China is the number one adventure travel destination for the 21st century. During the Beijing OIympics in 2008 and the Shanghai Expo in 2010, you might have heard a lot about Beijing and Shanghai. But in the coming decade you'll be hearing a lot more about hot adventure destinations like Xi'An, Chengdu, Guilin, Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and the Silk Road capital of Kashgar.






China is a land of great diversity and immense history and while it was closed to foreigners for a long time, it's now very much open for tourism and reclaiming its proud history and culture to attract visitors from all over the world. And with the largest domestic tourist market in the world (1.3 billion people), China is not waiting for the world to arrive before it creates these fantastic tourism destinations.






We've been travelling to China for the past 10 years and our family has been travelling in China for more than 20 years, so we know a little about the place (we even lived there for a year). Through our China Travel Blog we share our unique China travel experiences.






Find out why Leaping Tiger Gorge and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain are making Lijiang the tourism capital of Western China and the gateway to Burma's best adventure spots.
Get to know Xiamen, the hot new beach destination on China's east coast that looks like something out of a picture postcard, or it's amazing island locale of Gulangyu where cars are not allowed and history comes alive.






Discover the gambling mecca of Zhuhai on the island of Macau, or the ice festival in the northern city of Harbin on the doorstep of Mongolia (where you can stay in an ice hotel and drink some of the best beer anywhere).






Experience a glacial lake at the edge of the planet, 3,600 meters above sea level in Karakul, on the exotic Karakorum Highway near the border with Tajikistan. Stay in a yurt with a Kyrgyz family for $10 a night.






Trek through the tribal corridor and explore the secret towers of the Himalayas in the badlands of western Sichuan. Are these old towers topped with 13-point stars really ancient watch towers or secret grain stores?






Raft the wild rivers of Tibet, Qinghai and Yunnan with some of China's most adventurous tour companies, or drift down the mighty Mekong River from China to Cambodia and Thailand on an overnight ferry.






See a world you never even knew existed in the backstreets of Guangzhou's old city where 20,000 traders from exotic African locales like Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria are creating a "little Africa" in the heartland of China.






Get naked among the tea plantations of Moganshan, not too far from Shanghai, where you can holiday like the foreign trading lords of 100 years ago. Or immerse yourself in "ancient China" in Cuandixia village, just two hours from Beijing but 400 years in the past.






Discover the more than 50 amazing ethnic groups who make up China's diverse and exotic southern and western provinces, almost one third of them in the Nu River Valley which is also one of the most spectacularly beautiful scenic locations in China and the start of a walking trail to fabled Shangri-La.






This is China like you've never even imagined it. Did you know, for example, that you can walk along the Great Wall from Beijing to Hebei province, 640 km away, sleeping in watch towers and rarely seeing another visitor?






Start exploring the China you've never seen or heard about, but should be adding to your future travel plans. Share our China travel experiences through our China travel blog at http://traveltipschina.com.