Roof of the World - Tibet

    Locked away in its Himalayan fortress, Tibet has long exercised a 'Shangri-la' type hold on the imagination of the West. A 'Land of Snows', the 'Rooftop of the World' is mysterious in a way that few other places are.

    Lhasa is famous for being one of the highest cities in the world, a towering 3,760 meters above the banks of the Lhasa River, what really knocks you out here is the full scale impact on your senses of the breathtaking beauty, unique landscape and the holy atmosphere of this religious center. In Tibetan, Lhasa means "The land of the Gods", or "Holy Place". It was founded in 633 A.D. under the leadership of King Songtsan Gampo.

The Potala Palace Yamdrok Lake

Jokhang Temple Palkhor Monastery

Barkhor Street Tibetan King Tombs

Silk Road

    The Silk Road is an ancient trade route linking China with western Asia, as well as the western world. The Silk Road used to be crucial and well-trodden trade routes between the east and the west thousand years ago.

    This ancient trade route starts in the old capitals of Luoyang and X'ian,reaches the Yellow River at Lanzhou, follows along the "Gansu Corridor" and stretches along the edge of deserts and mountains. Before the discovery of the sea route to India, the Silk Road was the most important connection between the Orient and the West.

The mouth of the Hexi corridor in Gansu, where the Gobi meets the Taklimakan desert.	The fort at Jiayuguan marks the Western end of the Great Wall.	The Bezeklik Grottoes in the Flaming Mountains
Mogao Caves with colorful Buddist Art,Dunhuang	Singing San Dunes (Mingsha Shan) and Crescent Spring Lake, Dunhuang	Ancient city wall in Xi'an

Yunnan Splendor

    At an average altitude of over 2,000 meters, Yunnan belongs to the temperate tropical highland monsoon climate, and its land is clustered with snowcapped mountains and glaciers, lakes and hot springs, highlands primitive forests, and tropical rain forests. Yunnan is also known as a "Kingdom of Plants" and a "Kingdom of Animals". It has a lot to offer to those who care to come for the exploration of nature. Yunnan was home to "Yuanmou Man" 1.7 million years ago, and its land is filled with cultural relics and places of cultural interest. No other province in China has as many ethnic peoples as Yunnan. The 26 minority groups who call Yunnan home include the Dai, Bai, Hani, Yi, Naxi and Tibetan.

The Stone Forest, Yunnan	Three Pagodas, Dali, Yunnan	Water-Splashing Festival of the Dai People, Yunnan
The Zhongdian Nature Reserve, Yunnan	Erhai Lake, Yunnan	Guihua Temple, Yunnan