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Gangpo Ri
Gangpo Ri (4130m) is of special significance for Tibetans as the legendary birthplace of the Tibetan people, where Chenresig in the form of a monkey mated with the white demon Sinmo to produce the beginnings of the Tibetan race. The Monkey Cave, where all this took place, can be vi
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Jade Gate Pass
The Jade Gate Pass and the South Pass (阳关; Yáng Guān ), 78km west of Dūnhuáng, were originally military stations, part of the Han dynasty series of beacon towers that extended to the garrison town of Lóula’n in Xīnjiāng.Admission includes entry to a small museum (with scraps of Sil
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Guīyuán Temple
Pass a large rectangular pond where turtles cling like shipwrecked sailors to two metal lotus flowers and examine the magnificently burnished cabinet housing Milefo in the first hall. Also seek out this 350-year-old Buddhist temple’s collection of more than 500 statues of enlighten
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Jampaling Kumbum
The ruins of the Jampaling Kumbum are on the hillside a 2km walk or drive southeast of Dratang. The 13-storey chörten, built in 1472, was one of the largest in Tibet with an attendant monastery of 200 monks before it was dynamited by the Chinese in 1963. Rebuilding efforts are limi
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Jīnmào Tower
Resembling an art deco take on a pagoda, this crystalline edifice is a beauty and by far the most attractive of the Shànghǎi World Financial Center , Shànghǎi Tower , Jīnmào Tower triumvirate. It’s essentially an office block with the high-altitude Grand Hyatt renting space from th
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University of Hong Kong
Established in 1911, HKU is the oldest university in Hong Kong. The Main Building , completed in the Edwardian style in 1912, is a declared monument. Several other early-20th-century buildings on the campus, including the Hung Hing Ying (1919) and Tang Chi Ngong Buildings (1929), a
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Garden to Linger In
One of the largest gardens in Sūzhōu, this 3-hectare plot was originally built in the Ming dynasty by a doctor as a relaxing place for his recovering patients. It’s easy to see why the patients took to it: the winding corridors are inlaid with calligraphy from celebrated masters, t
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Qi Baishis Former Residence
Known for the whimsical, often playful style of his watercolors, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) was an influential Chinese painter who lived in Běijīng from 1917 onwards. This particular courtyard residence – built on the site of the Qing-dynasty home of Emperor Hong Taijis fourth son, Ye B
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Déshèngbǎo
A good place to see some raw sections of the Great Wall is little-visited Déshèngbǎo, a 16th-century walled fort almost on the border with Inner Mongolia that is now a small farming village. The fort’s north and south gates are still standing, as are parts of its walls. Walk throug
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Leal Senado
Facing Largo do Senado is Macau’s most important historical building, the 18th-century ‘Loyal Senate’, which houses the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (IACM; Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau). It is so-named because the body sitting here refused to recognise Spai
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Pǔlè Temple
This peaceful temple was built in 1776 for the visits of minority envoys (Kazakhs among them). At the rear of the temple is the unusual Round Pavilion, reminiscent of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at Běijīng’s Temple of Heaven Park. Inside is an enormous wooden mandala (a ge
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Hǎikǒu Volcanic Cluster Geopark
While this geopark encompasses about 108 sq km of rural countryside, the main attraction here is a corny tourist park surrounding a (genuinely cool) extinct volcano cone. Make haste past the snack stands and gift kiosks to descend the stairs winding down into the lushly vegetated c
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Rechung
A popular pilgrimage site associated with the illustrious Milarepa (1040–1123), the remains of Rechung-puk Monastery are set high on a dramatic escarpment that divides the two branches of the Yarlung Valley. Milarepa, founder of the Kagyupa order, is revered by many as Tibet’s grea
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Shěshān Basilica
A very pleasant walk up through the trees from the road and the bus drop-off to the top of the hill, this cruciform red-brick and granite church is the highlight of the West Hill area. Glorious views range out from the hill over the suburbs of Shànghǎi. The original Holy Mother Cat
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Winter Palace
Accessed by a steep and treacherous eroded staircase (now with an iron railing in place), the palace is an amazing ants’ nest of rooms tunnelled into the clay below the Summer Palace. The rooms were built 12m underground in order to conserve warmth, and the eastern rooms have windo
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Nyare Kangtsang
Below the main assembly hall, the rather innocuous-looking Nyare Kangtsang houses a controversial statue of the deity Dorje Shugden, worship of which has been outlawed by the Dalai Lama for its alleged dangerous Tantric practices. The statue is in the third chapel, in the far right
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Gossul Monastery
Further south along the shore of Manasarovar, this charming monastery is part of the Manasarovar kora but can now be reached by road. The three resident monks can show you the meditation cave of Götsangpa (the ascetic who opened up the Kailash kora in the 13th century) and a sacred
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Dǐnghú Shān Reserve
The 11.3 sq km Dǐnghú Shān Reserve lies 18km northeast of Zhàoqìng. A boat (¥35) will ferry you to a butterfly reserve on a tiny wooded island on Dǐng Lake (Dǐnghú). From there, a guide will take you on an hour-long hike through a scenic forest with ponds and waterfalls, to emerge
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Marco Polo Bridge
Described by the great traveller himself, this 266m-long, multi-arched granite bridge is the oldest bridge in Běijīng and is decorated beautifully with 485 individually carved stone lions, each one different. Dating from 1189, although widened in 1969, it spans the Yǒngdìng River,
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Liùpán Shān Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán
Those on the trail of Genghis Khan will want to visit southern Níngxià’s Liùpán Shān, where some believe the great man died in 1227. Legend has it that he fell ill and came here to ingest medicinal plants native to the area, but perished on its slopes (though it’s much more likely
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