Hong Kong Central District, China

Finance Central by HKmPUA

Hong Kong is skyscrapers. Nowhere else on earth are they so densely packed into such a small space. Also, Hong Kong's skyscrapers are particularly narrow, as are the streets that squeeze between them. So these towers have an unusual elongated look. Standing at the bottom and looking up can give you vertigo without even beginning to ascend. At night, the towers are all illuminated by a spectacular light show.

Mount Everest in Tibet

Everest amb Iac by Oriol Gascón

The far western edge of China is a remote and wild place. Populated by few, this mountainous and harsh landscape is also one of extreme beauty. This is one of the main draws to the many tourists that brave the altitude sickness to visit the ancient kingdom in the clouds. Tibet contains much of the mountains of the Himalayas. The highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest (photo above) is on the border between China and Nepal. Tourists can travel from Lhasa to the base camp of Everest where they can get a rarely seen and unique view of the mountain.

浦西 Puxi (上海 Shanghai) by Jakob Montrasio

The centre of Shanghai has changed radically since the opening up of China. It has now become the centre of Chinese development. Down town Shanghai was originally developed by foreign traders who set up in the city during the 19th Century. Today Shanghai remains a major key in China's economy. The centre of the city has filled up with new sky scrapers. This picture shows the Puxi area of Shanghai. This is the old down town area.

CCTV Building in Beijing, China

Cranes In The Sky by Jakob Montrasio.

The year 2008 saw the completion of many large building projects in Beijing, China. There was of course, the Olympics and the stadiums related to that. But also other buildings such as this one, the CCTV tower. The building is in the east end of Beijing. It has become one of the modern icons for the development of China. The building is now the home of of China Central Television.

Lijiang River in Guilin, China

The Lijiang River runs through the centre of China's Guanxi province, in the south of the country. It is a favourite among tourists. A sight not to be missed on any travel ittinery of China. The scenery is so spectacular, it has even earned a place on the back of the 20 yuan banknote. Tourist boats ply the route between Guilin city and Yangshuo city. This journey takes about 4 hours. On the way, you will see sights like the one above.

Beijing 北京 Restaurant

This photo from Flickr user Luo Shaoyang shows a Chinese girl standing by a doorway. It is a typical Chinese scene outside restaurants where a waitress will wait at the door to great guests. This looks a particularly well built and clean restaurant. I have to wonder where it is? All I know is it's somewhere in Beijing.

Qingyuan in Guangdong, China

I remember seeing painting of China when I was young. They showed towering pagodas, rivers and strange mystical mountains. I didn't think they were real at the time. Now I have been to the south of China, I know that those paintings were not a work of fiction. They really do exist. They are created by a natural phenomenon that weathers limestone into what is called Karst. A large band of this Karst landscape runs down through China. It can be seeing in Guangdong, Guanxi and Yunnan provinces. There is also some spectacular Karst in the sea off of neighbouring Vietnam.

Yueyang Pavillion in Hunan, China

The Sun Has Set by Steve Webel.

This is Yueyang Pavillion in Hunan, China. The building dates to the Three Kingdoms Period of China (220-280 AD). It was constructed by Lu su who as the commander in chief of the Wu kingdom's forces. It was built in order to facilitate the inspection of the navy ships. It is located in a strategic location where the lake Dongting joing the Yangtze River. The tower was formerly called Ba Ling Tower after the nearby city of Ba Ling.

This picture is by Flickr user Steve Webel. The slow shutter speed and late evening light has produced a wonderful effect, burring the crowds of people. The orange/yellow colours are just amazing.

Sunrise on Pudong, Shanghai, China

Sunrise on pudong by le niners.

I remember when there was nothing here but fields. No really it's true, and I'm not that old. Pudong is the new part of Shanghai that has burgeoned into modernity in an extremely short time. Where just 20 years hence, there was just farms, now stand some of the worlds tallest skyscrapers and other really expensive real estate. I've visited Shanghai 4 times over the last five years. Abet once was just a 6 hour stop over at the airport. And I am always in awe of this highly developed city. 


I selected this photo today because it is a little different form the normal tourist shot of Shanghai's Pudong district. Most photographers go a little bit further up stream, to the right of shot, to the famous Bund riverside. But this photograph is shifted downstream. In doing so, we turn the corner and get a view, 90 degrees rotated from the norm.

Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Temple of Heaven, originally uploaded by Studio494 (Simon).

I was surfing through some flickr photos looking for some interesting shots of Beijing, and this one just caught my eye. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is a very colourful building. The thing that usually catches people's attention is the colours. Thus most pics you see of this building extenuate these colours. So what made me pick out this photograph, was the lack of colour. Though not a monochrome picture, this has a monochromatic feel to it. The lighting from behind has be perfectly executed and the detail throughout is fantastic. I have to wonder how this shot was taken. There are no tourists visible. Usually this site is crowded with tourists, but this photograph is devoid of people.