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.
April 25th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Hua Shan My friend Jill, who recently did a trip to Asia, instructed me that at one point in China I must do a trek. Looking through the China guide books I decided up Mount Huashan, one of the five Sacred Mou ... 5 photos[full story]
April 24th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an Today was the day I checked one of my big to do's off my list - The Terracotta Warriors! This one is dedicated to JZ, whom which I have spent many a Sunday's roaming Toronto looking at Terracotta repl ... 5 photos[full story]
April 22nd 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an After getting a good taste for what Shanghai had to offer... It was off to Xian. Getting to Xian entailed a 20 hour train ride. This would be a first for me! I booked the ticket through the hostel in ... 2 photos[full story]
May 7th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an Another quick Asian adventure this weekend as we traveled west to Xi'an located in the north western part of China. Xi'an is a city of 8 million people with no mass transit system so you can imagine ... 3 photos[full story]
April 20th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an Woke up with barely a hint of a hangover. I left the train and was at the back of the group when I realised I left my shoes on board. I ran back on and off just before it pulled out, job done but I lo ... 5 photos[full story]
May 7th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an This is a "half way through China" blog. It marks the part of my trip where I change from being a tourist to being a traveler. Expect tails of heroic buss journeys, desert and dust storms in the next ... 8 photos[full story]
April 30th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an *** Disclaimer ***
Craig and I only did about 10 things in Xi'an, so there are probably other things to do that belong on our list, but we didn't experience them.
Our hostel lined us up with ... 32 photos[full story]
May 3rd 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an We hadn’t really been looking forward to visiting Chengdu; it was a filler. A poor alternative to Tibet. How wrong can you get!!
Anyhow - that’s racing ahead. We finished our stay in Ne ... 47 photos[full story]
April 18th 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an After a long sleepless, smokey, and wild ride on the sleeper bus, we made it to Xi'an bright and early with the sunrise. Groggily we made our way across the city to where the cheaper hotels and hoste ... 7 photos[full story]
April 21st 2008Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an Well, its cold.
Since last time, we took a bus two hours west to get to Luoyang. Not that much there (just a little town of 1.2 million !) apart from some awesome cavey-temple type things and a lo ... [full story]
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