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Kāiyuán Temple
This temple originally dates from AD 540 but was destroyed in 1966, the first year of the Cultural Revolution. Little remains apart from a Bell Tower and its drawcard dirt-brown Xūmí Pagoda (须弥塔, Xūmí Tǎ). Dating from 636AD, this well-preserved and unfussy, nine-eaved structure, is
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Khara Khoto
This ruined Tangut city was built in 1032 and captured by Genghis Khan in 1226 (his last great battle). Khara Khoto continued to thrive under Mongol occupation, but in 1372 an upstart Ming battalion starved the city of its water source, killing everyone inside. Six hundred years of
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Dranang Monastery
This small Sakyapa monastery of 22 monks is of interest mainly to art specialists for its rare murals, which combine Indian (Pala) and inner Asian (Western Xia) styles. Bring a torch to see the murals. The assembly hall has central statues of Dorje Chang (Vajradhara; with crossed a
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Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve
The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve is a thickly forested 460-hectare ‘special area’ and is Hong Kong’s most extensive woodlands. It is home to many species of butterflies, amphibians, birds, dragonflies and trees, and is a superb place in which to enjoy a quiet walk. The reserve is cris
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Discovery Bay
With a fine stretch of sandy beach ringed by luxurious condominiums, ‘DB’ is a dormitory suburb on Lantau’s northeastern coast for professionals who commute to Central. There is no pressing need to visit except to ogle at residents in their converted golf carts, which cost HK$200,0
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Hǎizàng Temple
A short trip on bus 5 (¥2) or taxi (¥15 to ¥20) outside town takes you to the entrance of a shabby park (admission ¥2), at the back of which is this temple, a fascinating active monastery. The Three Sages Hall (Sānshèng Diàn) contains a ‘hermaphroditic Guanyin’ (it’s at the back of
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Main Assembly Hall (Dukhang)
The dimly lit chamber of the dukhang has especially fine wall murals, showing strong Kashmiri and Nepali influences; bring a powerful torch (flashlight) to enjoy the rich detail. The Kashmiri influences are noticeable in the shading on the hands and feet, the ornate jewellery and d
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Zhōngyuè Temple
A few kilometres east of Dēngfēng, the ancient and hoary Zhōngyuè Miào is a colossal active Taoist monastery complex that originally dates back to the 2nd century BC. The complex – embedded in a mountainous background, its monks garbed in traditional dress and sporting top knots –
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Mao Duns Former Residence
The lack of English captions is frustrating, but this small and unassuming museum does at least give visitors the chance to stroll around a trapped-in-time courtyard residence. Mao Dun was the pen name of Shen Yanbing (1896–1981), who was born into an elite family in Zhèjiāng provi
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Great Mosque
Near Kuqas Sunday Bazaar , through the old town, is the Great Mosque, built in 1931 on the site of a 16th-century original.
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Propaganda Poster Art Centre
If phalanxes of red tractors, bumper harvests, muscled peasants and lantern-jawed proletariats fire you up, this small gallery in the bowels of a residential block should intoxicate. The collection of 3000 original posters from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s – the golden age of Maoist po
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Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base
This museum is set in the notorious Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base (Division 731). Between 1939 and 1945, prisoners of war and civilians were frozen alive, subjected to vivisection or infected with bubonic plague, syphilis and other virulent diseases. Three to four thousan
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Liúli China Museum
Founded by Taiwanese artists Loretta Yang and Chang Yi, the Liúli China Museum is dedicated to the art of glass sculpture (pâte de verre or lost-wax casting). Peruse the collection of ancient artefacts – some of which date back more than 2000 years – to admire the early craftsmansh
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Dìng Líng
Dìng Líng, the resting place of Emperor Wanli (1572–1620) and his wife and concubines, is at first sight less impressive than Cháng Líng because many of the halls and gateways have been destroyed. Many of the priceless artefacts were ruined after being left in a huge, unsealed stor
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Fǎyuán Temple
Infused with an air of reverence and devotion, this lovely temple dates back to the 7th century. The temple follows the typical Buddhist layout, with drum and bell towers. Do hunt out the unusual copper-cast Buddha , seated atop four further Buddhas ensconced on a huge bulb of myri
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Xī’ān City Walls
Xīān is one of the few cities in China where the old city walls are still standing. Built in 1370 during the Ming dynasty, the 12m-high walls are surrounded by a dry moat and form a rectangle with a perimeter of 14km. Most sections have been restored or rebuilt, and it is now possi
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Northern Monastery Ruins
Little is left of the original monastery complex that once sprawled across the hills north of the Trum-chu, but it is still worth climbing up through the Tibetan village and wandering around what does remain. The northern monastery predates the southern monastery (the oldest temple
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Shipton’s Arch (Tushuk Tagh)
This natural rock arch (the Uighur name means ‘mountain with a hole in it’) is reputedly the tallest on earth. The first Westerner to describe it was the British mountaineer and last British consul-general in Kashgar, Eric Shipton, during his visit to the region in 1947. Successive
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Gyüme Tratsang
Gyüme was founded in the mid-15th century as one of Tibet’s foremost Tantric training colleges, second only in Lhasa to the monasteries of Sera and Drepung. More than 500 monks were once in residence, and students of the college underwent a physically and intellectually gruelling c
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Dìtán Park
Directly north of the Lama Temple, but cosmologically juxtaposed with the Temple of Heaven (Tiāntán), the Altar of the Moon (Yuètán), the Altar of the Sun (Rìtán) and the Altar to the God of the Land and the God of Grain (Shèjìtán), Dìtán is the Temple of the Earth. The park, site
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