Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.
May 11th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin I was digging through some photos and came acoss photos of a trip I took to Chengyang Village north of San Jiang a couple of years ago. I forgot how amazing the place really is. I think the hardest pa ... 17 photos[full story]
May 7th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin We arrived in Guilin at 1:00pm. It took us 5 hours to travel by bus from Nanning to Guilin (500km). Our first impression on the city is the sweet osmanthus trees on both sides of the streets and we sa ... 48 photos[full story]
May 6th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin The Chinese food in this blog are the food that we had at breakfasts (buffets), lunches and dinners on my 4-day tour (from 30 April to 3 May 2008) in Guilin and Nanning, China. 6 people shared a desk ... 30 photos[full story]
April 30th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin My first stop in China was the province of Guangxi (west of Guangzhou). That is, if one doesn't count Macao and Hong Kong, which, apparently even the Chinese don't in some ways (i.e., no visas neces ... 4 photos[full story]
April 21st 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin In an attempt not to be too negative, I had to be persuaded to keep the title of the last blog as 'Good Morning Vietnam' instead of my preferred 'Good Riddance Vietnam'. However, as we boarded the tr ... 50 photos[full story]
April 29th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin Well, our first internal flight in China was just great , thanks. Still altogether odd that a (relatively) small city in China has an airport at least as big as Auckland's. We're both starting to unde ... [full story]
March 7th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin This blog is more about practical information for people who wants to do the journey.
There is a night train from Hanoi to Beijing that stop in Guilin, but there are only soft sleeper for 80$. So, ... [full story]
March 3rd 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin
So we arrived in Guilin delighted to have the air hostess inform us that it is 17deg C! warmth at last!! And it was! so we got ourselves out of the airport where there was only one option to get int ... [full story]
Map of China
China's Flag
