The 720,000-square-metre Palace Mueum, better known as "Forbidden City", was the imperial palace for the Ming and Qing. Built during the 1406-1420 period, it is the largest royal palatial complex in existence in China; ranging from the majestic to the exquisite, they bear witness to a nation in transition. Other tourist attractions on the premises include a huge stone ramp carved with intricate dragon and cloud patterns, Imperial Garden and Nine-Dragon Screen Wall. An immense trove of cultural artifacts and treasures of various dynasties, some of them on display in the Treasure Hall and the ceramics, painting, bronze ware galleries, are reason enough for UNESCO to adopt the Former Imperial Palace as a world cultural heritage site.

Beginning from the Song, construction of private landscape gardens and courtyard houses came in vogue among local scholar-gentry, so much so that for a time the city had as many as 270 such gardens. Aloofness from the den and traffic of the outside world was what was on the minds of owners of these gardens, in which limited space was cunningly arranged to engender scenic spots that allowed owners to have nature all to himself without stepping out of the city. In 1997, the UNESCO put Humble Administrator's Garden, the Garden to Linger In, Fishing-Net Master's Garden, and Circular-Grace Mountain Villa on its world cultural heritage site list. Humble Administrator's Garden and Fishing-Net Master's Garden are open at night so that visitors can attend theatrical performances and enjoy the night scenery.

Lauded as "No.1 Mountain under Heaven", Mount Huangshan is one of 10 major scenic resorts of China. In 1990 the UNESCO put Mount Huangshan on its list of world natural and cultural heritages. The beauty of Mount Huangshan lies in its "four wonders": pine tees with shapely foliage, rocks in a hundred and one images, an ocean of clouds, and hot springs. Eight tourist zones with 400 scenic spots have been established in the mountain, and a number of star-rated hotels and other facilities (including three cableways) built for sightseers and holidaymakers. Huangshan Airport operates flights to many cities. The annual Huangshan International Tourist Festival takes place in October.

Sailong down the Yangtze from Chongqing to Yichang allows visitors to see the spectacular scenery of the Three Gorges along with its splendid cultural heritage and fabled local folklore. The cruise, which combines sightseeing with scientific, artistic and folklore exploration, is a national-caliber tourist program. The 193-km-long Three Gorges, consisting of the majestic Qutangxia, statuesque Wuxia and ferocious Xilingxia gorges, is one of and ferocious Xilongxia gorges, is one of the world's major canyons. Along the way there are such scenic attractions as the Fengdu Mountain. Baidi city, Shibao village, Zhang Fel's Temple, Qu Yuan's Temple, and the Three Gorges Dam.

The Daning River is the largest Yangtze tributary, which rises in the southern side of the Daba Mountain and flows for 250km before emptying itself into the Yangtze at the western entrance to the Wuxia Gorge. The Lesser Three Gorges on the Daning River, a 50km-long affair covering the Longmenxia, Bawuxia and Dicuixia gorges in the lower reaches of the river, is billed as one of China's 40 best scenic resorts thanks to its gorgeous mountains, elegant peaks, turbulent rapids, limpid water, exotic rock imagery and serene scenery.

A famed historical and cultural city 163 km from Beijing and 210km from Tianjin, Chengde was, for a time, the second political and cultural center for the Qing. Today it is better known for its Mountain Summer Resort, the world's largest classical imperial garden resort, and the Eight Outer Temples, the leading imperial religious establishment in China. The formidable Jinshanling section of the Great Wall is in Chengde, which also has such bio-tourist resources as the Royal Mulan Hunting Ground and large expanses of forests and grassland. The grassland at Fengning is billed as the best of its kind north of Beijing. It took 87 years (1703-1790) for the 5.64 million-square-metre Mountain Summer Resort north of Chengde to be completed as the exclusive summering place for Qing emperors. The Mountain Summer Resort, and the Eight Outer Temples that are scattered around it, were designated as world cultural heritage sites in 1994. Every year visitors go in droves to the resort and the temples. The Chengde Tourist Festival and the Forest and Grassland Holidaymaking Festival are held there on an annual basis.

West Lake, called so because it lies in the west of the city, is what the beauty of Hangzhou is all about. Skirted by mountains on three sides, and with the fourth side bordering the urban district, West Lake covers a water surface of 6 square km, yet it forms the centre of a garden resort that sprawls on a land of 49 square km, where the mountains, caves and vales are knitted together by a maze of winding brooks and streams, studded with well sequestered ponds, and graced with kiosks, chambers and pavilions. All told, there are 50 major scenic spots and 30 or so sites of key historical and cultural interest.