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.
July 5th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning 27 hours to Nanning... the closest big city to Friendship Pass (the border crossing to Vietnam).
After shopping for food for our long journey, we hopped on board the semi-modern train in a hard sl ... [full story]
April 21st 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning China!
Speeding down a beautiful highway on route to Nanning, the story continues. At this point we have met a friendly Austrailian couple during the border crossing headed in the same direction. ... 17 photos[full story]
May 7th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning Here I am again at the Jing Xiu Shan park (công viên Thanh Tú Sơn) in Nanning, China. On my first visit to Nanning 8 years ago (in April 2000), I also spent a morning visiting the park and liked ... 30 photos[full story]
April 30th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning So After waking up in a puddle of drool in the internet cafe, I went to the vietnamese embassy to pick up my passport. I about shit myself when I realised it was closed for 5 days and was about to dr ... [full story]
May 5th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning I’m just back in Hanoi after travelling 1,800 km by bus between Hanoi and Guilin. On the way to Guilin, I had to stay for a couple of nights in Nanning. I travelled to Nanning for the first time ... 34 photos[full story]
May 4th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning So much for the early start...
I got out of bed at 11, feeling tired, but refreshed and ready to go. By the time I packed up my shit, had breakfast and got on the road it was 12.30.
The map tha ... [full story]
April 29th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning Well, I have finally left Yangshuo and am now in Nanning. I took the bus from Yangshuo to guilin, followed by a train journey to Nanning. Damn, I was feeling rough after sitting up all night drinkin ... [full story]
January 26th 2008Asia » China » Guangxi » Nanning
Nanning calls itself the 'green city of China', and because of it's green parks and tropical surroundings it's a name well chosen. Since I had to wait until the next Monday for the Vietnamese consul ... 14 photos[full story]
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