“MAGICAL CHINA” – By Des Kelly
A Country, vast in man-power, with superior technology that is still little-known to other Countries around this big “blue ball” called Earth, once the Capital of all Communist Countries, now also called “Free China”, over-taking, and taking-over (in one breath), parts & parcels of other Countries, like the City of Hambanthota (in Sri Lanka), in addition to gaining 99 year leases & plenty of them, elsewhere, China, where inscruitability seems just another asset, is nonetheless “Magical China” as I would call it, and I am sure that all our readers of eLanka will agree with me, as you scan the beautiful images below.
Desmond Kelly
(Editor-in-Chief) – eLanka.
A land of epic contrasts: Stunning images show the breathtakingly diverse scenery of China, from towering cities to magical mountains
· It’s a country with neck-straining skyscrapers, cormorant fishermen and terrifying glass walkways
· Hong Kong skyline is packed with high-rises – it has over 1,500 buildings classed as skyscrapers
· The stunning Deitan waterfall is one of the biggest in Asia and sits right on the Chinese border with Vietnam
China – it’s at once a mystery and yet something so familiar to Westerners.
Its culture – its food, the way its people dress, its ideologies – is known across the world.
But it still remains something of an undiscovered country for many outside its borders.
We’re hoping that these stunning images will reveal a bit more about the country and underscore just what a jaw-droppingly diverse place it is.
It’s a country with neck-straining skyscrapers, cormorant fishermen, dramatic waterfalls, terrifying glass walkways, Unesco-listed national parks and, for a bonus, the world’s biggest city square.
Scroll down to see China in all its glory – and perhaps adjust your bucket list.
The Li River loops around the karst mountains in Guilin. The Chinese regard the scenery in Guilin as among the most beautiful in the world
The Chinese just can’t seem to get enough of nerve-shredding walkways. Here’s one made out of glass on Tianmen Mountain
A spectacular shot captured from Victoria Peak, the highest part of Hong Kong, showing the skyscrapers below. There are 1,500 buildings in Hong Kong that are classed as skyscrapers, meaning they are taller than 328 feet
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. This image of its high-rise buildings has a hypnotic quality about it
Wispy clouds hang over a winding road that leads up one of the hills in the stunning Tianmen Mountain National Park. The mountain itself has been named as one of the most scenic in China
The lush green fields of the Longsheng Rice Terrace in Guangxi province. This upland area has been cultivated for rice for over 800 years using a terrace and irrigation system
The Lujiazui district of Shanghai is classed as the city’s financial district. It’s home to the bizarrely shaped Shanghai World Financial Centre (the second-tallest building in this shot), which has been compared to the shape of a bottle opener
The high-rise buildings of Shanghai, this time captured in an image that shows the Huangpu River looping around them. The meaning of the name of the city of Shanghai is ‘upon the sea’. This alludes to the Shanghai’s location along the Yangtze River Delta near the South China Sea
The 1,535ft Oriental Pearl Tower, left, can be seen dominating the skyline of Shanghai. Until 2007, it was the tallest structure in China
The sun sets on waterlogged rice fields in Yuanyang County. Around 200million tons of rice are produced in China each year
Two ships sail down the Yangtze River amid breathtaking hills. The river is the longest in Asia, stretching for almost 4,000 miles
Cars travel along a highway through China’s capital Beijing. Due to rising car ownership, Beijing is one of the worst places in the world for air pollution
The Li River meanders around the lush green hills in Yangshuo County. We just couldn’t resist featuring this scenery twice
The Great Wall of China is estimated to stretch more than 13,000 miles across China. It attracts 10million visitors each year
The incredible jagged peaks located in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, Zhangjiajie. The area is on Unesco’s world heritage list and the site is dominated by more than 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks. Some rise to 600ft
Mist swirls around the peaks of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area in this wonderful picture taken from a tourist boat on a lake below
The Twin River Bridge spans the Yuzhong peninsula in the south western city of Chongqing. The city is the fourth biggest in China after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin
Tianjin (its financial district is pictured), has a population of around 15million and its metropolitan district covers 4,200 square miles
A farmer guides his water buffalo across a stone bridge in the Guilin region. Water buffalo are the most important animal for these farmers as they are able to till the flooded rice paddy fields
Cormorant fishing in China is a practice that stretches back at least 1,000 years. The birds dive and catch fish for their masters but are prevented from swallowing big catches by a snare tied around their throats. This beautiful image was captured in Guilin
Welcome to the world’s largest city square – Xinghai Square, which was built in 1998. It’s located in the city of Dalian and covers 270 acres
Xinshi is a Chinese ‘water town’ that was built around 1,000 years ago. China can be overwhelmingly industrial and wonderfully quaint…
A hidden settlement sits in the basin of a valley in the Yandang Mountains in eastern China. The mountains are thought to be one of the areas where the South China tiger can be found
Dam that’s beautiful: The small islands that are scattered in Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang province. The lake, which is a fresh-water, human-made body of water, was formed in 1959 after the completion of the Xin’an River hydroelectric station
The colourful mountains of the Zhangye National Geopark close to China’s border with Mongolia. Sandstone and mineral deposits have created the swirling orange, yellow and white lunar-like landscape
A light monorail track has been built to go through a hole in a residential 19-storey building in China. The city of Chongqing in the south-east of the country has a population of 49 million packed into 31,000 square miles, causing urban planners to look creatively at solving space issues. A special railway station was built into the block of houses, set into the sixth to eighth floors
Yunnan province in south west China is known for its diverse landscape. Pictured are rural farming fields giving off a red autumnal glow
The Karakul Lake in Xinjiang, an autonomous region of north western China. There are two Kirgiz settlements along the shore of the lake and pictured is a traditional Kirgiz yurt
The Blue Moon Valley, pictured, takes it name from the striking colour of the river close to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Yunnan. The river is fed by melting snow and ice running down from the peak
The Detian Waterfall is often described as Asia’s biggest trans-national waterfall as it sits on the border of both China and Vietnam. Over the past 1,000 years, the waterfall has eroded and has moved slowly upstream
The Crescent Moon Spring in Dunhuang is an oasis in the middle of the desert. The oasis, which is believed to have existed for 2,000 years, was shrinking fast due to increasing desertification in the region before the government began to refill it
Winters can be harsh in northern China and it is not unusual to see snow in cities such as Harbin, Beijing and Tianjin
A giant panda clings on to a tree in Chengdu while posing for the camera. The bear is native to central China but there are just over 1,800 left in the wild
A traditional boat floats past the historic buildings lining a canal in Shanghai. These days, the boats are popular with tourists
Shipping containers are lined up ready to be loaded at Shanghai International Shipping Centre. The port of Shanghai is the busiest in the world in terms of cargo tonnage moved
The Yingwuzhou Bridge in Wuhan crosses the mammoth Yangtze River. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, and is the most populous city in central China. Around 10million people live there
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