Living and teaching in China!

Antique yet up-to-the-minute, familiar yet unrecognisable, outwardly urban but quintessentially rural, conservative yet path-breaking, space-age but oldfashioned, China is a land of mesmerising and eyeopening contradictions.

Awe-Inspiring Antiquity

China may be modernising at a head-spinning pace, but the slick skyscrapers, Lamborghini showrooms and Maglev trains are just eye-catching but wafer-thin gift-wrapping. Let's face it: the world's oldest continuous civilisation is bound to pull an artefact or two out of its hat. Travel selectively around China and you can quickly tap into a rich seam of antiquity: ponder the legends and myths of the Forbidden City, rediscover your sense of wonder on the Great Wall or attempt to fathom the timeless expressions of the silent Terracotta Warriors. Submit to the unique charms of Píngyáo – China's best preserved walled town – or get a glimpse of Nirvana at the serene Mògāo Caves outside Dūnhuáng.

Stupendous Scenery

China is vast. Off-the-scale massive. And you've just got to get outside: island-hop in Hong Kong, gaze out over the epic grasslands of Inner Mongolia or squint up at the mind blowing peaks of the Himalayas. Trek your way around Tiger Leaping Gorge or cycle between the fairy-tale karst pinnacles of Yángshuò. Ponder the desiccated enormity of the Taklamakan Desert or swoon at Huángshān's preternatural mists. Become entranced by the Yuányáng Rice Terraces of Yúnnán, size up the awesome sand dunes of Dūnhuáng, hike your way around the exquisite landscape of Déhāng or, when your energy fails you, flake out for a tan on the distant beaches of Hǎinán island.

Taken from The Lonely Planet