bit gimmicky were actually the ones that will stay with me the longest. The tour guides and transportation were all of a very high standard too so I would highly recommend this trip.

• 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

11-Day Small Group China Tour to Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin and Shanghai

It was a fantastic trip . The two girls Tina in Beijing and Celine In Xi’an were amazing . Very knowledgeable. We saw so much and it was an amazing place . The food was good and the hotels were 5 star really. The only thing is maybe we could just say stop for and hour at a couple of places were there was a market that we walked through where we could just look around by a souvenir or just sits down get a drink and soak up the atmosphere of the place . In Shanghai we could have had an hour to look around the French quarter and take it all in . We did not need to to the shops as that was the point but he Mosque in Xi’an would have been another spot we could have just sat had a drink or a quick look at sovereign whatever anyone wanted to do for an hour . Guilin was the same when we walked up the old street we needed to rest get a cold drink and icy pole as it was so hot the blind after the cruise. Just a note that maybe in Shanghai the day we arrive maybe an activity for the evening (A dinner some where ax a group) as he hotel is a fair way out of town and it took us a while to get in . Apart from that I would still recommended this 11 days . You saw all you need and more and the activities were really good . So thank you all. If you haven’t visited China yet I would recommend this tour . Loved it . Regards Vicky from Melbourne Australia

China Delights Small Group Tour

This is a great tour that packs a lot in. Time flies as you see so much although you won't spend long at many of the sites. My favourite bits of the itinerary were: - The Great Wall at Mutianyu (Beijing) we took the chair lift option which meant we could ride the toboggan back down. - Terracotta Warriors (Xian) half day - Li River Cruise (Guilin) - Huangpu River Cruise (Shanghai) which luckily turned into an evening cruise as we couldn't get on the earlier one. Those are the highlights but there are so many other things such as the Tang Dynasty Dancing and Dumpling Dinner and Summer Palace in Beijng and Reed Flute Caves in Guilin. In particular Guilin so picturesque and Shanghai so modern. We were lucky with our first two guides, Tina (Beijing) and Celine (Xian) who were both excellent. Autumn in Guilin and Mindy in Shanghai were good too. Autumn stayed with us to help us find and order food in the evenings so a couple of long shifts for her. Celine helped arrange a birthday cake for one of our younger travellers. Included meals were excellent. Full banquets usually in local restaurants but we really enjoyed the home cooked lunch as well. Food was plentyful. We even enjoyed the set meal box on the cruise. Hotels were generally of a good standard. Check-in at The Great Wall Hotel in Beijing was really slow though and trying to find a table for breakfast was difficult and located a fair distance away from where the restaurants are (need to get the subway to reach them) The hotel in Guilin was the worst one, the rooms being some distance away from the lift and lobby and small bathrooms. The hotel in Shanghai was excellent. It was nice touch that we got framed photo souvenirs of our trip from Beijing although I think both myself and my sister should have received one each as we paid for single supplements. Some feedback I'd give would be that they need to let us know about the optional night tours that are available on the website/ itinerary before we come out so that we can budget properly. There was a night visit for the Big Goose Pagoda in Xian with the musical fountain light show which we would have liked to have gone to didn't go to due to the weather. We found that the night cruise in Guilin was expensive as the premium we paid for the guide to buy the tickets and come onboard with us was excessive. We could have just walked to the ticket office and bought the tickets ourselves. The night tour of Shanghai was just as expensive but at least that included a coach to drive us around as well as the guide. Having said that, we could have used the subway and got around ourselves and because it started so late, we didn't see much. It is worth going up Jin Mao Tower. Overall, we had a great time on this trip and would recommend Travel China Guide.

• Book With Flexibility This operator allows you to rebook your dates or tours with them for free, waiving change fees.

• Sightseeing

The Essence of Guilin

Great experience from the first day to the last day. Tour guide George and driver Wang assisted in picking up and dropping off and was punctual throughout. Bravo hotel in Guilin and New Century hotel in Yangshuo was great located with many choices of buffet breakfasts, very nice room and comfortable bed. Sailing through the 2 rivers and 4 lakes in the downtown of Guilin was brilliant. Longji rice terraces hike was such beautiful picture scroll with stunning views at the top and Li river cruise were majestic, cycling through the scenic town and country side of Yangshuo was absolutely exciting. Overall a fantastic experience that I would recommend to everyone.

• Train & Rail

China Highlights

Great Wall & Warriors - 10 days

I have never done a tour like this, one in which I travelled for a number of days with a group of strangers. I had my concerns before I started. I need not have worried. The tour guide set the tone from the beginning and the group picked up on her friendly, interactive manner. I could not have asked for a better experience.

Looking for tours beyond just China?

Explore tours with itineraries going through multiple countries, including China.

China Express - 8 days

What an amazing tour of china, we visited the great wall twice, the forbidden city, terracotta warriors, overnight train from Beijing to Xian and tasted some wonderful local food with some night time entertainment. Would recommend this tour to anyone.

Great itinerary and travel between all the destinations was well managed and pain free. The accommodation was a lower standard as this is a lower budget tour but all of the locations allowed for easy access to the local attractions. All of the hotels/hostels were clean and air conditioned, we were more interested in the sights anyway! Our guide was the best and balanced knowledge with ensuring the group had fun, she was happy to change plans and arrange alternatives if any or all of the group wished to do different things. A really great group of people added up to a fantastic, memorable trip that I would happily recommend to anyone wanting the 'Real China' trip.

Best of China Small Group Tour

Wild Yunnan 8D: Kunming-Dali-Lijiang- Shangri-La

Since we were traveling in an unpopular travel time, we had our own private tour guide. Our guide, Nancy, was also our driver for Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La. The whole itinerary was very good scheduled and not to packed, so we had time to stroll around the cities by ourselves as well. We were very happy overall and will definitely recommend this tour

Hong Kong to Chengdu Express: 9-Day Chinese Journey

I will use tourrader again

• 5% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

• Food & Culinary

Chinese Cuisine & Culture

I saw a lot and the chosen destinations were very interesting. The organization was also great. Everything went smoothly and on time. All the tour guides were extremely friendly, well informed and very keen to fulfill all wishes. The hotels were clean and well maintained. The hotels were centrally located for exploring on your own. I felt very well looked after, learned a lot about China and can only recommend this trip.

Great Wall to Great Cities: Beijing to Shanghai China Journey

I took their Beijing tour back a few years ago and loved it!! I still can't believe I saw so much of China in just 3 weeks! The hostels were actually really nice, and the experiences were incredible. Guides were all super friendly and had fun recommendations. When meals weren't provided, we'd get a group dinner together which was super fun. At times I was the most exhausted I've ever been, but the guides were super motivated and kept the energy up. I know people who have gone on more expensive tours of China and didn't get to do the cool stuff we did like camping on the great wall of china or training with shaolin warriors.

6 Days Lhasa Gyantse Shigatse Group Tour

I have arrived home safe and sound and wanted to let you know that we had a FANTASTIC time in Tibet, even though one of the ladies got ill. Darhyge was amazing, so knowledgeable, thoughtful and caring.I would definitely recommend him as a guide to anyone traveling to Tibet. Thank you for arranging this holiday for me, I really enjoyed visiting Potala Palace, Yamdrok Lake and learning about the different people and places that make up this huge country that I live in. Thank-you also for your kind gift on my birthday, it was really thoughtful. Have a wonderful day.

What people love about China Tours

Great fun packed itinerary and wonderful leading by the guide Howard from Xian. Amazing, just go.

As a couple surprised by an fantastic individual tour by three very articulate guides and proficient drivers around Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. Learnt not only about history but culture and language today. Felt very safe even when venturing out alone around cities without guides. Our only issue was we could not get internet to connect but that is going to be more us being technophobic. However so supported by guides that not required.

This tour is the greatest China esperience! All guides go above and beyond to immerse you in the ancient China history, local culture, natural wonders. Absolutely professional and courteous service, best accomodations, balanced time and activities for perfect vacation. Special thanks to TravelChinaGuide agent Emily - helping all the way in planning the tour. Highly recommended tour and TravelChinaGuide team, especially for the first-time visitors to China.

China Destinations

• Western China (153)
• Southern China (109)
• Great Wall of China (43)
• Northern China (37)
• Sichuan (26)
• Yunnan (20)
• Xinjiang (18)
• Guangxi (16)
• Silk Road (15)
• Gobi Desert (8)
• Guangdong (6)
• Guizhou (5)
• Yangtze (26)

Travel Styles

• Small Group (214)
• Budget (53)
• Luxury (39)
• Singles and Solo (392)
• For Couples (91)
• Seniors (238)
• Group (438)
• Family (333)
• Personalized (317)
• In-depth Cultural (314)
• Fully Guided (291)
• Partially Guided (274)
• Explorer (229)
• Private (131)
• Active (126)
• Hiking & Trekking (29)
• River Cruise (20)
• Intl. Flights Included (18)
• Coach / Bus (17)
• Train & Rail (9)
• Bicycle (6)
• 3 Day Tours (22)
• 7 Day Tours (112)
• 10 Day Tours (117)
• 2 Week Tours (132)
• 3 Week Tours (66)
• 4 Week Tours (10)
• Spring 2024 (368)
• Summer 2024 (436)
• Fall / Autumn 2024 (440)
• Winter 2024 / 2025 (320)
• Spring 2025 (265)
• Summer 2025 (188)
• Fall / Autumn 2025 (186)
• Winter 2025 / 2026 (132)
• April 2024 (212)
• May 2024 (392)
• June 2024 (405)
• July 2024 (417)
• August 2024 (418)
• September 2024 (432)
• October 2024 (427)
• November 2024 (367)
• December 2024 (317)
• January 2025 (229)
• February 2025 (210)
• March 2025 (238)
• April 2025 (235)
• May 2025 (232)
• June 2025 (182)
• July 2025 (172)
• August 2025 (180)
• September 2025 (179)
• October 2025 (180)
• November 2025 (154)

China Tours starting in

• Starting in Beijing (180)
• Starting in Shanghai (46)
• Starting in Lhasa (38)
• Starting in Chengdu (31)
• Starting in Kathmandu (26)
• Starting in Hong Kong (20)
• Starting in Urumqi (18)
• Starting in Guangzhou (15)
• Starting in Xi'an (13)
• Starting in Kashgar (10)
• China Travel Guide | All You Need to Know

15 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in China

Written by Bryan Dearsley Updated Jan 24, 2024

Ever since the world first discovered China through the writings of adventurer Marco Polo more than 700 years ago, this large Asian country has come to be regarded as the embodiment of all that is mysterious and exotic. Even now, after decades of economic growth, this vast country has lost none of its fascination. Indeed, the contrast between China's ancient customs and the new ultra-modern state that is developing has only increased the fascination with a culture that dates back many millennia.

It's a culture that is much celebrated by the Chinese themselves, as evidenced by the preservation of such important historic sites as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace in Beijing, each recalling the days of China's emperors. And then, of course, there's the famous Great Wall, winding for 6,700 kilometers all the way from the Yellow Sea to Central Asia, while its countless shrines exude the spirit of age-old Eastern religions.

Thanks to its size, China as a tourist destination offers limitless scope for exploration. Whether you choose to travel aboard a luxury cruise ship through the picturesque Yangtze Gorges, visit a bustling city, or seek out the tranquillity of an ancient temple, this country is full of incredible experiences and sightseeing possibilities.

Discover fascinating, unusual, and adventurous things to do with our list of the top tourist attractions in China.

1. The Great Wall of China

2. the forbidden city & the imperial palace, beijing, 3. the terracotta army, xi'an, 4. the summer palace, beijing, 5. cruising the li river, guilin, 6. chengdu research base of giant panda breeding, sichuan, 7. the yangtze river and the three gorges, 8. the classical gardens of suzhou, jiangsu, 9. the potala palace, tibet, 10. shanghai's promenade: the bund, 11. hangzhou's historic west lake, 12. the mausoleum of light: the northern imperial tomb, shenyang, 13. leshan giant buddha, sichuan, 14. the hong kong skyline, 15. zhangjiajie national forest park, hunan.

"Nobody can be a true hero unless he has been on the Great Wall" goes the popular Chinese saying, one that clearly demonstrates the importance placed upon this unique ancient monument.

Known in Chinese as 'Changcheng', or the Long Wall, the magnificent Great Wall of China stretches more than 6,000 kilometers from the fortresses of Shanhaiguan in the east all the way to Jiayuguan in the west. Along the way, it passes through Hebei, Tientsin, and Beijing , where the best-preserved sections of the wall can be visited, as well as Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Gansu.

Averaging six to eight meters in height but rising as high as 16 meters and wide enough in places for five horses or 10 men to pass, the wall boasts numerous battlements and watchtowers. Some of the wall's oldest fortifications date back as far as the 7th century BC, with the best-known areas added around 210 BC when its various sections were joined together.

Today, the most visited section of the wall is near Badaling Pass northwest of Beijing, easily reached by public transport or organized tours. Other restored sections worth a visit include the section near Gubeikou , 130 kilometers from Beijing; and in Mutianyu , just 70 kilometers northeast of Beijing.

Location: Huairou District, China

China's largest and most important building, also known as the Imperial Palace, is situated in the very heart of Beijing and is a must-see when visiting the country. Started during the Yuan Dynasty between 1271and 1368, much of the complex seen today was built between 1406 and 1420.

Really many splendid palaces in one, this sprawling complex was the residence of 24 Ming and Qing Emperors whose presence forbade the entry of anyone other than the imperial family and their courtesans. Covering some 720,000 square meters and protected by a 10-meter-high wall with watchtowers and a wide moat, this massive complex consists of areas set aside for ceremonial and administrative purposes, as well as a private residence used by the emperor.

While it can take many hours to see everything, highlights include the five white marble Golden River Bridges; the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a 35-meter-tall building housing the imperial throne; and the exquisite emperor's banquet hall (the Hall of Preserving Harmony).

The Palace Museum with its large collection of art and artifacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties is another must-see.

Spread across an area of more than 720,000 square meters, this impressive nearly 100-year-old museum contains historic buildings that themselves date back to the early 1400s . It takes a lot of time to explore, so be prepared to spend at least a day here. If you can, do a little advance research using the museum's official English-language website to pre-plan the exhibits you're most interested in visiting.

Highlights include fine examples of paintings and ceramics. The museum also houses the country's vast collection of important works of art made from jade and bronze. English language museum tours are available.

Other important attractions in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace include the famous Tiananmen Square , and the Temple of Heaven . One of the country's most important religious sites,this impressive temple dates back to the 15th century.

Address: 4 Jingshan Front St, Dongcheng, Beijing, China

It was while digging wells on the outskirts of Xi'an in the 1970s that farmers stumbled across what was to be China's most important archeological find: the Terracotta Army.

Distributed over three large underground pits and built to guard the First Emperor's tomb, the find included more than 8,000 life-size warriors, some 520 horses, and more than 100 chariots, along with numerous other non-military characters dating from around 280 BC. Although some were severely damaged due to the passing of time, many of the statues unearthed have been painstakingly re-assembled and stand as a testament to the importance bestowed upon the emperor and the afterlife.

This remarkable find is part of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Park and is one of China's most important tourist destinations. It offers the unforgettable experience of standing in front of this assembly of soldiers and horses as if inspecting a centuries-old parade. English-language guided tours are available.

Address: Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

An easy 15-kilometer commute from Beijing, the sumptuous Imperial Summer Palace (Yíhé Yuán) is set amid more than 700 acres of beautiful parkland and is one of China's most visited attractions. While the palace itself was built in 1153, its large lake was added in the 14th century to enhance the Imperial Gardens .

Highlights include the magnificent Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (Renshou Dian), with its throne; and the beautiful Great Theatre, a private three-story structure built in 1891 to satisfy the imperial family's love of opera. This historic venue is still used for performances of traditional Chinese plays and musical events and is worth a visit for a performance or show.

Other highlights include the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (Le Shou Tang Hall) with its lovely gardens and courtyards, as well as many miles of picturesque pathways and walking trails.

If time allows, try to also take in the ruins of the Old Summer Palace in Yuanmingyuan Park. Said to have once been one of the country's most elaborate and architecturally attractive palaces, this once impressive structure was destroyed by colonial forces in the mid-1800s.

Address: 19 Xinjiangongmen Rd, Haidian District, China

The town of Guilin in the northeast corner of Guangxi boasts some of China's most beautiful countryside. It's famous for the Li River which meanders through the town and surrounding karst mountains.

While for hundreds of years this unique scenery has attracted poets and artists and has been the subject of countless fairy tales and legends, these days, it's popular with tourists from around the world wanting to see this natural splendor up close.

The best way to enjoy the area is to take a cruise along the Li River . The most popular stretch is from Guilin to Yangshuo, where the river winds peacefully through some 80 kilometers of remarkable rock formations and caves with romantic names such as the Mount of Unique Beauty , Elephant Trunk Hill, and Reed Flute Cave .

You can choose from a tourist cruise ship to small bamboo punts, and depending upon the type of boat used, trips can take anywhere from a few hours to multiple days.

No visit to China would be complete without at least one panda experience. While the country's top zoos boast many fine specimens of these fascinating creatures, the best place to see them in a close approximation to their natural habitat is at the excellent Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu in the province of Sichuan.

Here, you'll have the chance to watch as many as 80 pandas go about their daily routines, from foraging to playing in the facility's large park-like setting. In addition to viewing these splendid animals up close, you'll learn a great deal about them from the many permanent exhibits and displays detailing ongoing conservation efforts to safeguard their future.

If possible, try to time your visit for the morning feeding sessions. Not only are the pandas at their most active, it's also when you'll get some memorable photos. Better still, sign up for one of the unique experiential volunteer programs that will have you involved in the feeding and care of these cuddly creatures - and possibly even holding a baby panda. English language tours are available.

Address: 1375 Xiongmao Ave, Chenghua District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

• Read More: Top Tourist Attractions in Chengdu & Easy Day Trips

Known in China as Chang Jiang ("Long River"), the mighty Yangtze River extends more than 6,000 kilometers, making it the longest and most important river in China. It also has the distinction of being the third longest in the world after the Amazon and the Nile.

Flowing from Tibet in the west to Shanghai in the east through eight provinces, the Yangtze has, for more than 2,000 years, been China's major transportation route as some 2,700 kilometers are navigable. Its vast catchment area, with its 700 tributaries, covers about one-fifth of the total area of the country and encompasses a quarter of the country's agricultural land.

While its immense length ensures the river can be visited at numerous points in China, by far the most popular for tourists is the beautiful Three Gorges. Named Qutang, Wu, and Xiling, they cover a 200-kilometer stretch between the towns of Fengjie and Yichang. In places a mix of raging torrents and dangerous shallows, here the river winds its way through the gorges and their rugged cliffs and high mountain peaks in a stretch of scenery as dramatic as the Grand Canyon.

Numerous sightseeing options are available, from luxurious riverboat cruises focusing on the region's many historical attractions and places of scenic beauty to challenging adventure tours along the most dramatic sections of the river.

Considered one of the world's most important historic gardens and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Classical Gardens of Suzhou should rank highly on your China travel itinerary. Located in the historic city of Suzhou in Jiangsu province, these magnificent gardens were established in the 11th century, at a time when the city was experiencing unprecedented growth, and were among some 270 or more gardens planted here.

Of the surviving restored gardens, the most famous is the delightful Garden of Lingering . This seven-acre garden was laid out in 1800 on the site of a park originally created during the Ming Dynasty. One of the most famous garden complexes in China, it boasts a pool, several attractive buildings, a man-made hill, a grove of peach trees, and a lovely covered pathway on the walls of which hang more than three hundred stone tablets engraved with old Chinese characters.

Also worth visiting is the Garden of the Cang Lang Ting Pavilion . This two-acre garden offers many unique features, including a double arcade connecting the inner and outer sections.

Address: 178 Dongbei St, Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

Another of China's most recognizable historic structures is the magnificent Potala Palace in the town of Lhasa, Tibet. Constructed as a fortress and residence for the Dalai Lama, it was for centuries a center of political and religious power and contains many of the religion's most important treasures.

The first of the two Potala Palaces, the Red Palace , was built in the 17th century and contains the complex's most important shrines. These are found in the Enthronement Hall, the walls of which are covered with murals depicting scenes from the lives of the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan kings. Other highlights of the Red Palace are its many vast halls devoted to the religion's teachings and the elaborate tombs, known as "stupas," of a number of Dalai Lamas.

The equally impressive White Palace was completed in 1648 and includes the sleeping quarters, studies, and reception rooms, most untouched since 1959 when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet. While in Lhasa, be sure to visit the superb Jewel Gardens . Part of the Dalai Lama's summer residence, these 90-acre gardens were first started in the 1840s and encompass everything from grand palaces and pavilions to pleasant lakes.

Address: 35 Central Beijing Road, Lhasa, Tibet, China

A remarkable act of smart city planning and preservation can be seen in Shanghai's splendid riverside promenade, the Zhongshan Lu, perhaps better known as the Bund (Wàitan). As you stroll this wide pedestrian zone along the Huangpu Jiang River, you'll almost forget you're bang-smack in the middle of China's largest city (Shanghai's population exceeds 24 million people).

Famous for its European feel, a fact owed to the district's past as the location of the city's International Settlement, the Bund is popular for its 52 preserved English- and French-influenced buildings, many now restaurants, cafés, stores, and art galleries. Representing a variety of influences from Gothic to Renaissance styles including a number of Art Deco buildings, the architecture includes highlights such as the old harbor customs office, with its bell tower, and the majestic Peace Hotel.

For the best views of the Bund, visit the 468-meter Oriental Pearl Tower on the opposite bank of the Huangpu Jiang River. If time allows, be sure to also visit the Yu Garden. Known affectionately as the "Garden of Happiness," this must-see garden can trace its roots back to 1559 when it was laid out. Many of the original structures survive to this day.

Address: Zhongshan East 1st Rd, Wai Tan, Huangpu, Shanghai, China

• Read More: Top Tourist Attractions in Shanghai & Easy Day Trips

Few cities in China can boast quite the same concentration of splendid historic sites and ancient temples as the city of Hangzhou (Hangchow). Capital of Zhejiang province and located at the southernmost end of China's famous Grand Canal , much of this rich collection is gathered around lovely West Lake, a six-kilometer-square stretch of water in the heart of the old city which is surrounded by numerous hills, pagodas, and temples.

Divided into five distinct sections by man-made causeways dating back as far as the 11th century, it's a marvelous area to explore on foot as you cross from one stretch of water to the next, only to be met with another cluster of fine old buildings. It's particularly pleasant in spring when its many peach trees are blossoming.

Part of the fun is lingering on the lake's many fine old bridges, one of the best being the Broken Bridge (Duanqiao) linking the Baidi Causeway with the shore, and exploring Little Paradise Island with its four mini-lakes linked by the zigzagging Bridge of the Nine Arches .

Be sure to hop aboard one of the many tour boats and small pleasure craft available to whisk you around the lake. And if time permits, stick around for the fun musical fountain show held each evening.

• Read More: Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Hangzhou

In China's mountainous northeastern region is the old city of Shenyang. This important center for trade and culture is home to the Mausoleum of Light (Zhaoling), also known as the Northern Imperial Tomb.

One of northeastern China's most important historic sites, it's included on the UNESCO World Heritage Site's list of Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is noted for its unique architectural style: a combination of traditionally arranged Chinese burial sites and castle-like buildings of the early Qing period.

Buried here in a vast site covering more than 180,000 square meters that took eight years to complete is Emperor Huang Taiji, who reigned from 1626-35. The site is notable for its 'Path of Souls', a laneway lined with stone columns and sculptures of the emperor's favorite horses.

Another important site is the imposing Imperial Palace dating from the early Qing era, the second largest completely preserved palace complex in China after the Imperial Palace in Beijing. The complex served as a residence for the first Qing Emperors and includes several splendid courtyards around which are grouped numerous buildings, including the Hall of Exalted Government (Chongzheng Dian) housing the imperial throne.

Location: Huanggu District, Shenyang, China

" The mountain is a Buddha and the Buddha is a mountain. " So goes the famous Chinese saying, one that's attributed to the spectacular 71-meter-tall Leshan Giant Buddha. And it certainly makes sense as you stand at its feet as the colossal statue towers high above you.

Started in AD 713 by a Buddhist monk and completed 90 years later, this important religious icon is carved entirely from a stone cliff face and is the largest Buddha sculpture in the world. Representing the Buddha Maitreya, the statue is even more dramatic given its location overlooking the river that it was designed to appease which had often proven treacherous for shipping.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Giant Buddha continues to draw huge numbers of pilgrims from across the globe and is widely regarded as one of China's must-visit attractions. Easily accessible from the city of Chengdu , the Leshan Giant Buddha can be reached by a fun ferry trip from the public docks in Leshan. The scenic park in which the Buddha is set is also worth exploring, so be sure to allocate sufficient time to your itinerary.

Address: 2345 Lingyun Rd, Shizhong District, Leshan, Leshan, Sichuan, China

Widely considered one of the world's most dramatic city skylines - as much a result of its having one of the highest concentrations of skyscrapers as it is the presence of the tall hills that frame them - Hong Kong has for decades been the bustling capital of finance and commerce in this part of the Pacific. And it's a cityscape that can be enjoyed from a number of different vantages.

One of the best views is from Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, where the skyscrapers frame the city's huge harbor, a special treat after nightfall. Equally stunning is the view from Victoria Harbour itself. Here, you can also take one of Hong Kong's famous ferries. Operated by the Star Ferry company, you can hop aboard and head to various points to wander and explore, such as Kowloon. Or you can simply stay on board and enjoy the views.

If possible, try to time your trip to coincide with the nightly laser extravaganza, a stunning 360-degree laser-light show that uses the harbor's skyscrapers as a magical backdrop. For the best views, try to catch the show from the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour.

Traveling with family? If so, you'll want to include Hong Kong Disneyland on your travel itinerary. China's first Disney theme park opened in 2005 and while visitors will notice many of the same rides as in the brand's other properties, careful attention was paid to China's cultural heritage. A highlight for fans of Disney's animated movies is the new in 2023 World of Frozen , while 2024 will see the opening of Stark Expo , an area dedicated to the characters of the Marvel universe.

• Read More: Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Hong Kong

When you first set eyes on Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan province, it's certainly not difficult to see how filmmaker James Cameron was able to draw inspiration from it.

Cameron's box office hit Avatar , could well have been set in this area of stunning natural beauty, its many unique pillar-like rock formations looking like some incredible alien landscape right out of a sci-fi movie. One of the tallest pillars, standing at an impressive 1,080 meters, has been renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain."

This is one of the lesser-known places to visit in China, but it's well worth the effort to get here. In addition to its many natural wonders, which can best be explored as part of an organized tour, the park boasts a number of new man-made attractions. The first to be built was the Bailong Elevator, aka the "Hundred Dragons Sky Lift." Elevating groups of up to 50 people 326 meters skyward in under two minutes, it's an impressive structure and one that offers dramatic views all the way.

Also notable is the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge. Opened in 2016, it's heralded as the world's highest and tallest pedestrian bridge. Standing 300 meters above the ground and extending 430 meters along a spectacular cliff face, it's an attraction that's definitely not recommended for the faint of heart but one of the best things to do if you are looking to add a little adventure to your day.

Location: Wulingyuan District, Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China

More on China

The best of China: 14 places you won’t want to miss

Feb 21, 2024 • 5 min read

From vibrant cities to jaw-dropping natural wonders like Zhangjiajie, here are the places in China you won’t want to miss © siraphat / Shutterstock

In  China , antiquity and heritage meet 21st-century innovation and lighting-fast development.

This is a country packed with highlights – so many that it might be hard to craft a manageable itinerary. Start by immersing yourself in one of China's gigantic, sprawling cities – which contain plenty of frantic energy, but hidden pockets of serenity, too. Take a break from the crush by soaking up China's natural scenery – think jagged peaks and pine forests draped in a sea of mist that look like they've been lifted straight from one of the country's masterpiece scroll paintings. As one of the world's most ancient civilizations, China also offers wonderful opportunities to explore astounding relics from its millennia of history. 

Don't know where to start? Whether you dream of gilded temples, boisterous urban environments, fabulous food or the wonders of the Great Wall, here are our picks of the best places to visit in China.

One of the world's greatest cities and China's absolute can't-miss destination, Beijing is home to many of China's big-ticket attractions: the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square , the Summer Palace and more. But its appeal goes well beyond blockbuster sights. Get lost among its labyrinth of traditional hutongs (alleyways), marvel at its cutting-edge modern architecture, feast on Peking duck and a million other dishes from across the country, check out the local indie music scene, admire Ming-dynasty ceramics, drop by a traditional teahouse or enjoy a boisterous evening sampling the local baijiu  (sorghum wine).

2. Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang

Along the ancient Silk Road, the atmospheric frontier town of Dunhuang is home to one of the world's most important collections of Buddhist art. Among more than 490 Buddhist caves in the area, the mural and statue-filled Mogao Grottoes represent perhaps the zenith of Buddhist artistry in China.

3. Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan

One of China's most famous treks, this 22km (14-mile)  hiking trail winds through a World Heritage-listed gorge in Yunnan that is one of Asia's most striking landscapes. Framed by spectacular snow-capped mountains and the scenic Jinshajiang River, the natural monument plunges to depths of 3900m (12,795ft), making it one of the deepest gorges in the world.

4. Le Shan, Sichuan

Standing at the confluence of two rivers, the monumental 1200-year old Buddha image  at Le Shan is carved directly into the rock face. World Heritage–listed, the extraordinary monument stands 71m (233ft) tall and 28m (92ft) wide, making it the largest ancient Buddha in the world. Whether you're spiritually included or not, coming face to face with this sculpture is quite a moving experience.

5. Shanghai

Glitzy, elegant, historic and cosmopolitan: everything you've heard about Shanghai is true. Just take a stroll through the French Concession or along the Bund , and you'll see for yourself. From the grand display of 1920s architecture to the city's sophisticated restaurants and rooftop bars to the sci-fi neon-lit skyscrapers across the bay, Shanghai is the past and future China brought to vivid life.

6. The Great Wall

Snaking through China's majestic mountainous terrain, the spectacular  Great Wall is the nation's most iconic landmark. Built over two millennia, this awe-inspiring, 21,196km-long (13,170-mile-long) fortification is a true marvel of human accomplishment. In fact, it's not one wall but many, stretching from the east coast all the way to the far western desert. The most easily accessible stretches can be reached by car from Beijing.

With its charming teahouses, lively nightlife and fiery Sichuan food, Chengdu is one of China's most popular cities for travelers. But most folk visit here for one reason: pandas. And while you'd be very lucky to spot one in the wild, sightings are guaranteed at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base . Other draws of this inland regional capital include temples, pavilions and museums devoted to the culture of the ancient Shu kingdom.

8. Karst peaks, Guilin

Spanning the distance from Guilin to Yangshou , the picture-perfect karst-limestone peaks offer an extraordinary backdrop to the scenic Li River and rice paddies. Grab a bicycle or board a raft to tour this beautiful countryside, passing farmers and water buffalo along the way.

9. Guangzhou

This vibrant and dynamic  megacity is one of China's most fascinating hubs. You'll find an intriguing mix of old and new in a city where skyscrapers nudge the clouds, and monks shuffle around 1500-year-old Buddhist temples. But it's the Cantonese cuisine that lures in many, with some of the finest dim sum in all of China.

10. Longji Rice Terraces, Guangxi

You'll find rice paddies all over China – but few are as spectacular as the ones in Longji , built against a backdrop of lush mountains. Walks here lead to viewpoints overlooking sculpted, iridescent green terraces with swirling patterns resembling the contours of a giant thumbprint.

11. Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an

Unearthed in Xi'an by unsuspecting rural workers in 1974, this enigmatic army of life-sized statues remains of the world's most remarkable archaeological finds. Dating back 2200 years, they were built to protect the underground tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Needless to say, meeting the warriors face to face is an experience you'll never forget.

12. Xi'an

In a country where cities seemingly spring up overnight, this is one of the oldest and grandest. Known to most for its extraordinary Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an is also remarkable in its own right – notably as the beginning of the Silk Road, a trade route with a legacy that remains intact within its atmospheric Muslim Quarter .

13. Zhangjiajie

Rising dramatically from the subtropical forests of northwest Hunan , the pinnacle rock formations of  Zhangjiajie inspired the scenery in the film Avatar (2009). Take it all in as you walk over a vertiginous glass-bottom suspension bridge floating 300m (984ft) above ground. If that's not daring enough, you can bungee jump off it, too.

14. Forbidden City, Beijing

Among China's imperial sights, none can compare in size, grandeur or mystique to Beijing's Forbidden City . Built between 1406 and 1420, this sprawling palace was off-limits for 500 years until the overthrow of the last Qing emperor in 1911. Today, it's very much open to the public, attracting nearly 20 million visitors each year. Despite the crowds, its massive scale remains humbling.

This article was first published October 2021 and updated February 2024

Explore related stories

Feb 23, 2024 • 8 min read

Eat street food, explore old neighborhoods, find the less-visited parts of familiar sites and shop for (non)antiques: our guide to the best of Beijing.

Jun 2, 2022 • 6 min read

Mar 8, 2022 • 7 min read

Oct 29, 2021 • 11 min read

Jul 22, 2021 • 3 min read

Jan 28, 2021 • 5 min read

Oct 20, 2020 • 13 min read

Sep 18, 2020 • 6 min read

Sep 7, 2020 • 10 min read

Sep 2, 2020 • 5 min read

Top 10 Chinese Websites You'll Want to Visit

Every country has its own favorite websites, but it seems like certain global titans are big everywhere – you’ve got your Googles, YouTubes, Spotify’s, Reddits, Wikipedias, etc. Except, that is, in China.

For a variety of reasons, the Chinese web functions almost like an intranet. You’ve probably read about some of the foreign sites that are blocked here, but you may not know about the hugely popular Chinese sites and services that are essentially unheard of elsewhere.

Today we’ll take a look at the most popular sites, whose user bases often dwarf their more famous Western counterparts, and even the efforts of certain services (namely Weixin) to expand internationally.

Baidu is China’s most popular search engine and has made a serious effort to basically become the Chinese-language version of Google. They’ve got their own map system, image search, news service and even "bǎi dù bǎi kē (百度百科)", an online encyclopedia that’s China’s closest equivalent to Wikipedia.

Though they generally tend to copy Google and aren’t always the most innovative company around (see the “ Baidu Eye” headset that came out soon after Google Glass was released), lately they’ve developed a nice string of hardware products, including a cool, affordable WiFi controlled camera that stores video in the cloud.

Dianping is sort of like the Yelp of China, but a lot more useful and multi-functional.

Basically it’s a much more evolved Yelp, and one of the most innovative Chinese web services out there. Everyone uses Dianping; group chat discussions of where to eat are a never-ending stream of Dianping links or screenshots.

Their app is very well-designed, as well, and it’s something I hope makes its way to the States soon!

Sina, known in Chinese as 新浪 (lit. “ new wave ”) is kind of an all-purpose Chinese internet platform and company, perhaps best known for its once-ubiquitous Weibo microblogging platform.

Sina is sort of like a Chinese Yahoo!, if I had to make a comparison, because of the wide variety of functions it serves: news, blogging, email, etc.

It’s about as mainstream as it gets on the Chinese web, and they’ve done a great job catering to overseas Chinese with relevant Chinese-language content, developing dedicated sites for North America and Europe.

Sina is also a great resource for reading practice if you’re at that level. Their NBA section , for instance, has some strong writers and has provided me hours upon hours of not-so-boring character study time.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta love when China goes ahead and copies something so directly that it’s just hilarious.

That’s basically the idea behind YouKu, whose name was chosen because of its pinyin resemblance to YouTube (it literally means “excellent and cool”, but sounds a bit awkward by my reckoning).

It serves a similar purpose as a full-service video platform, but also has cool stuff like authorized streaming versions of US shows with Chinese subtitles, which is actually a really interesting way to learn Chinese because you see direct Chinese translations of natural English phrases (instead of the other way around).

Jingdong is a bit like the Amazon of China, with a focus on electronics but a gradually growing selection of other products as well. 

Like a lot of Chinese e-commerce sites, their hallmark has always been a superbly streamlined purchasing process: usually, you can order a product in 3-4 clicks, and while you can use the ubiquitous AliPay payment system, you can just as easily pay cash to the delivery guy upon receipt of the product. 

It’s so easy that it’s hard not to buy the occasional extra USB flash drive or space heater – which is exactly what they want!

When I was working in an office full-time and found that I needed something small (extra phone charger, new mouse, or even some new socks), it was preposterously easy to hop on jd.com and order it. Most of the time I would literally forget about it until it arrived a day or two later, but I’d just pay the guy in cash.

Often described at the eBay of China, Taobao is actually something much more: a cultural phenomenon. The sheer variety of stuff available is absolutely unbelievable, and it has made life in urban China much more convenient. 

Let’s look at it this way first: Taobao and its sister site Tmall (which is basically the same thing but limited to more established sellers and brands) oversaw  US$272 billion in transactions  in fiscal 2014 – that’s larger than the GDP of the Philippines, Finland or even Hong Kong.

More to the point, Taobao has enabled China to leapfrog the West in many ways and become a global e-commerce leader. 

I know tons of people, for instance, that don’t even go grocery shopping anymore. They order all their food on Taobao every day and it’s waiting outside their apartments before they get home from work. 

In recent years the amount of imported food on Taobao has exploded, as well, and you can get goodies like cheese, South American coffee and even hard-to-find spices there. 

In short it’s kind of the best thing ever, and they do a great job making the purchasing experience easy if you have AliPay.

7. CTrip (携 程,   xié chéng) - China’s Best Travel Site

It may not be wildly innovative, but CTrip (literally “to go the distance,” with a bit of poetic license on my part) is a well-made, useful and reliable travel website, quite an accomplishment for a homegrown Chinese site.

Best of all, it has a top-shelf English version (as well as German, French, Vietnamese and Russian localizations, among others) that usually has the same prices as its Chinese counterpart, another rarity here in China.

Their mailing list is a great way to find out about random last minute ridiculously cheap deals to domestic destinations, and with air travel becoming increasingly popular and affordable within China, CTrip is a must-have travel resource if you’ve had enough of the super-authentic-but-I’m-kinda-over-it long haul train thing.

"fèng huáng (凤凰)", known by its web address iFeng or in English as Phoenix Television, is a Hong Kong-based group of television stations that maintains an increasingly popular website targeted primarily at the Mainland.

A general news site for the most part, iFeng has made inroads in China by sharing occasionally controversial news and insights that its Mainland counterparts are often unwilling to, all without drawing too much attention or scorn from the authorities.

iFeng has also developed a nice mobile app and is becoming something of a new media empire, definitely one to look out for in the future

A Chinese, and way less sketchy version of Craigslist, TongCheng (meaning “same city” in Chinese) is a well-designed tool for connecting people living in the same city.

Its relatively simple, clean design is a rarity among Chinese sites, and it's remarkably easy to use – I bought my bike and my current go-to electric guitar on there, and for people with limited Chinese reading skills, it doesn’t take much time or effort to find what you need and get the contact details of the person who has it.

It’s also an important resource for small businesses in rural China who may not have the resources or funds to set up their own site.

Seems simple enough, but Wall Street sees a lot of potential: Last October TongCheng’s IPO on the NYSE went for over US$150 million, surprising a lot of investors and giving the company some resources to grow with.  

It remains to be seen what the site can do to continue turning a profit, but I can attest to its usefulness. It’s really the best place if you need something cheap and don’t mind second-hand stuff, though I maintain that, in Shanghai at least, the best way to get something for really cheap is from bitter expats having moving-away sales on Craigslist!

10. WeChat (微信, wēi xìn )

WeChat aka WeiXin is basically the mac-daddy of all Chinese-built web services.

It’s an app that often gets called the Chinese WhatsApp, but over the last 2-3 years it has completely changed the everyday experience of life in China – I’m not exaggerating.

At its core, WeChat is a messaging platform, but it also offers voice messages, voice/video calls, and a Facebook-like social networking service. It has basically made phone calls, text messages and other social networks obsolete.

Everyone and everything is on WeChat, and it’s now the center of every Chinese company’s social media marketing strategy as well. You can do your online shopping, your banking, your cloud storage and even finding new friends via their crazy radar feature , which lets you find users in your vicinity.

WeChat is attempting to eat the functionality of every other app or web service, and they’re succeeding.

It’s fed in part by the preponderance of super-cheap smartphones (we’re talking ~US$40 for a phone running a bootleg version of Android OS) and the increasing availability of cheap data plans. Even migrant worker can afford to buy a cheap handset, download WeChat and chat away to their hearts content. It’s so ubiquitous that when I go back to the States it takes me some time to adjust to the fact that people actually send text messages there.

Free Lessons

Free Downloads

Popular Posts

What our students have to say

Join us and have fun learning chinese.

The Top 15 Apps for China Travelers

Apps are revolutionizing the way we travel, and nowhere is this more true than China. Downloading these apps before you get to China can make everything a whole lot easier, as it alleviates problems with the language and can help you get your bearings quicker.

That's why we've listed the top 15 most useful China apps for travelers, whether it be language, directions, traveling, taxis, keeping access to your social media, or restaurants.

1. A VPN App — for Internet Access

You won't get very far in China without a VPN these days, as apps such as WhatsApp, anything Google (Google mail accounts, Google docs), Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all require a VPN for use.

We've listed the best free and paid VPNs so that you can start your trip prepared!

Language Apps

2. pleco (free or upgraded version).

In terms of getting to terms with the Chinese language, Pleco is one of the best language-learning apps, and will also save your time if you can't read things such as menus, signs, or can't translate a tourist attraction name into Chinese.

You can either input using pinyin (the alphabetic system of Mandarin), or you can draw out characters in order to translate them. The dictionary from English into Chinese is also very good.

3. Learn Chinese Mandarin (Free or Upgraded Version)

A great beginners' language app with sets of key phrases for the most important parts of traveling. Greetings, general conversation, numbers, directions and places, transportation, eating out, and emergency are all included in the free version.

If you want to take your Chinese learning to the next level, consider paying $4.99 for the upgraded version which also includes vocab lists for time and date, accommodation, shopping, colors, regions and towns, countries, tourist attractions, family, dating, feeling sick, and more.

Navigation Apps

4. google maps (free).

Google Maps is the best comprehensive maps service throughout China, as it is fully available in English and makes it easy to navigate around even if you don't speak the language.

Now google, facebook, twitter, youtube, and instgram have been blocked by China firewall. You'd better get a VPN before departure. See the Best VPNs for Use in China (Free and Paid) .

5. China Travel Guide (Free)

A travel guide with listings for popular tourist attractions throughout the country, including addresses, pictures, locations on the map, and other peoples comments on each of the popular tourist sites.

Great for pre-planning or while you're on the road as this app can be used offline too, which is perfect if you're traveling without much access to Internet.

Transport Apps

6. our train-booking app.

We've designed an app to connect mobile users with our acclaimed English-language China train service, making it easier for foreign travelers in China to book train tickets.

Read more about it here , including information on how to download it.

7. China Metro (Free)

China Metro has a huge collection of subway maps from cities through China, whether you're traveling to Beijing , Shanghai , Guangzhou , or even smaller cities like Harbin , Wuhan, Hangzhou and Changsha .

Even more conveniently, it also has information for Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei if you're traveling off the mainland.

8. DiDi ChuXing (Free) — for Taxis

Since Uber was taken off the market, a local equivalent called DiDi ChuXing has taken over the car-sharing market. Similarly with Uber, drivers will be eager to please and get you to your location for a good rating.

The vast amount of Wi-Fi around the country in hotels and restaurants means that even without 3G or a Chinese SIM you'll be able to request a car, and the driver will be able to find you based on the pin you have dropped at your location. The chat function in-app also means you can chat with your driver through a translation service in real time.

Payment gets taken off your international card as per usual, it's very simple and the same price as normal taxis.

9. Taxi! China ($1.99)

Taxi! China is the best way to ensure that you have important information to pass onto taxi drivers throughout the country about your hotel, the locations you want to go to, and can flawlessly communicate with them. 

It has lists of important phrases and phone numbers so that you'll never be caught off-guard or lost.

10. MoBike (Free)

The bike-sharing economy is taking the world by storm, and the revolution started in China! MoBike is one of the many apps that you can easily download and catch a shared bike ride on. Bikes are found throughout most Chinese cities, on pretty much every street corner.

First few rides are free, and from there on you'll pay CNY1 per ride. You do have to put down a CNY200 deposit but you can get this back.

11. WeChat (Free) — THE Social App

WeChat is the most popular messaging service in China, and is great if you're meeting people in China and want to stay in touch. Even in cases where you, for example, meet a lovely taxi driver and want to keep his contact in case you need him to drive you around the next day, WeChat is the best way to do this.

You can send text and voice messages, and call people for free if you're both connected to either Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G. It can also be used to pay for things by QR code.

Travel Help Apps

12. day tour booking app.

If you only have 1-2 days to visit a city, our Day Tour Booking app is the best way to plan your day trip.

The app selects the most popular attractions to visit in the main tourist cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi'an, and Guilin. Every stop of your tour can be checked easily on the app before you make your payment.

After you have booked, you will be picked up from your hotel lobby by a local tour guide, and an experienced driver in a comfortable car to start your tour.

Now the Day Tour Booking is available on App Store. Get your free trial by clicking here.

13. Flight Radar (Free or Upgraded Version)

If you're considering doing a lot of traveling by air in China, Flight Radar may actually have more information than the airport when it comes to delays and actual flight times.

Prepare by getting this app, and you won't regret it in case something unexpected happens while you're at the airport. Also great for those with a special interest in airplanes!

14. Airbnb (Free) — for Accommodation

Airbnb is not only changing the way people travel in the West, but also in China. On Airbnb you will find a wide array of accommodation throughout the entire country, including some very unique spots near the Great Wall of China , for example.

Most Airbnb hosts signed up in China do speak English, and you'll also find that many of them are actually foreigners living in China with a unique view of the country to share.

15. AirVisual (Free) — for Air Quality

If you're worried about traveling in China as a result of increased coverage of its air pollution issues, it can be worth downloading AirVisual ahead of your trip. The app shows real-time air pollution levels as measured at different points in the country, with an estimation for the next few days. This can be useful if you're traveling with someone who has a weaker respiratory system.

The app's coverage isn't limited to China though, you might be surprised that your hometown is more polluted than you thought.

Our China Tours

Our tours will guide you as much or as little as you need, so you won't even need to use any of these apps if we guide you through China, as we'll take care of it all.

To get in touch with us about organizing a tour, all you have to do is contact us through this form and tell us more about how many people are traveling, and where you'd like to go.

Further Reading

• Internet access in China is not the same as back home, so make sure you know what you're doing before coming out here. For example, if your only email address is a gmail address, consider creating a hotmail or yahoo to stay in touch with friends.
• For HK, we have  Hong Kong Apps: The Top 10 for Travelers/Expats .
• And if you're going to Shanghai, we've also compiled a list of apps for tourists visiting Shanghai.

Get Inspired with Some Popular Itineraries

More travel ideas and inspiration, sign up to our newsletter.

Be the first to receive exciting updates, exclusive promotions, and valuable travel tips from our team of experts.

Why China Highlights

Where can we take you today.

• Southeast Asia
• Japan, South Korea
• India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri lanka
• Central Asia
• Middle East
• African Safari
• Travel Agents
• Loyalty & Referral Program
• Privacy Policy

Address: Building 6, Chuangyi Business Park, 70 Qilidian Road, Guilin, Guangxi, 541004, China

5 Crucial Chinese Travel Trends & 4 Chinese Tourism Platforms You Need to Know

It’s safe to say at this point that Covid-19 has changed travel forever. Even after countries get their infection rates low enough and their vaccination rates high enough, travel will be different as we go forward.

Businesses that want to target Chinese tourists need to keep these new travel trends in mind, while also keeping their brand in the forefront of the awareness of potential customers in China with effective digital marketing until international travel is on the menu again.

Latest travel trends in China to know

1 – safety and hygiene first.

Airlines, cruise lines, locations, hotels, restaurants and indoor performance venues will need to showcase their area’s fresh air and sun, their building’s windows and fan systems that allow constant air flow, their high tech hospital grade air conditioning systems that prevent the transfer of air between rooms, their disinfection, room cleaning and laundry procedures, their testing and vaccination requirements for staff and guests and more.

We can see this in action internationally when we take a look at the travel sector that was put in the spotlight in the early days of the pandemic and that has been one of the hardest hit by Covid-19. Starting in October 2020, cruise lines started to require negative Covid tests prior to boarding for all guests and staff and implemented a range of measures to prevent outbreaks.

As of April 2021, that has now been updated to a requirement for proof of vaccinations prior to boarding and sailing to destinations that also require vaccinations for travellers, like Iceland . Many ships now have Covid testing labs on board and require regular testing. Cruise lines have worked together with the CDC and other health agencies to enhance their health protections and are also advertising their updated health protocols clearly.  

2 – Increased flexibility for booking, payments and refunds

In the earliest days of the Covid outbreak in China, to bring travel to a halt, the government encouraged travel businesses and platforms to give full refunds so that travellers could cancel their plans at the last minute without financial penalties. This went a long way to minimizing travel and the spread of Covid in China. Now that infection rates are under control and domestic travel is underway, travel businesses realize that these highly flexible cancellation and rescheduling policies are still necessary. People are wary and also know that outbreaks and other factors can suddenly derail their plans. The cruise industry , airlines and many hotel chains have already changed cancellation, rescheduling and refund policies to make them more flexible for worried travellers . Given that travel is highly discouraged during a pandemic, people are dealing with a range of circumstances that make travel and planning challenging and the travel industry itself faces huge obstacles , this is a necessary step.

3 – Livestreamed and virtual tours 

China, where livestreaming was already a strong trend before Covid hit, was the first place to put it into wide use to get around pandemic travel restrictions. It became a strong format for influencers (KOLs), entertainment and a highly effective promotions and sales channel . 

Livestreaming and video has also emerged all over the world as a way for people to experience vicarious travel while many borders are closed. There’s incredible variety, from free livecams of wildlife , the northern lights and zoos to paid livestreams of Shakespeare plays , themed tours in major tourist destinations, safaris and virtual tours of famous landmarks . 

Some national tourism boards, such as Australia’ s and Saint Lucia’ s, have done a good job setting up dedicated websites and social media accounts with lots of virtual tours, stunning photos and educational videos to keep prospective and virtual tourists engaged and longing to see the real thing in person.

4 – Co-branding / Merch / Product lines

Co-branding is huge in China. This includes some very unlikely partnerships and products , such as a campaign with the UK’s National Gallery and KFC that had buckets and cups with world-famous impressionist works available at KFC’s thousands of restaurants in China. Don’t rule out a collaboration because it may seem odd to you as the boundaries are different in China.

If you prefer to colour within the lines, that’s also possible. It’s good if your online store ships to China, but to stay in touch with Chinese consumers, you really need outlets on Chinese e-commerce sites like Tmall and Taobao and to communicate with customers in ways that they’re familiar with , as the British Museum did by livestreaming on Fliggy. Produce items that match your brand image and sell merchandise to customers who can’t visit you in person. Many hotel chains already sell fragrances , toiletries and bedding . Restaurants often make T-shirts , hats, mugs or water bottles. Beach destinations can sell designer beach towels. Keep sustainability in mind too.

5 – Duty free stores

In addition to maintaining a presence online, make sure your products are available in duty free stores in places like Hainan . The island has become a hot travel and shopping destination with sales at the island’s duty free stores soaring during Chinese New Year as Chinese shoppers, especially those looking for luxury items, flocked to the island. Sales during Golden Week doubled compared to 2019. Essentially, Hainan and other places within China where domestic travel has grown enormously, have now taken the place of foreign destinations when it comes to luxury shopping travel. 90% of the growth in the luxury goods market was because of Chinese consumers, who were responsible for 35% of global luxury spending .

There’s also healthy demand in China for health food, organic products, plant-based foods, pet products and beauty-related items. 

The 6th trend, that also links some of the trends above, is digitization (or digitalization ). China’s digitization was already well ahead of many other places before the pandemic but it accelerated after Covid hit. This means that travel brands need to customize their branding for China , have their own China-based, Mandarin language official websites, and need to know China’s primary travel-related websites, platforms and apps. Establish a presence on them and advertise on them to reach future Chinese tourists and China’s foreign product consumers.

Chinese tourism platform s brands should have a presence on

1 – ctrip  .

Ctrip.com is one of the biggest Chinese tourism platforms and a one stop shop for accommodation reservations, transportation ticketing, package tours, corporate travel management and more. WIth global travel at a standstill, the site will now be focussed on domestic travel. Influencers, called key opinion leaders (KOLs) in China, frequently tag Ctrip in posts about booking tickets and other topics, adding to a brand’s exposure. A presence on the site is highly advised .

2 – Fliggy

Fliggy is the online travel platform of the Alibaba Group. As an online travel platform (OTP), as opposed to an online travel agent, it provides direct access between customers and airlines, hotels, railway operators and more. Brands and businesses can gather data directly from customers while selling their products and getting exposure for their brand. As mentioned before, The British Museum livestreamed on Fliggy to keep in touch with Chinese audiences and future travellers.

3 – Qunar

Qunar performs a unique function among Chinese tourism platforms. It’s China’s top travel-related search engine and travel information platform. They help consumers find and compare value and experiences for flights, hotels, packages and other travel services.

4 – Tuniu

Tuniu is an online leisure travel company in China that offers a large selection of package tours, including organized and self-guided tours, as well as travel-related services for leisure travellers. It covers over 140 countries worldwide and all the popular tourist attractions in China.

Content platforms for tourism-related businesses

WeChat ’s dominance as the de facto operating system for daily life in China gives it a grip on young people who are interested in travelling. People also see lots of throwback images from trips taken by friends and family as well as public figures and travel bloggers. These wield a lot of influence. Location, brand and store mini programs on WeChat are also very popular and make finding your business or location easier for Chinese customers . 

Weibo is similar to WeChat in terms of its level of travel-related influence. It even had a yearly conference where it handed out awards to top travel influencers. In 2019, Weibo noticed an increase in the amount and impact of travel content connected to culture, experiences, rural tourism, guesthouses, ecology and more.

Red / Xiaohongshu 

Xiaohongshu or Red began as an app specializing in travel-related shopping recommendations where users posted about products and brands they discovered while travelling. Most couldn’t be bought in China at that time but things have evolved rapidly since then. The platform still features a lot of travel content and foreign brands. 

China’s version of TripAdvisor, Mafengwo , is one of the most popular platforms among Chinese travellers . Tourists give reviews and ratings and share travel experiences, tips and photos.

This is the Chinese version of TikTok. Douyin and TikTok were both developed by Chinese tech company Bytedance and they operate in the same way, just for different audiences. In the West, it’s seen as an app for kids and teens; in China, its users and audience are older with many in their mid-20s.

Payment platforms for tourism-related businesses

WeChat Pay is one of the most used payment systems in China so installing a WeChat Pay system online would be a strong move for catering to Chinese tourists.

When international travel resumes in some form, tax refund mini programs on WeChat are also used frequently when Chinese people travel so if you provide one that immediately administers these refunds to your Chinese customers, that would be a big hit.

Alipay is another widely used digital payment system in China. It was originally developed by Alibaba to make paying for purchases on its platforms safer and easier but it has grown much bigger than that. Giving Chinese customers the option of using this to pay for purchases overseas and locally makes their life much easier.

Other key players in the Chinese tourism industry

Similar to Mafengwo and Red, without the shopping focus, Qyer.com enables travel enthusiasts to write notes, give each other tips and share their experiences. It provides information about travel destinations, transportation and accommodation. It finances itself through commissions for airline and hotel bookings.

Airbnb 

Airbnb ’s Weibo hashtag #爱彼迎故事# (The Story of Airbnb) and #遇到, 想不到# (Meet the Unexpected) are popular among many travel KOLs. Appealing photos and interesting stories in social media posts have attracted a lot of attention for Airbnb. At the moment, domestically, Airbnb in China is focussing on local travel experiences. 

Overseas travel isn’t going to be on the cards for most Chinese travellers for quite a while. Even once borders reopen, mindsets, perceptions of safety and views of health policies in foreign countries have changed and it will take time for Chinese outbound travel, particularly travel outside of Asia, to recover. In the meantime, your marketing strategy should include getting onto Chinese tourism platforms to remind them of who you are, what you offer and allow them to have livestreamed and virtual experiences that are compelling and that only your brand can offer .

For more China market insights, download our FREE 690+ page Mega Guide: China E-commerce and Digital Marketing, Q3 2021 or our 18-page survey report Post-COVID-19 China: The Digital Lifestyles and Travel Plans of Chinese Consumers . Chozan is your partner in bringing your brand into the domestic Chinese market.

SUBSCRIBE TO ASHLEY’S BI-WEEKLY CHINA INSIGHTS NEWSLETTER

Thank you for signing up, stay connected.

Get Fare Alerts!

Use this tool to add tone marks to pinyin or to convert tone number (e.g. hao3) to tone marks.

Although you can use the red buttons to add tone marks, we highly recommend you use the number method (e.g. hao3) for speed and placement of the accent above the correct vowel. [Hint: Type "v" for "ü"] Note: You do not need to use this tool to enter pinyin in this dictionary.

• Latest Posts
• Learner Tips
• Culture Lessons

Top 10 Most Popular Chinese Websites (UPDATED)

Our original article on the top 10 most popular Chinese websites, was posted back in 2014 by the lovely Bethany. Although many of the pages in our original list are still some of the ‘most popular Chinese websites’, so much has changed online in the last few years, that it was time for the ‘Top 10 Most Popular Chinese Websites v2.0’.

This time, we’re not going to give you ‘10’ websites, we’re going to give you 10 categories of websites.

not only has China’s technology changed, but Written Chinese has developed too with new apps, tools, team members, and thoughts and so we wanted to add some more information (and a video) in order to help you utilize and enjoy Chinese websites!

It is also fair to add that many people have now moved over from websites to their respective app versions, keep your eyes peeled for ‘popular app’ blog post!

Don’t be put off by many of these sites being in Chinese, even if you’re a beginner you can learn to navigate the sites by using a translator or dictionary to learn new characters. If you’re using a web browser, you can translate the characters using the Written Chinese online dictionary

With China’s “Great Firewall” blocking many websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, you may wonder what Chinese people use to navigate the internet.  Below are the top ten Chinese websites and what kind of services they provide.

1. Search Engines

Baidu http://www.baidu.com/ 百度 (bǎi dù).

Baidu 百度 (bǎi dù) is still the most popular search engine in China.  It is also an excellent place to download pictures, music, and watch TV shows.  Because of copyright concerns, however, a lot of this material is not available in other countries.

Bing cn.bing.com 必应 ( bì yìng)

Qi Lu, Microsoft’s Online Services President translated Bing into Chinese as 必应 (bì yìng) meaning ‘likely to answer’. Bing’s simplistic design includes a dictionary that translates many languages.

2. Social Networks

Qq qq.com 腾讯网 (téng xùn wǎng).

QQ 腾讯网 (téng xùn wǎng) is well known for its instant messaging service that is similar to ICQ or MSN messenger. The website offers other services as well, such as email, news, music, shopping, and games.  Once you have created a QQ account, you can also register for “QQ Zone”, something similar to Facebook where you can post things on a wall that your friends can read.

Although people still use QQ.com as a source of news and information, Tencent is now more widely known (and used) for its mobile apps such as WeChat (China’s popular messenger service).

Weibo weibo.com 微博 (wēi bó)

Weibo 微博 (wēi bó) is China’s version of Twitter.  Users can create a public account that their friends “follow” and posts follow the same 140-character limit.  Chinese celebrities are very popular people to follow on Weibo. Weibo accounts can be viewed on the web and on the very-popular mobile version.

Weibo now has a new feature called 长微博 (cháng wēi bó, basically ‘long blog’) that allows users to now post longer articles with images.

Zhihu zhihu.com 知乎 (zhī hū)

In classical Chinese, 知乎 (zhī hū) means ‘do you know?’ and is a question and answer style set, similar to Quora.com. It’s frequently used to ask experts specialized questions on a variety of topics.

3. News and Email

These are the three most popular news sites that also include email in China.

Sina sina.com.cn 新浪网 (xīn làng wǎng)

Sina 新浪网 (xīn làng wǎng) is the most formal of the three and is the choice for broadcasting government-related news. Although dense with information, there are sections that cover entertainment, fashion, finance and sports articles. There’s also an amusing GIF section and featured videos.

NetEase 163.com 网易 (wǎng yì)

NetEase 网易 (wǎng yì) was once well known for its blogging service, but since the advent of Weibo, it has waned in popularity. NetEase is more accessible than Sina as far as information consumption is concerned. As well as local and national news, NetEase covers health advice, household and tourism.

Sohu sohu.com 搜狐 (sōu hú)

Sohu 搜狐 (sōu hú) is most well known for its Chinese-input method, Sogou .  Sogou has an enormous word database that constantly adjusts to new slang and emerging words in science and technology-related fields.

IFENG.com ifeng.com 凤凰网 ( fèng huáng wǎng)

Huangqiu.com huanqiu.com 环球网 ( huán qiú wǎng), the paper thepaper.cn 澎湃新闻 ( péng pài xīn wén).

The Paper 澎湃新闻 ( péng pài xīn wén) has a more contemporary method of providing news and is easier to read than other more traditional news sites.

4. Shopping

Taobao taobao.com 淘宝网 (táo bǎo wǎng)

You can find anything you want on Taobao 淘宝网 (táo bǎo wǎng) and likely it is very cheap!  Packages come through the 快递 (kuàidì) or express delivery service in a matter of days.  Other online markets, such as Amazon, have a hard time competing with the success of Taobao.

JD jd.com 京东 (jīng dōng)

Although Taobao is still extremely popular, other sites such as JD.com 京东 (jīng dōng) , have also popped up recently as a more reliable source of genuine products. People are now using JD.com to buy fresh food , such as vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood.

Amazon amazon.cn 亚马逊 (yà mǎ xùn)

Amazon.cn 亚马逊 (yà mǎ xùn) has also become more popular lately, due to it’s handy ‘pay on delivery’ service. You can now order from amazon.com and get fast delivery from the USA and other western countries.

Youku  youku.com/ 优酷 (yōu kù)

Essentially, Youku 优酷 (yōu kù) is China’s version of YouTube.  It is very popular for watching Chinese dramas, music videos, and other popular videos of the day. There are more and more shows and films from the UK, USA and Korea and Youku have recently started to add an inexpensive subscription for access to brand new movies and unreleased tv series’.

iQIYI iqiyi.com 爱奇艺视频 ( ài qí yì shì pín )

There are now many more websites for watching TV shows and movies that are becoming more and more popular. Some shows may not be available on Youku, but you can bet they’ll be on iQIYI 爱奇艺视频 (ài qí yì shì pín). You can watch some of our favorite shows, such as iSupermodel !

芒果TV mgtv.com/ 芒果TV ( máng guǒ TV)

芒果TV (máng guǒ TV) not only includes tv shows and movies but also music videos, documentaries, and educational shows. Mango TV is owned by one of the most famous Chinese TV channels, 湖南卫视 Hunan TV.

Biliblil bilibili.com 哔哩哔哩 ( bì li bì li)

Bilibili 哔哩哔哩 ( bì li bì li) is a video website almost exclusively for anime and animation. It has recently become well known for Chinese vloggers uploading their own lifestyle, travel, cooking and advice vlogs .

QQ Video https://v.qq.com/  腾讯视频 ( téng xùn shì pín)

腾讯视频 ( téng xùn shì pín) is another member of the Tencent family, where you can stream a whole host of movies, tv shows and animations from China and abroad. If you use the app, you can download the shows and watch them offline!

Like many western websites and tools, Dropbox is also blocked in China. However, there is a Chinese version named pan.baidu (百度云) becoming more and more popular, especially to share media such as TV shows. People often share their content on Baidu so that others can download movies and other things more difficult to access in China.

Use these sites and apps to find new, trending music in China. Most have a good database of music from all over the world, including lesser-known artists. Some allow you to download tracks and play them offline.

NetEase Music http://music.163.com/ 网易云音乐 (wǎng yì yún yīn yuè)

Small shrimp music http://www.xiami.com/ 虾米音乐 (xiā mǐ yīn yuè).

QQ Music https://y.qq.com/ QQ音乐 (QQ yīn yuè)

Yinyue tai http://www.yinyuetai.com/ 音悦台 (yīn yuè tái), the himalayas fm http://www.ximalaya.com/ 喜马拉雅fm (xǐ mǎ lā yǎ fm), dragonfly fm http://www.qingting.fm/ 蜻蜓fm (qīng tíng fm), 7. travel and tourism, ctrip http://www.ctrip.com/ 携程 ( xié chéng).

携程 (xié chéng) is the most popular Chinese website for booking flights, hotels, group tours, and other travel services. You can view the site in multiple languages, great if you’re traveling around China!

去哪儿? https://www.qunar.com/ 去哪儿? (qù nǎr)

As more and more Chinese people are travelling abroad, their website options to compare prices are also increasing. qunar.com also has an English version named qua.com .

AliTrip https://www.alitrip.com/ 飞猪 (fēi zhū)

With a flying pig as its logo,  飞猪 (fēi zhū )  Alitrip is not only one of China’s popular websites for booking flights and hotels, it’s also a popular mobile app.

Travel Guides

Ma feng wo http://www.mafengwo.cn/ 马蜂窝 (mǎ fēng wō).

马蜂窝  (mǎ fēng wō) is a travel search engine, which provides the user with suggestions for accommodation, restaurants and even how to get wifi. There are tons of reviews from people who have tried and tested these recommendations.

QYER http://www.qyer.com/ 穷游网 (qióng yóu wǎng)

Search for a city and view a mini guide for that place. There are ‘top 10s’ for each category, such as places to stay, places to eat and places to visit, etc.

8. Entertainment  & Life

My wonderful colleague, Chamcen, let me into what I believe to be (until now) a secret for most non-Chinese people. Sites similar to Groupon that offer discount codes and offers are becoming more prevalent in China and here are two to have a look at: dian ping (大众点评团) and Mei Tuan (美团). Because who doesn’t like a BOGOF now and again!

The following sites provide suggestions and reviews for restaurants, services, movie tickets, SPA and salons, take-out and group-purchases, just to name a few!

Dian Ping http://www.dianping.com/ 大众点评 (dà zhòng diǎn píng)

Mei Tuan www.meituan.com 美团网 (měi tuán wǎng)

Nuo mi www.nuomi.com 糯米网 (nuò mǐ wǎng).

For maps in China, try these two options. 高德地图 is a clean easy-to-read map, with obvious symbols to indicate metro stations and areas of interest. There’s also a slight 3D look so that you can tell where buildings are.

Baidu Maps http://map.baidu.com/ 百度地图 (bǎi dù dì tú)

Gaode maps http://ditu.amap.com/ 高德地图 (gāo dé dì tú), 10. recipes and cooking.

Xia Chufang http://www.xiachufang.com/ 下厨房 (xià chú fáng)

Follow user-added recipes with clear ingredient lists and pictures of each recipe step.

You can search for recipes by meal time, ingredient, occasion and consumer.

Have any other favorite Chinese websites? Please leave a comment below.

About WrittenChinese

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Travel China Cheaper

Travel China the smart way! Expert tips and travel advice for China tourists and expats.

PLANNING A TRIP TO CHINA? Start Here

Best Websites to Buy China Flight Tickets in 2024

February 7, 2024 By Josh Summers

Where is the best place to find cheap Chinese domestic flight tickets in 2024?  For those who can’t read Chinese characters or who don’t have a Chinese credit card, it may feel like international online travel agencies (OTAs) are your only option. Thankfully, they aren’t – and there are cheaper ways to buy domestic flight tickets in China from a Chinese company.

When I first moved to China in 2006, one of the most stressful life events here was trying to purchase China flight tickets online – especially because at the time I couldn’t speak or read Chinese very well.

I wanted to be able to shop around for the best prices online while still paying for the ticket using my foreign credit card.

Sites like Orbitz, Travelocity, CheapoAir and others are great for booking international flights, but when it comes to domestic flights in China, tickets are always far more expensive than what they should be.

Thankfully, over the past few years, buying China airline tickets (and getting prices like a local would) has become easier and easier.

This is true even for those people who travel to China without speaking or reading a lick of Chinese !

Below I want to share with you four of the most popular methods to purchase domestic Chinese flight tickets in China. These are the ways that are used all the time among expats here, including myself!

Note: Some of the links here are affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may be compensated if you choose to use one of the services listed.

Trip.com (formerly Ctrip in China)

Ask any expat who has lived in China for more than a year and they’ll tell you all about Trip/Ctrip .

It’s pretty much the largest Chinese online travel agency (OTA) and because of that, they offer the best prices on domestic flights and hotels in China.

A couple years ago, Ctrip launched the official English version of its website – Trip.com . It is owned and operated by Ctrip, and even if you land on the Ctrip Chinese version website, it will try to direct you to the English-language Trip.com.

Although Trip.com allows you to reserve hotel rooms, book train tickets and even arrange for airport transfers, Trip.com is primarily known as the go-to place to buy flight tickets in China .

There are a few reasons for this, not the least of which is a well-designed website that is available in perfectly-translated English. It feels like any other booking website you’re already used to using.

I always use Ctrip/Trip.com to book my domestic travel in China because:

• Best Pricing : Because it’s a Chinese company, you’ll find the best pricing available for any flights you search.
• Payment Methods: They accept almost all foreign credit cards, making it easy to purchase.
• Mobile App:  Trip.com offers a well-designed mobile app that you can download for your iPhone or Android device.
• Knowledgable, English-Speaking Support:  As a Chinese company, they are able to provide much better customer support with Chinese airlines than an international OTA would. Thankfully, they have English-speaking customer support for their foreign customers.

That last one is a big deal for me. If you get a flight cancellation, Expedia or Orbitz won’t have a clue what to do. Ctrip/Trip will know exactly what to do.

When you’re looking to buy flights in China, I highly recommend you make Trip.com one of the primary comparison quotes.

TravelGo (Check Price Calendar)

While Ctrip/Trip.com has soared to an almost 50% market share in China, there are other smaller players like TravelGo (known as LY.com in China) that are worth using at least to compare.

The “LY” in the Chinese version of this website stands for “Lu You”, the translated pinyin word for “Travel”.

Their primary audience is Chinese people wanting to travel abroad, but they have a very nice English-language website that I’ve used many times to check China domestic flights on.

My favorite feature with this Chinese OTA – and the primary reason I mention it here – is their  Price Calendar .

When searching for a flight, you’ll see a button on the upper right that says “Price Calendar”.

When clicked, it shows you the price of the same itinerary when you alter either the departure or return date.

It’s a very handy feature as you research cheap China flights!

LY.com/TravelGo hasn’t been around as long as Trip, but they’ve quickly grown in popularity over the past few years.

At the very least, I recommend you use the Price Calendar tool to find the cheapest day to fly and then switch back to Trip.com to see if they have a better price.

China Highlights | Domestic China Flights

Although not as popular as Ctrip and TravelGo, ChinaHighlights has been serving the online community with flight and hotel booking services for quite a few years.

At the very least, I recommend using their service as yet another way to price check the above two options.

What I like about using ChinaHighlights is that they offer instant currency conversion next to each flight option that they give, so whether you plan to buy in Chinese Yuan, the US Dollar, the British Pound, Australian dollar or the Canadian dollar…

…you’ll know exactly how much you’re spending.

ChinaHighlights accepts Visa, Mastercard, AmericanExpress and even Paypal – which has been incredibly convenient, particularly when one of my credit cards decided that the flight purchase I was trying to make was “fraudulent.”

Finally, ChinaHighlights boasts a “Personal Trip Advisor” which is basically a specific customer service individual who is specifically assigned to your booking to make sure you have all your questions answered.

For the record, China Highlights is also the service I recommend when you want to purchase China train tickets online .

Check Individual Airline Websites

If all else fails, I’ve found it helpful to check out the websites for the individual China airlines. Nowadays they all have an English version of their site and although it may not always look pretty, at least it can give you an idea of what they’re charging for flights.

In addition, there are times when you can actually find your flight on one of the above sites and then check to see if it is cheaper on the specific airline website.

In my experience, it doesn’t happen often, but it’s worth looking!

Below are links to the English-version websites for the most popular Chinese airlines:

• China Southern Airlines  (China’s largest airline)
• China Eastern Airlines (China’s 2nd largest airline)
• Hainan Airlines
• China Airlines

Final Thoughts | Domestic China Flights

The premise behind all of these options is that China offers the lowest prices to home-grown companies.

It makes sense if you think about it.

I recommend you start with Trip.com , then compare with TravelGo, China Highlights and the individual airlines.

Starting your search in one of these places will give you a good baseline for the price you should expect.

Payment is secure and – at least in my experience – it helps having local customer support instead of what an international OTA can give you.

Finally, since you’re checking out China flights, you might also be interested in this 5 step process for getting the best price on China flights . A few of the tips there could save you hundreds of dollars !

Further Reading & Resources

Traveling or Moving to China Soon?

Download "44 Tips You MUST Know Before Traveling to China". These simple but often overlooked tips could make or break your trip !

Download the Tips Here

About Josh Summers

Josh is the founder of TravelChinaCheaper.com who has been living in China with his family since 2006. Over that period of time he has traveled by plane, train, car, motorcycle and even camel to explore almost every corner of the country.

Reader Interactions

December 27, 2018 at 2:21 pm

I bought mine from a guy wearing sandals and shorts in a shopping plaza in beijing. one way or another, however it turned out i figured i’d have a story.

i got cash from an atm, gave it to him, then watched him disappear around the corner. a few minutes later he returned with a piece of tissue paper with some details i coulnd’t read written on it. the flight was in just a few hours, so i went to the airport, still not knowing if i was going anywhere. I handed the slip to someone at the counter and after looking at it for a moment, he printed a ticket. i was almost surprised.

more suprising was the airplane – a boeing so old it still had ashtrays in the armrests with seats spaced like they were on an elementary school bus. i’m 6’4″ so I couldn’t sit down until I took my shoes off and contorted my legs to get them under the seat in front of me. it didn’t crash so i was able to enjoy a few days in kunming.

December 27, 2018 at 9:15 pm

Wow…quite the story, Kevin!!

January 20, 2020 at 2:03 pm

Hi josh, myself and a friend are travelling to china at the end of October and into November, we will be travelling between Xiamen airport, chengdu airport and shanghai Hongqiao airport and finally back to Xiamen before we fly home to England. we are looking for the quickest and cheapest ways to travel, but trying to book flights now are very expensive. can you suggest anything better ? cheers roger

January 21, 2020 at 12:32 am

Hi Roger, if you’re not flying until October/November (it’s January as I write this), you’ll probably want to wait for at least another 7-8 months before booking the flights. Domestic flights don’t start going on sale at good prices until 1-3 months before the date of departure.

January 21, 2020 at 3:11 pm

Cheers, that’s confirmed what I have found in my research.

Are you planning to travel or move to China soon?

Don't miss out on these 44 money-saving tips!

© 2024 Go West Ventures LLC   |  Best-Selling China Travel Guide    |    Contact    |    Affiliate Disclaimer    |    Privacy Policy

• Baidu Paid Ad & PPC
• Chinese Website
• Tik Tok China/Douyin
• Xiaohongshu / Red
• China Marketing Resources Guide
• The Best Shopify Marketing App and Tools
• The Best Amazon Seller Tools for Research

Top 50 Chinese Websites

The benefits of low costs, broad categories, and fast delivery by online Chinese merchants are increasing the number of individual consumers and businesses worldwide.

The world has ranked China as the most attractive market for many years. However, it has a different digital system from the West. It might be useful to learn some of the popular local channels if you consider entering the China market. For example, you may want to form a partnership with a local player or perhaps target Chinese customers for your services through advertisement. So, we rounded up China’s top 50 online websites across a variety of industries.

1. Best Chinese Websites for Online Shopping/ eCommerce

2. best chinese websites for online wholesale product sourcing, 3. best chinese websites for education, 4. best chinese websites for films/movies, 5. best chinese websites for novels, 6. best chinese websites for china news, 7. best chinese websites for flight booking, 8. best chinese websites for car selling, 9. best chinese websites for online games, 10. best chinese websites for discounts buying.

Taobao, founded by Alibaba Group, is China’s Amazon, accounting for 78% of the Chinese domestic consumer market for online shopping. With over 170 million registered users, it has become the primary e-commerce site for people in China.

➪ https://world.taobao.com/

Operated by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, Joybuy.com offers a wide selection of authentic, high-quality Chinese products at competitive prices and delivers them to customers’ doors speedily and dependably.

Adhering to the same core values of authenticity and reliability that define the shopping experience at JD.com, Joybuy.com aims to provide consumers worldwide with an innovative and robust e-commerce platform through close cooperation with domestic suppliers in China.

➪ https://www.joybuy.com/

Tmall, a professional online integrated shopping platform, integrates thousands of brands and manufacturers to provide one-stop solutions between merchants and consumers. It provides 100% quality-guaranteed products, 7-day after-sales service with no reason to return, and high-quality services such as shopping points rebates.

➪ https://www.tmall.com/

1.4 Banggood

Banggood is one of the oldest online Chinese sites. Since 2006, they have grown to offer tons of products, including some of the best Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Huawei.

➪ https://www.banggood.com/

Suning.com is a new generation B2C online store of Suning Appliance Group. On January 25, 2010, Suning Appliance announced at its Nanjing headquarters that their B2C online shopping platform “Suning Tesco” would officially launch on February 1 and be independently purchased and operated.

➪ https://www.suning.com/

2.1 Alibaba

Launched in 1999, Alibaba is one of the leading platforms in China for global wholesale trade, where they serve millions of buyers and suppliers worldwide. Alibaba brings you hundreds of millions of products in over 40 major categories, including consumer electronics, machinery, and apparel.

➪ https://www.alibaba.com/

2.2 AliExpress

AliExpress is a part of Alibaba, China’s biggest online shopping company. The site hosts a wide variety of products, including automobiles, cell phones, computer hardware & software, electronics, beauty, lighting, shoes, and jewelry. Buyers can order as low as one item and enjoy fast delivery and full tracking services.

➪ https://www.aliexpress.com/

DHgate is one of China’s oldest and biggest B2B online marketplaces for items produced in China. The platform mainly connects small and medium suppliers with buyers overseas; users can order Chinese produced goods directly through the site.

➪ https://www.dhgate.com/

2.4 LightInTheBox

LightInTheBox, along with its sister site MiniInTheBox, ships to more than 200 countries worldwide. It sells products across three core categories: clothing, small gadgets, and home and garden. The company was founded in 2007, and by 2013, it was on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2013, it was even listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

➪ https://www.lightinthebox.com/

2.5 Gearbest

After AliExpress and DHgate, Gearbest is probably the third most popular Chinese website for wholesale products. Gearbest specialises in electronics and has the most up-scale electronics products such as drones, action cameras, and more.

➪ https://www.gearbest.com/

3.1 Zuoyebang

As the largest K12 online education platform in China, Zuoyebang offers a comprehensive suite of services, including the Zuoyebang Super App, Zuoyebang Live Courses App, and the Zuoyebang Oral Arithmetic App. Zuoyebang currently has over 800 million users with over 50 million daily and over 170 million monthly users.

➪ https://www.zybang.com/

VIPKid is an online teaching and education platform providing one-on-one English courses for Chinese children between four to fifteen. All its teachers are based in North America and must be certified by the company before teaching on the platform.

➪ https://www.vipkid.com/

3.3 GoGokid

GoGokid, founded by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is a brand new one-on-one English learning platform for children ages four-twelve. It aims to foster students to learn the English language as a tool, not as a goal, and to become individuals with creative and critical thinking skills.

➪ https://www.gogokid.com.cn/

3.4 Yuanfudao

Yuanfudao is the largest online live course platform, servicing primary and secondary school students in China to help improve their test scores. The platform connects students with tutors who live stream through the app. Students can choose one-on-one tutoring services or join a group class.

➪ https://www.yuanfudao.com/

3.5 Zhangmen 1to1

Zhangmen is an online tutoring platform that provides tutoring courses to students from eight to eighteen years old. Through the online and mobile apps of Zhangmen 1to1, primary and middle school students can select top teachers who have graduated from China’s first-class universities such as Tsinghua, and Peking University for personalised, one-on-one tutoring sessions and teaching is offered for subjects like math, English, physics, chemistry, etc.

➪ https://www.zhangmen.com/

4.1 iQiyi Movies

iQiyi is owned by Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine company. This site offers various full-length and copyrighted contents, including full movies, TV shows, animation, documentaries, music…etc.

You can also find Hong Kong (Cantonese) and Taiwan movies. Many are currently trending movies.

➪ https://www.iqiyi.com/

M1905.com is China’s national CCTV Movie Channel. The site provides columns like movies, videos, movie rankings, movie stars, blogs, etc. It boasts more than 10,000 HD movies with three extra movies added daily.

➪ https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/

4.3 Sohu Movies

Sohu Movie is one of China’s most popular streaming movie websites. The site provides thousands of movies and TV series for free. Even some of the latest American movies and TV shows are available legally. But all those movies are only available for Mainland China.

➪ http://tv.sohu.com/movie/

4.4 Youku Movies

Everyone knows Youku in China, a similar video site like YouTube. Its movie channel hosts numerous Chinese and foreign movies, including many top blockbusters.

➪ https://movie.youku.com/

4.5 QQ Movies

If you know a bit about China, you must hear of QQ, the most widely used instant messenger in China. Its movie channel – QQ Movie – is one of the most visited movie sites. It has channels including movies, dramas, shows, documentaries, and cartoons.

➪ https://v.qq.com/movie/

5.1 Jinjiang Literature City

Jinjiang Literature City was established in 2003 and is the largest female literature base in the world. It has 650,000 online works, including travel, love, film and television, urban love, and other types. It has 7 million registered users, 500,000 registered authors, 12,000 contracted authors, of which 3,000 have published works. Nearly 10,000 new users register every day, and 750 new works are published every day.

➪ https://www.jjwxc.net/

5.2 Qidian Chinese Website

As the largest original online literature website in China, Qidian Chinese website has a diverse content of works, including fantasy and martial arts. It also is suitable for a wide range of user groups.

➪ https://www.qidian.com/

5.3 Chuangshi Chinese Website

Chuangshi Chinese Website is a fully open online literature platform that integrates reading, creation, interactive community, and copyright operation, carefully built by a senior team in the online literature industry.

➪ http://chuangshi.qq.com/

5.4 Zongheng Chinese Website

Zongheng is a large-scale Chinese original reading website under Baidu Literature. After years of hard work, Zongheng has achieved remarkable results with an inventory of more than 160,000 books, a daily independent IP of more than 2.6 million, and a PV of more than 60 million, making it a domestic first-class professional website for original Chinese literature.

➪ http://www.zongheng.com/

5.5 Hongxiutianxiang

Hongxiutianxiang is one of the world’s leading digital rights operators for female literature. This site provides high-quality reading services covering novels, prose, essays, poems, lyrics, scripts, diaries, and other genres. It is a huge influence in female literary writing and publishing, such as romance and workplace novels.

➪ https://www.hongxiu.com/

6.1 People’s Daily Online

People’s Daily Online is a large-scale information platform constructed by People’s Daily – one of the world’s top ten newspapers. It is also one of the largest comprehensive medias on the Internet. As a leading key news website in China, it upholds “authority and strength generated from people”.

➪ http://en.people.cn/index.html

6.2 Xinhua Net

Established on November 7, 1997, as an online news provider of the Xinhua News Agency, it was officially named Xinhua Net on March 10, 2000, where it began around-the-clock news release with leading online public opinion at home and setting a good image of China abroad as its main task.

➪ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/home.htm

6.3 China Daily

It serves more than 330 million readers worldwide and is a default choice for people who read about China in English. The group plays an important role as a channel for information exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

➪ http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/

6.4 China.org

China.org offers broad access to up-to-date news about China, with searchable texts of government position papers and a wealth of basic information about Chinese history, politics, economics, and culture.

➪ http://www.china.org.cn/

6.5 CCTV NEWS

CCTV NEWS is the English language news channel of China Central Television (CCTV), the nation’s largest national broadcasting network. The channel grew out of CCTV International and launched on September 25, 2000. Its wide range of coverage includes newscasts, in-depth reports, and commentary programs, as well as a host of feature presentations.

➪ https://english.cctv.com/

7.1 Trip.com

With more than 1.4 million hotels in 200 countries and regions, they’ve built an extensive hotel network to give customers a fantastic choice of accommodation. Their far-reaching flight network has over 2 million individual flight routes connecting with more than 5,000 cities around the globe.

➪ https://us.trip.com/

Qunar’s search scope covers over 4190 online travel agencies, 770,000 hotels, 180,000 flight routes, 500,000 vacation routes,10,000 tourist attractions, 242,000 daily group-buying deals, and many more. The total number of activated users for Qunar’s mobile app hit 460million by the end of September 2014.

➪ https://www.qunar.com/

7.3 Travelgo

Travelgo is a leading provider of leisure travel in China. It was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Suzhou, China. It started in 2004, and its headquarters are in Suzhou, China. The industry has acknowledged Travelgo’s rapid growth and innovative business models. In 2014, it obtained more than RMB 2 billion investment from Tencent and Ctrip.

➪ https://www.travelgo.com/

7.4 China Highlights

China Highlights is one of the best China tour companies that specialises in customised and creative China tours. China Highlights boasts a “Personal Trip Advisor,” which is a specific customer service individual who is specifically assigned to your booking to make sure you have all your questions answered.

➪ https://www.chinahighlights.com/

7.5 Spring Airlines

Since the beginning of operations, Spring Airlines has maintained the overall average passenger load factor at about 95%, offering fares 30% lower than the market price of the same route. Despite rapid expansion, the company’s goal remains simple: offer safe, punctual, cost-effective, personalised, and friendly travel for all.

➪ https://en.ch.com/

8.1 Autohome

Autohome Inc. is the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China. Autohome provides professionally produced and user-generated content, a comprehensive automobile library, and extensive automobile listing information to consumers covering the entire car purchase and ownership cycle.

➪ https://www.autohome.com.cn/beijing/

Since PCauto launched in July 2002, it has developed into one of the largest automobile portals in China. It provides the latest product information on various domestic and international automobiles through its local guides and directories.

➪ https://www.pcauto.com.cn/

Xcar.com provides new car quotations, pictures, model information, forums, information, and so on. Xcar is the world’s largest automotive-themed community, including 85 mainstream brand model clubs.

➪ https://www.xcar.com.cn/

Cheshi provides car quotations, buying guides, regulations, model introductions, used cars, insurance, forums, market analysis, price reduction information, etc., for dealers and consumers across the country.

➪ http://www.cheshi.com/

8.5 Bitauto

As a leading automobile Internet company in China, Bitauto provides professional and rich information and shopping guide services for Chinese automobile users, as well as effective marketing solutions for automobile manufacturers and automobile dealers.

➪ https://www.yiche.com/

9.1 Tencent Games

Established in 2003, Tencent Games is the largest online game community in China and the digital entertainment platform with the most users worldwide. More than 800 million users enjoy Tencent game products every day to become a world-renowned game development and service operator.

➪ https://game.qq.com/

9.2 NetEase Games

NetEase Games was established in 2001, leading the MMORPG game market in China. After more than twenty years of rapid development, NetEase has become one of the seven largest game companies in the world. As a leading Chinese game website and company, NetEase has always been at the forefront of the independent development of online games.

➪ https://www.neteasegames.com/

9.3 Perfect World

Perfect World is the first game company in China to develop a 3D game engine. As a global game developer, publisher, and operator, Perfect World Games has a layout in client games, mobile games, console games, VR games, and cloud games.

➪ https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/pwi

9.4 Lilith Games

Lilith Games started in May 2013, and its headquarters are in Shanghai, China. It is a world-renowned game developer and publisher committed to creating fun games for global players.

➪ https://www.lilithgames.com/?locale=en-US

9.5 4399 Small Games

4399 Games is China’s leading web game platform. Its products have won the love of users with high levels of playability and interest, real and refreshing combat sense, exquisite art graphics, dazzling combat effects, and stable technical support.

➪ http://www.4399.com/

10.1 Chinabrands

Chinabrands is a leading drop shipping company that offers one-stop e-shopping for consumers worldwide. It boasts a product lineup of electronics, fashion, home, and outdoor, among many other categories. They also offer discounts and flash sales from time to time.

➪ https://www.chinabrands.com/

Shein specialises in fashion, especially women’s, although there are some menswear, children’s items, and accessories available. Consumers get free standard shipping for orders over $49. Express shipping costs $12.90 but is free for orders above $99. It allows free returns for all orders.

➪ https://www.shein.com.hk/

10.3 GeekBuying

Founded in 2012, Hong Kong-based GeekBuying prides itself by offering top-tier products at unbeatable prices. It also specialises in electronics and home appliances such as smartphones, TV boxes, computers, etc. It has warehouses in the U.S., China, UK, France, and Germany.

➪ https://www.geekbuying.com/

10.4 Made-In-China

Made-In-China.com is an online B2B e-commerce platform connecting “China Suppliers” with global purchasers. Its online store provides affordable and reliable items, including home décor, personal accessories, electronic gadgets and kitchen appliances, home household appliances, and more.

➪ https://www.made-in-china.com/

10.5 DealeXtreme

Established in 2004, this Chinese website classifies itself as an extreme service since they claim to offer an extreme advantage to their customers. At DealeXtreme, they sell about any product at an affordable price.

➪ https://www.dx.com/

With the key to China’s digital realm in hand, you’ve opened the door to endless possibilities. But why stop here? Delve into the intricacies of China’s social media landscape through our guide on the top 10 platforms ( https://bit.ly/3taPN7i ). And if you find yourself navigating specific industries, rest assured—our expertise is at your service.

In the ever-changing landscape of global business, entering the Chinese market isn’t just an option; it’s a necessity. Envision a single click ushering in a world of opportunities, effortlessly guiding you into the heart of the world’s most populous nation. This isn’t merely a journey; it’s a collaborative effort, and with the assistance of AI, we present you with a one-click solution to facilitate your China market entry.

Picture the synergy of technology and ambition laying the groundwork for your success. China awaits, and with our support, it’s not just about getting ready—it’s about fostering a connection with a nation that holds immense potential. Embrace the future; your venture into China begins with a humble click, and we’re here to make sure it’s a remarkable journey, shaped by collaboration and respect.

Digital marketing is more popular than ever in China, and companies are coming up with interesting strategies to take advantage of. Check out more here: https://www.enlybee.com/use-digital-marketing-to-enter-china-markets/

What is the digital marketing process?

One of the reasons digital marketing has changed the way businesses promote and market their products and services is the ease with which they can be accessed at nearly any time. Digital marketing has four major advantages over traditional marketing methods: measurability, cost, speed, and engagement.

Is Digital Marketing done differently in China?

Yes, you need to apply brand localisation in your digital marketing effort when entering the China market digitally. For example, seven major dialects are spoken throughout the country, which affects how people communicate. So, the strategies you use to get ahead in one region eg Top Tier 1 cities may not work elsewhere, even if it has similar circumstances or demographics. Check out this blog for localisation : https://www.enlybee.com/the-most-comprehensive-chinese-localisation-marketing-strategy-guide/

What are the most popular social media in China?

There is no doubt that social media has become inseparable from Chinese people’s daily lives. According to Hootsuite ‘s We Are Social report, the total number of active social media users in China has reached 930.8 million in 2021, which is 64.6% of the total population. Therefore, understanding  Chinese social media  and having an effective social media strategy is essential for brands to be successful in the Chinese market.

👇👇 https://www.enlybee.com/the-top-10-chinese-social-media-networks/

Top 10 Chinese Social Media Networks are: Wechat Weibo Douyin Bilibili Xiaohongshu Zhihu Douban Toutiao QQ

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.

In China, Blinken urges fair treatment of American companies

• Medium Text

SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA

Sign up here.

Reporting by Simon Lewis and Beijing newsroom; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Miral Fahmy

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

Gaza protest in Paris sees tense standoff with Israel supporters

Tensions flared in front of Paris' prestigious Sciences Po university over the war in Gaza on Friday as pro-Israeli protesters came to challenge pro-Palestinian students occupying the building.

China warns U.S. of 'downward spiral' as Antony Blinken meets with Xi Jinping

HONG KONG — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday as he wrapped up a three-day visit to China dominated by contentious issues and warnings from his hosts of another “downward spiral” in relations.

The two men met Friday afternoon local time at the Great Hall of the People, an ornate and cavernous building next to Tiananmen Square.

Xi noted that this year is the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and said the two countries “should be partners rather than adversaries.”

“The world is big enough to accommodate the simultaneous development and prosperity of both China and the United States,” he said, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout, adding that U.S.-China relations will stabilize once the U.S. takes “a positive and constructive view of China’s development.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken said the U.S. did not aim to hold back China’s development or decouple the world’s two largest economies.

“We want China’s economy to grow,” he said, but “the way China grows matters.”

“That means fostering a healthy economic relationship where American workers and firms are treated equally and fairly,” said Blinken, who cited what he called China’s unfair trade practices and the risk that Chinese industrial overcapacity in key industries such as solar panels and electric vehicles could result in U.S. and other markets being flooded with Chinese products.

The visit is Blinken’s second in less than a year as the two superpowers work to stabilize ties with renewed talks despite a growing list of geopolitical differences.

A primary goal of Blinken’s visit to China was to warn about its support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began weeks after Moscow and Beijing declared a “no limits” partnership in 2022. Though China does not appear to be supplying Russia with lethal assistance, Blinken said Friday that it was providing machine tools, microelectronics and other dual-use items that make it the “top supplier” of Russia’s defense industrial base.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” he said.

Other issues on the agenda included Chinese economic and trade practices the U.S. views as unfair, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea , stability in the Taiwan Strait, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the Israel-Hamas war.

Earlier Friday, Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where foreign dignitaries are often received.

“There’s no substitute, in our judgment, for face-to-face diplomacy in order to try and move forward, but also to make sure that we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least, to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” Blinken told Wang before the meeting. 

Speaking through an interpreter before the meeting, Wang said the U.S.-China relationship “has gone through ups and downs and twists and turns.” 

He said the relationship was beginning to stabilize but that “negative factors” were increasing.

“China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” Wang said, in an apparent reference to U.S. export controls and other measures that Beijing says are intended to limit its economic growth.

“Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?” he said. “This is a major question before our two countries.”

Blinken later described his meeting with Wang, which lasted more than three hours, as “extensive and constructive.” 

According to a State Department readout, the two men discussed next steps on a range of commitments that Xi and President Joe Biden made at their summit in California in November, including advancing cooperation on counternarcotics, military-to-military communication, talks on artificial intelligence risks and safety, and facilitating people-to-people exchanges.

Blinken announced Friday that the U.S. and China would hold their first talks on artificial intelligence in the coming weeks.

The Biden-Xi summit, the first encounter between the two leaders in a year, was intended to stabilize U.S.-China relations that had reached their lowest point in decades amid disputes over trade, technology, the status of Taiwan and the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. territory.

Though ties have improved since then, they are being tested by the strengthening of U.S. security alliances in the Asia-Pacific, U.S. concerns about Chinese goods flooding global markets, U.S. inquiries into China’s electric vehicle , shipbuilding and other industries, the possibility of increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods , and the passage this week of legislation that could result in a U.S. ban on the Chinese app TikTok .

The legislation, which Biden signed into law on Wednesday as Blinken was arriving in China, also includes $8 billion for security in Taiwan, a self-ruling island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory, and the broader Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. and China are competing for influence.

Blinken last visited China in June, when he also met with Xi. This trip also included a stop in Shanghai, where Blinken met with U.S. business leaders and visited the Shanghai campus of New York University .

Jennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.