Interesting facts about China. History of China

Travel to China, part 1 - arrival in Beijing.

On April 30, 2009 at 8 pm we boarded an Air China plane. We flew to China. Previously, on some islands, we had already visited this huge and interesting country in all respects, we were in Shanghai and its environs, Hong Kong, Macau, but now we wanted to see its heart - we flew to Beijing and then to Xi'an. I came up with an extensive program, writing out a bunch of places to visit every day, carefully thinking through all the routes, understanding that it was in China without a guide and translator extremely difficult, but my favorite Dorling Kindersley guide was in my backpack, so trusting it completely, I was sure that I could handle it.

Beijing International Airport (Beijing Shoudu Guoji Jichang - Beijing Capital International Airport) is the main airport of the capital, located 27 kilometers northeast of the center. It is the main hub for Air China, which serves about 120 destinations, as well as Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

In February 2008, Terminal 3 opened at the airport, built specifically for the Olympics, which was designed by the star of world architecture, Briton Norman Foster. The architectural bureau of Norman Foster is known for the projects of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Khok Airport and London's Standstead. In Russia, Foster is known as the developer of the ambitious project of the 120-story Rossiya tower in Moscow City. Terminal 3 stretches for almost 4 km. From above, the outline of the new terminal resembles a flying dragon from Chinese folk tales. And at the same time, the recognizable folk tradition is stunningly combined here with high-tech geometry - fascinating intersections of straight lines, symmetry of glow and reflection. It’s worth just going on a tour to this terminal, taking your camera with you.

After walking for a long, long time along long, long corridors and passages, we finally got to passport control. A large plane arrives from Moscow, a huge number of flights land at the same time, but the crowds of people practically dissolve in these huge spaces and only small groups of arriving passengers are visible. Passport control is mobile, the number of border guards working depends on the number of arrivals.

They work very quickly, without long and suspicious looking at faces and passports. A few minutes later, the area in front of passport control is empty and only two or three out of 10 - 12 border guards remain at their jobs. Until the next flight.

Immediately after passport control, on both sides of the walls there are huge panels made of the finest wood carvings and panels of a map of China, hidden behind glass. But, unfortunately, you cannot take photographs in the airport building, especially before passport control, although, as we know, the law is not written, and someone was constantly taking photos of something, for which he received a shout from an airport employee, however, this did little to stop J

Having arrived in Beijing at 7 am, I wanted to sleep, take a shower and rest a little from the road. Therefore, we got stuck in a taxi and headed to another creation, no less interesting - the China World Hotel. Towering over Beijing's central business district, the China World Hotel is one of the capital's prominent meeting places for prominent politicians and businessmen, and upon entering its walls I was amazed at the level of service and luxury. It’s rare to be surprised by anything in hotels in the world, but I remember this one primarily for its friendliness, endless attention to any request and, of course, the exquisite beauty of the interiors and the impeccable cuisine of the many restaurants located there.

Looking ahead, I’ll say that what shocked me most of all was that when, after several days spent in Beijing, we flew to Xi’an to see the famous Terracotta Army and after Xi’an returned to Beijing for a couple of days, entering this hotel again, the concierge greeted us with such undisguised joy with which dearly beloved relatives are not greeted. I’ve probably never seen hotel employees really show such friendliness, from the concierge at the entrance, the reception workers to the elderly elevator operator, beautifully dressed in national clothes. And besides all the amazing things that we saw in China, probably the employees of this particular hotel were the ones I remember most...

And also, in the lobby of this hotel, in the bar on the ground floor, they made absolutely amazing tea; I’ve probably never drank such delicious and beautiful tea in my life. It was brought in glass teapots, in which wonderful chrysanthemum flowers slowly and fragrantly blossomed. It was such a beautiful and bewitching sight that sometimes I forgot why we came and instead of drinking tea I sat and looked at this beauty...

Travel to China, part 2. Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Having rested a bit after the journey and unpacked our things, we set off to explore Beijing, armed with a guidebook. The first problem we encountered was that not a single driver in Beijing speaks English or even understands the spoken sights. But fortunately for us, the hotel concierge came to our rescue, who had a whole stack of Beijing attractions prepared for such cases, written in both English and Chinese characters, as well as hotel cards with detailed instructions on how to find it later. In addition, he called a taxi and personally gave him instructions that we wanted to go to the famous Tiananmen Square. And we, happy that we would certainly get where we needed to go in this way, got into a taxi...

About 15 minutes later we arrived at this largest square in the world, which occupies 440 thousand square meters. m, accommodates up to 1 million people. At some point it seemed to me that all these 1 million people were there, in general there were a lot of people.

Just in case, I tried not to let my husband out of my sight, because it was easy to get lost in this crowd. We wandered around the perimeter for a bit, getting used to the people around us, who were constantly trying to take pictures of us like movie stars with whatever they were filming, including mobile phones. It was even funny when someone came up and asked to take a photo with him, I agreed, and people rejoiced like children, and so did I...

At some point, a woman ran up to me and handed the baby into my hands, I, grabbing the child handed to me, stood like a fool in the middle of this square with thoughts of what should I do with him now, but the baby turned out to be so cute, he was plump and warm and pressed himself against my cheek. It was nice to hold him in my arms, but bad thoughts still crept into my head, though not for long, because I was immediately surrounded by a crowd of apparently relatives of the child, who again began to take pictures of me and say something loudly in Chinese and rejoice. A couple of minutes later, my stunned husband arrived and with surprised eyes began to ask me what was actually happening? There was no answer, but after everyone laughed a lot, took pictures and talked, each one took the baby from me in his own language, and we all went our separate ways. Now I often remember this episode in Tananmen Square and always smile at the same time...

We wandered around a little more and, having crossed the road through an underground passage, came out to Forbidden City, like everything in China - the largest palace complex in the world.

In the 20th century it received the name Gugun or Former Palace. Previously the complex was called Purple Forbidden City. This name suits it better; the abundance of red even tires the eyes. The communists were probably glad that the color of Beijing's main symbol went so well with their flag. Gugun is somewhat reminiscent of the Moscow Kremlin coupled with Red Square; the similarity is not only in the basic color, but also in the mass of visitors filling these main capital attractions.

The Forbidden City was an imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 24 emperors ascended the throne here and ruled for 491 years. Now the former residence of the Chinese emperors is the main attraction of Beijing. The Forbidden City was built in the center of Beijing on a north-south axis. The emperor's throne stands directly on this axis. This symbolized that the emperor is the center of the universe and all lands under Heaven belong to the emperor, and all people under Heaven are subjects of the emperor.

The Forbidden City is a whole complex of various structures. It is believed that the total number of rooms, halls and other premises in the Forbidden City is 9999.5 (in China, the space between four pillars is already a room). Why not 10,000? Legend says that the Heavenly Emperor's palace has 10,000 rooms. But the emperor in the earthly world was the son of the emperor in Heaven, which means he could not have the same things as the Heavenly Emperor. Therefore, the so-called half-room was built on the lower floor of the Imperial Library. This room only has stairs. Decide for yourself whether it can be called a room or a semi-room when you visit the Forbidden City.

It is calculated that if a person changes rooms in the Forbidden City every night from the day of his birth, then he will need 27 years to do everything. From a practical point of view, emperors need this number of rooms to protect themselves from assassins. No one except the trusted eunuchs knew in which room the emperor would sleep.

In ancient times, mere mortals could not get into the Forbidden City, but now these same “mortals” walk around the palace in huge crowds, preventing tourists like me from experiencing the solemnity and grandeur of the palace complex. When building the palace, the “correct” feng shui was important, which meant that a river should flow in the south, which harmonizes the “good” southern energy of qi, and in the north there should be a mountain that cuts off the “bad” northern energy. Everything had to be created artificially - they dug the southern canal Neijinshui or the Inner River of Golden Water and built a hill in the north - Jingshan. Neijinshui Channel.

Beijing was created by the Chinese Emperor Yonglu, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. When he ascended the throne, he chose this city as the new capital of the empire and in 1404 he ordered reconstruction to begin. There are many legends about how he chose Beijing. One of the legends says that when Yonglu became emperor, he was given a sealed envelope from an astrologer. When the emperor opened the envelope, he discovered that it contained detailed plans for the new city. Another legend tells that the plans for the city appeared in a dream to a Buddhist monk who was the emperor's teacher.

Today Beijing is a completely different city, made of concrete and glass with modern highways, banks, shops and major international organizations. And, wandering around this city, we noted with regret that it had lost its originality and bygone antiquity...

Travel to China, part 3. The Great Wall of China and a walk through the hutongs of Beijing.

The Great Wall of China is what you should come to China for in general, it is a miracle of the world, a miracle of human labor and spirit, and as I saw it, it was also monumental. Even at the approach to the Wall, from afar, I saw how this creation curved through the mountains, valleys and forests, curled like an ornament among the peaks and it was stunningly beautiful.

The length of the Wall is more than 6,000 kilometers, and it is over 10 meters in height and slightly less in thickness. Passage gate (outpost) Badaling is a restored section of the wall, which is located closest to Beijing, 70 km away. at an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level and that’s where we arrived, and in secret, I also had another reason than proximity to Beijing - this is that there was a cable car there and I didn’t have to drag 10 meter high in the heat.

An entrance ticket to the top costs 15 yuan, a ride on the funicular costs 55 yuan, but take my word for it, it’s better to pay more, but don’t try to heroically climb it on foot - it’s really hard, and usually under the scorching rays of the sun. However, as soon as we climbed the wall, I found myself simply surrounded by a crowd of tourists, and the crowd was so dense that it was simply impossible to push through.

I saw with horror that some of the ladies were also wearing heels and it’s not difficult to guess that the ladies were Russian, because who else would even think of wearing shoes like that... I tried to somehow walk about ten meters, but it was unrealistic This attempt forced me to simply stand a little while waiting for my husband, who heroically fought his way higher. As a result, after standing for a while in this area, we went down, the feeling was like the crush in GUM during the Soviet period, when scarce goods were “thrown away” there...

After photographing the wall from below a little, we headed back to Beijing.

There is a saying among Beijing residents: “If you don’t go into Beijing’s alleys, you won’t get to know Beijing without visiting Beijing’s alleys, you would have been in Beijing in vain.” Yes, and this is true. Beijing alleys, large and small, like the arteries of the city, intertwined with each other and enveloped the whole of Beijing. Alleys are one of the characteristic features of the Chinese capital.

Foreign tourists who want to feel the true spirit of ancient Beijing are sure to go into the quiet alleys of the city and take a close look at the life of their inhabitants. Tourists love to take a short ride on a pedicab through the streets of Beijing's preserved old quarter. These streets are called hutongs(hutong). Along them, a solid wall stretches one-story houses with courtyards, and not a single window faces the street. Such a house is called siheyuan in Chinese. The emergence of hutongs dates back to the times of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty.

Hutongs are old Beijing, as it was a hundred years ago, and much earlier, and during the Mongol conquest. The most important thing for the desert, of course, is the well! So, “hutong” is a well, hutongs are many wells dug by a huge Mongol army. The army left, but the wells remained. Of course, they were dug at random; wherever the water came to the surface, they dug there. They drove and walked from well to well, and this is how streets appeared. In the understanding of Beijing old-timers, a hutong is a turnaround. At the site of the ancient well, the street either ends in a dead end or turns sharply towards another well. So you walk around the neighborhoods of the hutong, another hutong, and then you get lost. But now it’s not the same, the hutongs are disappearing. They are crowded by skyscrapers and modern roads. Sometimes, huge spaces are demolished in a day. The block is cordoned off and only centuries-old dust stands like a pillar.

Menacing-looking Tibetan people in alien clothes and holding yak horns in their hands roam around the hutongs. In their backpacks they carry amulets, magic roots, vials of potions, tanned Tibetan sheep skins and knives. In the hutongs you can quietly observe the casual life of Beijing residents and make your own discoveries. Here is a man in a restaurant carelessly, contemptuously throwing a torn pack of cigarettes on the table of his friends. Cigarettes scattered on the table, but the friends were not offended: it turns out that this is how a Chinese can express his respect.

Over the course of several centuries of its development, alley became an established architectural term for small streets in the cities of northern China. Beijing alleys were usually built in an east-west direction. Their width did not exceed 9 meters. In the old days, houses in the Siheyuan architectural style were built on the sides of the alleys. This was the most typical Beijing city building. (that is, courtyards with living quarters located in them. They are, as it were, “inscribed” in a square, which corresponds to the north, south, east and west, and are closed on 4 sides by blank walls. According to tradition, the main premises of the courtyard were in the center.

And now you can hear the calls and cries of sellers that used to be heard in the old Beijing alleys. The old-timers of Beijing, hearing these familiar voices of merchants, immediately knew who came into their alley and what kind of goods they brought with them. These voices were heard in the alleys all year round from morning to night. At that time, Beijing residents could buy everything they needed for everyday life almost at their doorstep, without leaving their alley. We can say that Beijing alleys are not only the roads along which ordinary Beijingers came to their homes, but also a kind of museum of the folk customs and traditions of Beijing.

The number of Beijing alleys is huge, it’s even difficult to count them. People say that “there are more than 360 lanes that have their own names, but there are as many nameless lanes as the hairs on a bull’s body.” People say there are more than 6 thousand of them. Despite the fact that the alleys with gray houses at first glance are ordinary and simple, gray walls with gray tiles, nevertheless, each of them keeps its own stories.

Well, in my travel backpack I have my own hutong, only God knows what is there, and finding anything there is as difficult as finding the right house in the numerous hutongs of Beijing... :)

Travel to China, part 4. Beijing Zoo and the cutest pandas in the world.

One of the days spent in Beijing we decided to go to the Zoo. It was not nostalgia for childhood, but a desire to see the cutest and most wonderful animals on the planet - PANDAS. I had never seen them before, and when I learned that in Beijing they had a whole House in the zoo, of course I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Beijing Zoo (Beijing Dongwuyuan) is a national tourist attraction. More than 7,000,000 tourists visit it every year. The zoo is located in the Xicheng district in western Beijing. It covers an area of ​​90 hectares and is the largest in China, with the richest collection of animals of any zoo in the country. In addition, this is the very first zoo in China open to the public. Beijing Zoo was founded in 1906 during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty and was called the Agricultural Experimental Center. The zoo was built on the site of former gardens and temples. At that time, the zoo, which occupied an area of ​​15,000 square meters, had more than 100 species of wild animals of 80 species. Minister Duan Fan bought these animals in Germany for Empress Dowager Cixi. Over the following years, the name of the zoo changed several times. In 1950 it became Xijiao Park, and in April 1955 it officially became Beijing Zoo.

I think the only animal worth visiting the Beijing Zoo is the giant panda. And when we finally saw this animal, I was simply in childish delight. A huge panda sat in a tree and performed such tricks there that every time my heart sank with the thought that she would fall out of there. But she clearly had no intention of falling down, continuing to stick her tongue out at us and rub her back against the branches of the tree, to the delight of the assembled audience. We stood there for probably 40 minutes, and with pity we went further to the “Panda House”, an enclosed space where the pandas were already behind a glass fence. For some reason, in the Panda's house the impression was not the same, and the pandas were either sleeping or sitting in a corner and eating bamboo sticks. But they were still wonderful and very nice.

Then we decided to wander around the zoo a little and look at other animals. It must be said that the animals, unlike the Moscow Zoo, are kept in more, I wanted to write, “human” conditions.

However, having sat down on the shore of the lake to rest a little and wait for my husband, who had gone in search of lions, I was surprised to find that the Chinese citizens sitting next to me were throwing all the remains of what they had just eaten or drunk into the lake on the shore of which they were sitting.

EVERYTHING flew there, papers from pies and empty plastic bottles, plastic bags, newspapers and much more. Moreover, ducks swam next to all this, and I did not understand how this was possible at all, and even in a zoo. But, remembering what I had read before the trip, I decided not to be surprised, because before the Olympics in Beijing, entire teams of volunteers tried to wean the local population from spitting in the street and behaving appropriately.

USEFUL INFORMATION on how to find a ZOO

Address: No. 137 Xizhimen Outer Street, Xicheng District, Beijing

Working hours:

Entrance fee:

Additional payment for Panda House - 5 yuan

How to get there: Subway: Line 4 - Beijing Zoo Station (Dongwuyuan)

Travel to China, part 5. Trip to Xi'an. Terracotta Army.

After spending 5 days in Beijing, we flew to Xi'an. We flew only to see the wonder of the world - the Terracotta Army. The day before, having gone into the underground part of our hotel, where, by the way, there was a huge shopping center with hundreds of shops, bars and restaurants, an ice skating rink and other entertainment venues, I drank a huge ice cocktail, very tasty. And, as it is not difficult to guess for those who know me well enough, the sore throat did not take long to appear.

I flew with a terrible pain in my throat, and, accordingly, with terrible health. The few medications I had were running out and I realized that the coming week would be terrible, because I always get very seriously ill with sore throat. Upon arrival, we checked into a very beautiful hotel in the city center, Sofitel on Renmin Square Xian. My husband asked the servant to bring me a glass of hot milk with honey, and I, hating both milk and honey, still drank THIS out of desperation of the possibility of another treatment. Lord, how I regretted all these days that I took so little medicine with me and, most importantly, did not take the only thing that can save me in such a situation - Hexoral spray. But looking ahead: that incident in China taught me that now half of my suitcase is occupied by a first aid kit and there is now always a huge amount of medicine for all occasions. But at that moment the situation was dire, and there were still several days ahead in Xi'an and a long flight home. But I firmly decided not to let myself spoil such a wonderful trip and be sure to see everything planned, and especially the Terracotta Army.

But about the army itself... The legendary army, called the Terracotta Army (after the name of the material from which the statues are made), was accidentally discovered by Chinese peasants in March 1974 during the construction of a local irrigation system. The find immediately attracted the interest of archaeologists, and soon large-scale excavations were launched here. The discovered army consists of more than 7,000 full-size statues of warriors and horses, which were buried in 210-209 BC. e. along with the Chinese ruler Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of feudal China.

An army of clay warriors rests in battle formation in parallel crypts 1.5 kilometers east of the tomb of the emperor himself. Crypts with a depth of 4 to 8 meters. The first of them was open to visitors back in 1979, and the museum became fully accessible only in 1994. Currently, archaeologists have freed about 1,500 statues from the soil.

The figures of warriors are real works of art, since they are made individually, by hand and using various techniques. Each individual statue has its own unique features and even facial expressions. After giving the required shape, the statues were baked and covered with a special organic glaze, over which paint was applied. Warriors differ in rank (officers, ordinary soldiers), as well as in the type of weapon (spear, crossbow or sword). In addition to clay statues, in 1980, two bronze chariots, each consisting of more than 300 parts, were discovered 20 meters from the emperor’s tomb. The chariots are drawn by four horses, the harness of which contains gold and silver elements.

It is interesting that during the first attempts to excavate the statues, scientists encountered a very sad phenomenon: after being removed from the ground, the statues immediately begin to dry out, and literally after five minutes their coloring begins to peel and peel off. This occurs when the relative humidity of the environment drops to 84%. To explain the cause of the observed phenomenon, scientists conducted a chemical analysis of the statues. It turned out that the reason for the instability of the paint was due to the fact that the organic composition used before painting underwent irreversible chemical changes during a long stay in wet soil. Therefore, now, as it dries, it begins to peel off from the underlying base along with the pigment applied on top. It was so sad to look at some of the preserved examples in color, realizing how beautiful this army really must have been. And scientists still cannot solve this problem of disappearing paint, so the Chinese government decided to mothball the army’s excavations until a solution is found.

Journey to China, part 6. Temple of Heaven.

If someone asked me what was the most beautiful thing I saw during all the days of my stay in China, I would answer without hesitation - Sky Temple. Tourists who stay in Beijing for only 1-2 days rarely get there. But take my word for it, it’s worth it to definitely look at least for a little while and see this creation of human hands. Its other name is Tiantan - somewhat consonant with my name and this makes me like it much more - the only round-shaped temple in Beijing, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (object N 881).

The Temple of Heaven is spread over a vast area of ​​267 hectares in the southern part of the Outer City, away from the bustle of the city, southeast of the Imperial Palace. It was believed that such an outlying position facilitated free communication between the emperor, the son of Heaven, and his divine ancestors. It appeared at the same time as the Forbidden City, and initially acted as a temple of Heaven and Earth.

This explains the unusual architecture of the building (the southern part of the building has the shape of a square, and the northern part of a circle): according to Chinese tradition, the circle symbolizes Heaven, and the square symbolizes the forces of the Earth; Since then, within the walls of Tiantan, prayers were offered exclusively to Heaven. For almost 500 years, once a year, on the day of the winter solstice, emperors arrived here to bring generous gifts to Heaven after three days of strict fasting. It was believed that the ruler of the Celestial Empire had divine origin, therefore only the emperor has the right to turn to Heaven with prayers for the prosperity of the state. The ruler conjured wind, rain, heat and cold so that they would appear exactly when appointed by the eternal natural cycle - this was the key to a good harvest.

The temple is surrounded by a wall whose height is 6 meters. It has very interesting properties. The wall is remarkable in that it conveys whispered words well along a 64-meter perimeter, which is why it is called the “Talking Wall” or “Wall of Reflected Sound.”

When I was wandering among the temple walls, I saw a photo session of newlyweds. It was very beautiful.

Although trousers and sneakers were peeking out from under the bride’s dress, they both still looked very romantic and happy.

I flew away from Beijing with a lot of impressions from what I saw, but also completely ill, my sore throat was blooming wildly. I remember how I was sitting on the plane with only one thought: not to give up my skates right in the seat and to somehow get home, the temperature was clearly off the charts over 38. Having arrived in Moscow, my husband even called an ambulance for me, because my symptoms were already taking shape, the then widespread bird flu. But, to my joy, the doctor who arrived said that I was treated correctly with the means at hand and that I definitely did not have a bird group.

But since then, when I get ready to go on a trip, even a not very long and not so exotic one, I remember how bad I felt on the Beijing-Moscow plane and put an extra pack of antibiotics in the first aid kit.

Probably a lot could be written about Beijing, because you can wander around it for weeks, discovering something new every time. This is the famous Wangfuqing street and the market with amazingly delicious caramelized fruits, Yiheyuan Park and the Summer Palace, visit the famous Kung Fu Show...

and the famous Olympic stadium - Bird's Nest and... It’s impossible to list everything that this city has. A city where the centuries-old grandiose history of world civilization is intertwined with modernity, where skyscrapers made of glass and concrete rise next to dilapidated khutna streets. Beijing deserves to come only to it and stay there for a week and then not regret it and when leaving think about how much there is still left unseen

1. Chinese culture. China is home to one of the oldest and most complex civilizations in the world, and perhaps the only one where the physical type of the population has not changed for 5 millennia. China has a history of 5,000 years of artistic, philosophical and political development. Although regional differences create a sense of diversity, common language and religious and ethical views unite Chinese culture, within which such globally significant phenomena as Confucianism and Taoism were created.
2. Nature of China. A country that occupies such a vast territory on the surface of our planet as China cannot be deprived of natural beauty. The country has established about 300 national parks and reserves, protecting approximately 2% of China's land area. The world's third largest country by area is characterized by a variety of landscapes: from the fertile lowlands in the east, the terrain rises to the highlands of Tibet in the west and to the Himalayas in the southwest. Western China is dominated by highland plateaus and steppe regions, which turn into deserts in the northwest and north. In the interior of the country there are tropical forests, which at higher elevations turn into bamboo forests, and on the coast into mangrove forests. These are the favorite habitats of pandas, monkeys, leopards, and, in some cases, elephants. The vast steppe and desert expanses in the north are home to gazelles and antelopes.
3. Chinese economic miracle. One of the most important events in world economic history in the last quarter of the 20th century was the unprecedented success of the Chinese economy. You can see this with your own eyes.
4. Holidays in Hainan. Hainan is a huge tropical island located in southern China. The island's territory is 34,000 square meters. km, population almost 7 million people. Hainan is located at the same latitude as Hawaii, so the island is often called "East Hawaii".
5. Shopping. In general, it is difficult to meet a person who has visited China and not succumbed to the temptation to buy with him various souvenirs, trinkets and handicrafts. Because the selection of souvenirs in stores is simply amazing.
6. The diversity of traditions and customs of the peoples inhabiting China. China is a multinational state with over 55 nationalities living on its territory. Among the ethnic groups, the most numerous (over 1 million people) are the nationalities of Zhuang, Hui, Uighurs, and (Yizu), Miao, Manchus, Tibetans, Mongols, Tujia, Bui, Koreans, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hani (Aini), Kazakhs, give and li.
7. Visit the Great Wall of China - a wonder of the world. It is perhaps difficult to find a person who has never heard of the Great Wall of China. The wall is truly a symbol of China, both for the Chinese themselves and for foreigners. At the entrance to the restored part of the Wall you can see an inscription made by Mao Zedong - “If you have not visited the Great Wall of China, you are not a real Chinese.” And if you think about it, this is really true.
8. Chinese cuisine is distinguished by its great originality, expressed in the use of special chopsticks that capture pieces of food like the beak of a crane, as well as in a tremendous variety of food materials, such as cat, dog and snake meat, shark fins, tree mushrooms and bamboo, which are seasoned with various sauces (especially soy).
9. Chinese medicine. For many centuries, special people - folk doctors (i-sheng) collected, tested and generalized the experience of treating people with folk remedies. They preserved their knowledge and passed it on to their offspring both orally and by recording it in special medical books (i-shu-tzu). They amounted to more than 1,800 works, amounting to more than 30,000 volumes and being the most valuable contribution of the Chinese people to the treasury of world medicine.
10. The opportunity to combine all this in one trip!

Article text updated: 05/29/2018

It seems that an eternity passes from vacation to vacation, and it won’t be too soon to wait until the moment when you can again forget about current affairs and drink with pleasure a cup of adventure in another country. But sooner or later the day comes when, looking at the neat numbers on the calendar, you realize that it’s time to decide where to travel this time. After comparing all the pros and cons at a family council, we decided that we wanted to go to China again for extraordinary excursions, and we would get our dose of vitamin D, produced by the body under the sun's rays, on the beaches of the Gulf of Thailand in the resort of Pattaya in Thailand. Today I am starting a series of reports telling about my trip to these countries in the second half of October this year.

1. Reasons why we didn't choose other countries for our vacation.
2. Map and explanation of why changes had to be made to the route.
3. Photos and description of the actual trip to China.
4. What other attractions could be seen near the places we visited?
5. What photographic equipment (camera, lenses and tripod) did I take on the trip?
6. What dangers await tourists in China.
7. Obtaining a visa for Russians. What problems may arise if you have a Turkish stamp in your passport?
8. How to buy a ticket for a Chinese train from Russia.
9. Comparison of the economic situation in China and the Russian Federation.
10. Food in China.
11. Advice for tourists planning an independent trip.
12. Conclusion to the report.

1. Why did we go on vacation to China and Thailand again?

Having learned that we were going on vacation to China and Thailand, our friends asked in bewilderment: “Why go there again? Aren’t there other interesting places on the planet where you can have an exciting holiday?” Hmm... Probably, Katya and I visited too many countries, so the choice of where to travel was not so wide.

India came first in my preferences: in October the season for hiking in the Himalayas begins, and I had a long-standing dream: to fly for 10 days to Ladakh (a high mountain region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir), the landscapes of which seem to exist only in dreams, not reality. The remaining five days were possible to splash around in the warm waters of the Arabian Sea in Goa, although the season there is just beginning. We didn’t go because we visited India in the spring; traveling to this country twice in a row could threaten satiety.

In second place is Iran. From report to report, I say that I would like to go to Persia; two years ago I contacted the Tehran branch of Europcar about renting a car. With the weakening of visa rules in December 2014 (Russians can get a visa for 12 days upon arrival in Tehran), preparation for the trip has become significantly easier: there is no need to spend money on trips to the Iranian consulate in Moscow. What held me back from traveling to this country was that tourists mainly come here to see architectural and historical sights. And I love nature! After carefully studying English-language reports, I found several places where you can go on a one-day light trekking in the mountains of Iran. But there is still a disadvantage to vacationing in this country: only men and women are allowed to swim on the beaches separately - I didn’t want to spend my vacation separately. And in October it’s already cool at sea. And a flight from Tehran to Asia for a seaside holiday is expensive.

The next candidate is South Africa, where I have long dreamed of going to rent a car and go on a safari through the country’s national parks (possible alternatives are Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe with Victoria Falls or Uganda with its mountain gorillas). But a deeper study of the reports showed that at this stage of our lives we will not be able to afford this trip: safari prices are measured in thousands of dollars; and I'm not sure I'll be interested in watching animals for a few days. In Sri Lanka and India we visited national parks four times, and half a day was enough for me. If I had to go on a safari for a week, I would get tired of it, I think.

Senegal is one of the most prosperous countries in Africa. You can rent a car and travel around half the country. Not far from the capital, Dakar, is the private Reserve De Bandia. Entrance is inexpensive and you can see many savannah animals (except predators). The question of beach holidays remains open.

One of the likely travel options is a safari through the national parks of Tanzania and a flight to Zanzibar, where we rent a car for trips around the island.

In all of these African countries, we have to take into account problems with fever, malaria and the increased level of crime in recent years, as well as the terrorist threat...

In fact, three countries were seriously considered: India, Thailand and China. In the Celestial Empire you can see a colossal number of attractions: You will have to travel for several years to see all the beauties of the PRC.

In my TOP list of interesting excursions in China, the first place was a two-day trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) in Yunnan province. And the season there also begins in October. It’s decided: we’ll go to China for ten days, and from there we’ll fly to Bangkok to spend time on the beach in Pattaya. It's time to plan your route.

Video. Hike through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Source: Amazing Places on Our Planet channel.

2. Travel route around China

Monitoring the prices of air tickets caused a shock: Aeroflot offers delivery to China and back for no less than 1,000 killed raccoons. Guard! How expensive it became to fly airplanes after the collapse of the ruble! Only one company, Air Astana, offers a reasonable price: delivery to Beijing for 330 USD, however, with a transfer in Astana.

We calculate the logistics of the route:

1. Departure on Saturday, arrival in the capital of China at 2 am.
2. Departure in the evening to the city of Lijiang (丽江) with arrival at 1 am. We get up at 7:30 in the morning to leave at 8:30 by bus to the village of Qiaotou (Qiaotou, I didn’t find how to write it in hieroglyphs - maybe one of the site’s guests can tell you) - 3.5 hours on the road, and then two days of tramping through the mountains.
3. Even if you don’t pay attention to the fact that to implement such a plan you need to have the health of the Tin Woodman, it turns out that we have been on the road for 4 days and haven’t seen that much. You can continue the route from the village of Qiaotou, passing the Tiger Leaping Gorge: we take a 10-hour bus ride to the city of Shangri-La (香格里拉). It is surrounded by picturesque mountains with several weekend hikes (see link to 56 China attractions above). Only now, we only have a day and a half to see the beauty, after which we need to drive 10 hours again to Lijiang, and from there fly to Thailand.

What a disaster! Dozens of interesting places in China are concentrated in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, but it takes a very long time to get to them if you buy a cheap Air Astana ticket and waste time on a transfer in Beijing.

And here I come across information about such an attraction as the Mysterious Tianshan Grand Canyon, located only 72 km from Urumqi. Judging by the photographs, it looks like Antelope Canyon in the southwestern United States: winding walls, diffused red light. A photographer's dream! And you can also fly to Urumqi on an Air Astana flight for only 330 USD.

Video. Kuche Grand Canyon in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. We are creating a travel itinerary for the sights of China.

We decide to implement the Chinese part of the trip according to the following plan:

1. Arrival from Yekaterinburg to Astana at 11:40. Walk through the city center. We rent a hostel to sleep. We fly to China the next morning at 7:20.
2. Arrival in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). We spend a couple of days sightseeing and fly to the city of Xi’an (西安), next to which is the famous Mount Huashan (华山) with its Path of Fear.
3. We are flying from Xi'an to Thailand.

To get a Chinese visa, you need to buy all tickets and book hotels. That's what we do. The route map looks like this.

And here the first trouble occurs: either the Chinese were confused in the descriptions of their attraction, or I was inattentive, but the Kucha Grand Canyon is located near the village of Kucha (Kuqa County or Kuche, in Chinese: 库车县, in Uyghur: كۇچار ناھىيىسى ) 800 km from Urumqi, and going there by train takes almost a day...

Ah-ah-ah! What to do? Tickets sold out, non-refundable! We have two full days planned in Urumqi. Things to do? I frantically study the few reports from travels around the XUAR, and I understand that in the vicinity of the capital of this northwestern province of the PRC there are also places of interest for tourists.

I won't languish. I'll start showing photos of the route. I will only note that two weeks after paying for all air tickets on the Ctrip website, the Chinese airline China Eastern Airlines canceled flight MU2181 from Urumqi to Kunming (Kunming, 昆明), where a three-hour layover was planned before flying to Thailand. Because of this, we miss flight MU741 to Bangkok. At two o'clock in the morning a Chinese woman called from Shanghai and explained in English (almost inaudible due to the Chinese accent) that we had two options: the first was to choose another flight, the second was to take the money.

I couldn’t understand her over the phone, so I asked her to write by mail. She didn't receive my answers. I called back several days in a row. Result: we refunded 371 USD for the Xi’an – Bangkok air ticket, but by this time there were no longer any normal options to fly to Thailand. I had to buy tickets from the low-cost airline Air Asia, whose prices on the website are initially low, but the price does not include baggage fees. Total price for two passengers with luggage: 478 USD. The loss in money amounted to 107 USD - the second annoying nuisance.

Advice: plan a long enough time for transfers between flights so as not to disrupt the entire route in case of a flight postponement or cancellation -

3. Plan and fact of traveling around China

I will try not to lose the thread of the story and not get too distracted by the details so that this chapter of the report does not turn out endless. Holidays in China and Thailand lasted from October 14 to October 29, 2017.

Day 1. October 14, 2017. We fly to Astana. Arrival at 13:45. By bus we arrive in the center of the capital of Kazakhstan, where 300 meters from the symbol of the city, the Astana-Baiterek monument, the hostel “Hostel Baiterek Astana” (address: 23 Syghanaq Street apt. 32, 010000 Astana) was booked through the Booking service.

We walked around the house for about an hour, we couldn’t find the entrance, there was no sign. You have to call the owner from a cell phone (the cost of expensive international communication). He’s dumb and can’t really explain how to enter the building. The third time we find ourselves on the ninth floor. We are greeted by a girl - a guest like us: “Didn’t you read the reviews on Booking before booking? This is a nightmare! There is no administrator. Nobody cleans up. I foolishly made the prepayment myself.”

He calls the owner from his phone, and he says that he hasn’t seen any reservations from Booking, and he hasn’t registered there for a long time, and he doesn’t have any available numbers. If you want, take a place in the common room (there are 6 bunks against the wall)…

Attention! The money was taken from our card because we apparently didn’t show up for check-in. Service "Booking“I have been using it for 7 years and, since I have never had any problems, I have no complaints about this site. Now, I’m faced with the fact that they don’t have a support service. On the website in the “Customer Support” section there is a message: “Sorry, we have too many complaints, so we won’t be able to process yours. Here is a list of standard situations and the phone number of the hostel owner - deal with him.” It's written in different words, but that's the meaning. No phones!

Of course, there are no legal grounds to nameBooking They are not scammers, but they are essentially accomplices to the scam. We lost 1200 rubles - we will survive. But, for example, I know people who booked a hotel in Cuba for 9,000 rubles for two weeks... Imagine, you arrived, and instead of the presidential suite there was a barn. Hotel representatives shrug their shoulders and say: “If you don’t check in, we’ll write off the money anyway.” And there is nowhere to complain about such behavior...

I checked other booking sites and they all have a customer service number. Therefore, I recommend thinking about whether it is worth reserving accommodation throughBooking, and what you will do in case of fraud.

In general, the girl advised us of another hostel “Nochleg” (address: Astana, Left Bank, Saraishyk St., 38; entrance 7, intercom 107, 2nd floor by stairs), where the room was also inexpensive (6000 tenge - 18, 02 USD). But time was lost; it became dark outside. However, in Astana we saw almost everything we wanted: we climbed to the top of the Baiterek monument, which overlooks the Water-Green Boulevard and the Ak Orda presidential residence, and walked among the skyscrapers along the central street of the capital of Kazakhstan.

Photo 2. The symbol of Astana is Baiterek, a 97-meter tower with a ball on top. You can climb here while traveling to China. Shooting settings: 2.5 sec., +1.33EV, f/9.0, ISO 100, FR=135.

Of course, Astana is impressive. Purely! Skyscrapers. Low prices: 400 meters from the main square of the country (!!!) we ate for 3000 tenge (9 USD) for two (each - salad, soup, main course and tea; and there was a lot of meat, very tasty Kazakh dishes of horse meat and lamb ). Skyscrapers like in Dubai!

Day 2 of the trip to China. We arrive in Urumqi.

From the airport we take a taxi (42 RMB according to the meter) to the South Bus Station (Nanjiao Coach Station (南郊客运站)). Here we buy tickets to the town of Turpan (吐鲁番), the distance to which is 184 km.

After 2.5 hours, having driven along a very picturesque highway in the middle of the Taklamakan desert and admiring thousands of wind turbines (Dabancheng Power Station, the largest in China, and one of the largest wind power stations in Asia), we arrive at the Turfan bus station and take a taxi to our hostel "Dap Youth Hostel".

Day 3 of the trip to China. Sightseeing around Turpan.

Turfan is a small Uyghur town with a population of about 300 thousand people. It is located south of the Bogdo-Ula ridge (Bogda Mountains) in the Turfan depression (this is the second or third lowest point on the planet: minus 154 meters above sea level).

In ancient times, the city was located on the Great Silk Road. In its surroundings you can see historical monuments more than 2000 years old. Now 85% of China's grapes and raisins are produced here.

The owner of the Dap Youth Hostel speaks English. There are many foreigners among the guests. With her help, we ordered a taxi in the morning (430 RMB) and spent the whole day going on excursions. First we headed to the Bezeklik Caves (Bezeklik Thousand Buddhas Caves, 柏孜克里千佛洞). Between the fifth and ninth centuries they were inhabited by Buddhist monks.

While still at home, looking at the photographs of other tourists in detail, I realized that we would definitely need to climb the mountain next to the caves. Therefore, after wandering around the archaeological complex (there was nothing particularly interesting there), we told the driver to wait below. Let's storm the mountains of China!

These mountains are lost in one of the largest deserts in the world, Taklamakan. And they are made of sand.

The silence here is not ringing, as it usually happens in our area if you get somewhere in the wilderness, but rather dull. Apparently the sand absorbs sounds. No animals, no birds. Only mountains and sand around...

Since we arrived in Turpan in mid-October, the weather was quite comfortable: during the day - +25°C, at night - +5°C. But I don’t recommend going to this region of China in the summer: the temperature on the slopes of the Bogdo-Ula mountain range reaches +66.8°C, which is why these hills are also called “Flaming mountains” (火焰山).

To be honest, I didn’t climb to the very top (since it would have taken an hour and a half), but to the spur visible in photo No. 6. At that time, Katya was sitting downstairs and meditating by the old “anchar” (I don’t know, maybe this tree has a different name).

Photo 8. Katya and “anchar” in the Bogdo-Ula mountains in the Taklamakan desert. Report on a trip around Urumqi in China. 1/320, +1.0, 8.0, 400, 140.

How can one not recall the lines from Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin’s poem “Anchar”:

“In the desert, stunted and stingy,
On the ground, hot in the heat,
Anchar, like a formidable sentry,
Stands alone in the whole universe...”

The second attraction in the vicinity of Turfan, where I really wanted to go, was the ancient Uyghur village of Tuyuk Mazar (Tuyoq or Tuyugou, or Tuyuk, 吐峪沟; GPS coordinates: 42.858519, 89.691976). It is famous among Chinese Muslims for the fact that there is a cave here, in which either some kind of miracle described in the Koran happened, in Arabic it is called Al-Sahab Kahfi Mazar (“the grave of the saints in the cave”), or they lived here five pious Muslims (and one convert) to preach the faith. Therefore, every Uighur who is going to Mecca must first visit Tuyuk Mazar. And infidels, it seems, are not allowed into the cave.

The village has been preserved as it looked perhaps a thousand years ago. It was very interesting to wander through these nooks and crannies, listening to the cries of donkeys and the sounds of the river below. And what colorful mountains there are!

The third excursion in the vicinity of Turpan was to be a walk to the Emin Minaret. But it turned out that the entrance costs 45 RMB - we regretted it. Some small church, albeit from the 17th century, assembled from sand bricks - and such money!

We went to the last attraction that we planned to see in the vicinity of Turpan - the Jiaohe Ruins. This is a fortified settlement built from sand 2300 years ago.

It would be interesting to wander through these strange streets, enjoying the silence. But the fifth problem happened: the driver forgot that we needed to pick up our suitcases at the hostel, and we lost time to return for them (in the evening we have a high-speed train from Turfan to Urumqi). In addition, we did not know that in addition to the ticket we also needed to pay 15 RMB per person for travel in an electric car - we had to walk two kilometers. We almost ran to the ruins of the ancient city and only managed to take a couple of shots.

Note. Unfortunately, when preparing my trip to China, I did not come across information that Turpan is a very famous place among Russian archaeologists. Several expeditions were organized to these regions during Tsarist Russia. Now I have found pre-revolutionary books published by Russian researchers - it is very interesting to read their reports, descriptions of excavations, and look at old photographs. Nicholas Roerich, Lev Gumilyov and many others visited here. The historian of geographical science Eduard Makarovich Murzaev once said: “Almost everyone who studied Central Asia tried to build a route to visit Turfan.”

And in our time, archaeologists from various Russian universities take part in excavations organized by Chinese colleagues. They write very fascinating articles about the history of the region.

From Turpan to Urumqi, we booked high-speed train tickets at home through the Ctrip service. Ticket price - 51.5 RMB (including site commission). The distance of 180 km was covered in 1:18, and at 21:22 we arrived at the Urumqi station.

I note that the carriage was half empty and, apparently, there was no point in booking tickets for this train in advance (you wouldn’t have to pay a commission to the Ctrip website). The Ziyou International Youth Hostel in the capital of XUAR was booked in advance. The taxi driver took him to it from the station for 23 RMB (everywhere during this trip in China we paid according to the meter; if the driver does not turn it on when boarding, you need to remind us).

At the address indicated in the booking voucher there is a large hotel (I don’t know the name, since the sign is written in hieroglyphs). The receptionist spoke English and even knew a few words of Russian. He explained that the Ziyou International Youth Hostel was located in the courtyards, and agreed to take us, a kind man.

The girl at the reception spoke English on the first evening (we didn’t see her at other times). We were given a separate room, but the toilet and shower, as in the hostel in Astana, were in the corridor. You can live, only the Chinese have tarred cigarettes, even if you hang an ax... And the lock on the door of our room did not close - we slept propping it up with a suitcase.

The next day we planned to go north from Urumqi, where Tianchi Lake is located (Heavenly Lake of Tianshan, Tianchi Lake, 天池). To do this, you need to get to the Northern Bus Station (Beijiao Coach Station (北郊客运站)). When I said this word in Chinese, strangely enough, they understood me. From there you need to get to the city of Fukang (阜康), and then take a minibus from the bus station to the entrance to the national park. The second option is to take a direct express to Tianchi Lake at the stop opposite the People's Park (人民公园) or the Hongshan Hotel.

It was for the second option that we chose the Ziyou International Youth Hostel in Urumqi, since it is located within walking distance from the said People's Park and very close to the Red Hill Park (红山公园, Hong Shan Gong Yuan), where I expected to get on the third day of my stay in Xinjiang before flying to Xi'an.

The girl explained that it was better to leave for Heavenly Lake from the Beijiao Coach Station, since the express train serves organized Chinese tourists and will take us around the souvenir shops for half a day.

Day 4. Excursion to the Heavenly Lake in the vicinity of Urumqi

Last night the administrator showed on the map where the nearest public transport stop was located. We got to the Northern Bus Station (Bei Jiao Coach Station) by city bus (from our hostel there are routes No. 518 and No. 906, fare 1 RMB per person). It turned out that in China there are stops every 300 meters, so we drove a distance of 5 km for about 40 minutes, collecting all the traffic jams and stopping 20 times at each pole.

The ticket "Urumqi - Fukan" costs 15 RMB per person. The bus leaves every 20 minutes or something. It's an hour and a half drive: first through the desert, then through a picturesque hilly region, admiring dozens of, apparently, metallurgical or petrochemical plants, pouring clouds of gray smoke into the sky.

At the Fukan bus station, a minibus is already waiting for tourists to the entrance to Tianchi Park (5 RMB, ride 15 minutes). We buy tickets for a terrible 215 RMB per person and take another 35 minutes to the shore of Heavenly Lake.

Well, what can I say, the beauty is breathtaking! Although it resembles landscapes from our Altai, only, unfortunately, cultivated.

For an additional fee of 50 RMB, you can take a boat ride on calm waters or walk along the shore along the paths for free (which is what we did). There is a 5.8 km long trail for trekking in the mountains.

In general, the place is pleasant. If you step aside, you will be left alone in silence. But the cost of tickets (430 RMB = 3870 rubles) and the landscaped path laid along the shore kills all the charm.

We got back without incident using the same scheme: minibus - international and city buses.

Day 5 of travel around China. Flight from Urumqi to Xi'an

The flight to Xi'an was scheduled to depart at 15:20, so our travel plans also included a walk around Urumqi: we planned to visit the picturesque Red Mountain Park (Hun Shan) and visit the Museum of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where you can see the famous Tarim mummies (Caucasians from Southern Siberia found them in a burial dating back to the 17th century BC).

But, given that in China the time difference is +2 hours compared to Yekaterinburg, we didn’t want to get up early and drag ourselves around the city in the morning; we just lay around in the room. We arrived at the airport by taxi (35 RMB). And here comes the sixth trouble: all flights at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport (地窝堡机场) are delayed for some reason. Our airline, China Eastern Airlines, delayed the flight for an hour, half an hour, an hour and a half... We were exhausted.

What was pleasing: when the departure delay was 2 hours, all passengers were given a full hot meal.

In general, instead of the planned 18:35, we arrived at Xi’An Xianyang International Airport at one o’clock in the morning. While we got our luggage, we took a taxi (130 RMB, almost an hour ride). We arrived at the Bell Tower Youth Hostel after midnight, exhausted from the long wait at the airport and the long flight (3 hours 15 minutes). We went to bed at three o'clock in the morning.

I note that the girl at the reception also spoke English, and at the entrance to the hostel there is a sign “Zhonglou”, misleading tourists. I had to ask the taxi driver to call the administrator - it turns out that “Zhonglou” means “Bell Tower” (in Russian - “bell tower” or “bell tower”). And above the front door it says “City Spring Hotel”.

Photo 16-1. View of the square with the Bell Tower. On the left is part of the City Spring Hotel sign. The canopy next to the Tower is the entrance to the metro. Where to stay in Xi'an? I recommend the Bell Tower Youth Hostel. 1/125, -0.67, 8.0, 1400, 60.

Day 6 of travel around China. How we missed Mount Huashan

Bell Tower Youth Hostel is located opposite the Zhonglou metro stop, on the second line. From the final station (North Railway Station, Beikezhan, North Railway Station) our high-speed train was supposed to leave for Huashan, tickets for which (round trip) were purchased in advance using the Ctrip website. Departure at 8:36 (return at 18:30).

We planned that at 7:00 we would get up, hand over our room and take the metro to the North Railway Station (Beikezhan, North Railway Station), which would take about 30 minutes. We'll check our luggage into a storage room (either in Xi'an or Huashan - the exact information is available at the box office for purchasing tickets to the mountain) and go to the mountain lightly. Then, in the evening at 19:09 we arrive back in Xi'an - there is a shuttle bus from the station to the airport. At 22:50 we have a flight to Bangkok.

But... Trouble No. 7: I had about 4 hours to sleep, and Katya still couldn’t sleep a wink. When the alarm clock rang, my temperature rose. At a family council, we decide that it is better to rest in a hotel than to force ourselves through the mountain and then be sick for the rest of our vacation. Tickets for the high-speed train "Xi'an - Huashan - Xi'an" burned out (180 RMB) ...

During the day we go out for a walk. We didn’t go to the Bell Tower - a ticket per tourist costs 45 RMB. We have climbed such towers many times on previous trips to China.

Somewhere very close to the Bell Tower there is a section of the Great Wall of China, where you can climb, rent a bike and ride right along the top, admiring the combination of antiquity and modernity. But I didn’t have the strength to get there either (although the distance to the South Entrance of the Wall from the Bell Tower is a 10-minute walk, according to the guidebook). We wandered around, ate delicious dumplings in a cafe and slept off. The room at Bell Tower Youth Hostel is simply royal, compared to our previous rooms in Astana, Turfan and Urumqi. I would say that this is a three star hotel.

In Xi'an you can already feel that the situation is not as alarming as in the Xinjiang, where there are police checkpoints at every step and red flags dazzle your eyes. And the city is much richer and more well-groomed than Urumqi.

I note that Xi’an is known among Russian tourists not only for Mount Huashan. The city is 3000 years old, of which 1100 years it was the capital of ancient kingdoms. It was the eastern outpost of the Great Silk Road and is known throughout the world for its Terracotta Army (located 37 km from the city, you can get there, for example, from the Northern railway station by shuttle, which runs from 8:00 to 16:00). Reminders of the Terracotta Army in Xi'an can be found at every step.

In the evening we took another walk around the square near the Bell Tower. I set up my tripod and took a couple of shots of the city at night, and we took the metro (3 RMB per person ticket price) to the North Railway Station. From there, for 25 RMB per tourist, take a bus to the airport.

This time there were no adventures: the low-cost airline Air Asia flew to Bangkok on time.

Although... trouble No. 8 happened, which almost caused more gray hairs on my head: at passport control, a border guard noticed a Turkish stamp in his wife’s passport and called a state security and intelligence officer of the People’s Republic of China... But I’ll tell you about this in a separate chapter below.

Days seven to fifteen of travel in China and Thailand

From China we flew to Thailand to Don Mueang Airport (DMK), next to which we had booked the Montri Resort Donmuang Bangkok hotel.

You can’t imagine how much we miss this humid air, the concerts of tropical insects outside the window, and the specific smell of Thailand! At 2 o'clock in the morning we walked from the hotel to the 7/11 convenience store (a chain of Seven-Eleven minimarkets found on every corner throughout the country) and along the way we almost trampled on frogs that got out onto the road. I walked and thought: “Lord, why did we go to this China. I love it so much, I adore Thailand so much! I was thinking about renting a car again and driving around the national parks in the northeast!”

We spent all these holiday days at the Pattaya resort either swimming on the island of Koh Larn or on excursions (Khao Kheo open zoo, observation deck at the Big Buddha).

Here, however, three more troubles happened: the first - after diving my ear hurt (it took a couple of days for treatment, not the most pleasant feeling for a vacation); second - due to the funeral ceremony of King Rama IX, we did not get to the Bangkok Aquarium and the KAAN Show; third, I unsuccessfully placed my telephoto lens on a concrete bench at the Khao Kheo Zoo, and because of this, the polarizing filter cracked (loss of 5,000 rubles). Another annoying thing happened on the island of Koh Larn: on Monkey Beach, I went to photograph a flock of monkeys on the mountain, but lost my grip and skinned my legs and arms until they bled. Be careful!

On the evening of October 28, we boarded a bus from Pattaya South Bus Terminal to Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), from where we took a low-cost Flydubai flight to Dubai at 2:55. There is luck here: for 30 rows of seats there are only 30 passengers. Therefore, during the entire flight (7 hours 10 minutes) everyone could occupy 3 seats and sleep lying down all night.

On the afternoon of October 29 at 15:35 we successfully landed in snow-covered Yekaterinburg. The vacation is over. And, although it was accompanied by a huge number of unpleasant moments (in comparison with all previous trips to Mexico, India, China, Thailand, Turkey, the Philippines and Sri Lanka), we were satisfied. And we briefly looked at the Celestial Empire, and ate seafood in Thailand, and managed to soak our tired bodies in the waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Now we can only dream about this...

Attention to tourists going to Thailand!!! Since November 2017, a fine of 3,000 has been introduced throughout the country.USD (or 1 year in prison) for smoking on beaches. The same punishment awaits those who feed fish in the sea (look for reports in the news - many Russians suffered because of this offense).

4. What sights could you see on this route through China?

For those tourists who may travel along a similar route in China, I will leave tips about interesting places.

Firstly, I think that the Kuche Grand Canyon in Kuqa County should definitely be visited if you fly to Urumqi. Next to it there is also a complex of Buddhist caves.

Secondly, if you take a high-speed train from Turpan, you can reach Zhangye Station in Gansu Province in 6-7 hours. The famous Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park (张掖丹霞国家地质公园) is located here. I have never seen such colorful mountains in my life!

After another 600 km there is the Yellow River Stone Forest National Park (景泰黃河石林). And 400 km from it is another magnificent Kanbula National Forest Park, which is somewhat similar to Monument Valley in the USA.

In Xi'an I mentioned the Terracotta Army, which we had no intention of seeing. But I’m kicking myself that when planning a route around China, I forgot about the Yuntaishan World Geopark (云台山世界地质公园) - Mount Yuntai is located 400 km from Huashan. Amazing canyon in the red rocks - in a review of a trip to

In Turfan, on the way to the Tuyuk Mazar valley, there is another ancient settlement: Gaochang (Ancient City of Gaochang (Kharakhoja), 高昌). Archaeologists of Tsarist Russia who explored Eastern Turkestan called it Idikut-Shari. The age of the ruins of this ancient city and the history are approximately the same as those of the Jiaohe (Yar-hoto) settlement we visited. In the reports of tourists, they came across the opinion that Jiaohe is more interesting, while others say that it is more interesting in Gaochang. Due to time constraints, we chose the first one. We didn’t have time to visit both attractions at the same time, and I don’t think there’s any point in doing so.

97 kilometers from Turfan is the town of Shanshan (Shanshan Xian, in Chinese: 鄯善县, in Uyghur: Pichan, پىچان ناھىيىسى), surrounded on all sides by the dunes of the Kumtag Desert. The Kumtag Desert Scenic Area (库木塔格沙漠公园) National Park is located here. Judging by the reports, the place is interesting, but photographers will find it interesting if they arrive at dawn or sunset. We decided not to go here, but to go to Lake Tianchi - and did not regret it, since we saw the desert while climbing the mountain in the area of ​​​​the Bezeklik caves.

Well, in general, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and throughout China, one of the most beautiful places is the Karakoram Highway (Godao 314, G314, 314国道), connecting China and Pakistan. Only, it seems, in the last year this road has been closed to foreign tourists.

Video. Of course, I would not climb this Path of Fear in Huashan Park. But I would like to watch the daredevils from the outside.

5. What I photographed on my trip to China and Thailand

This information is for new readers of the site. A description of the set of my photographic equipment is in the article with a review of the Lowepro Flipside 400 AW photo backpack: 1) Nikon D610 full-frame camera; 2) universal zoom lens Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8; 3) Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ultra-wide-angle lens; 4) Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto lens; 5) extender Nikon TC-14E ​​II; 6) polarizing filter HOYA HD Circular-PL; 7) Sirui T-2204X carbon tripod with G20KX head.

During this trip to China, another trouble happened to me, signs of which appeared during my vacation in Goa in India: I suddenly stopped seeing the frame. More precisely, I look through the viewfinder and understand that the scene that I am going to photograph is weak, but I don’t know how to shoot a strong one, so I don’t take pictures. As a result, I brought only 1200 frames from the trip, while usually after a vacation I “shovel” 2500-2900 pictures. It got to the point that in Pattaya I had to force myself to film in order to get content for the report!

Therefore, my friends, do not criticize for crooked photographs. I'm having a creative crisis. Thanks to my wife Ekaterina, who supported me in everything and took pictures with her phone: all the photos on the Asus ZenFone smartphone in this report are the result of her creativity.

6. Security in China. How dangerous is it for Russians to travel around the country?

In my review of a trip to China in March 2014, I wrote that while traveling around this country, we did not experience any worries in terms of crime or terrorism. As they say: “Blessed is he who believes, he has warmth in the world”...

Today I will say that the level of danger in China for tourists is approximately equal to that in Europe. So, in China there are natural hazards: annual typhoons and floods, and earthquakes often occur in mountainous regions. In August this year, in Sichuan province, aftershocks with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale killed 19 people and injured 247, including the deaths of 5 tourists in the famous Jiuzhaigou Natural Reserve (九寨沟)…

There is practically no threat to the lives of travelers from crime in China. Although passports, money and phones are often stolen. There are scams: a pretty girl invites you to a cafe to drink tea and practice English, and then you have to pay, and it costs a tidy sum. There are situations when taxi drivers or sellers cleverly exchange a 100 yuan bill for a counterfeit one, and then they don’t accept it from you (I even read a recommendation to serve it crumpled so that the fraudster does not have time to make a substitution).

But with terrorism, everything is the same as in Europe: Islamic radicals drive trucks into crowds of people, cut them with knives. So in 2014, at the Kunming railway station, 31 people died from Islamist knives (now, by the way, in the XUAR the Chinese government requires that all knives have a special QR code with the identification of the owner).

Here it is necessary to clarify that most of the problems are related to terrorism in the XUAR, the capital of which is Urumqi, where we traveled for almost a week.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was officially established in 1955. It is inhabited by 47 nationalities (Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks and Han). In the past, this region was called East Turkestan. It has been under the influence of China for a long time (“Xinjiang” means “new border”, so named after the conquest of the Uyghur Khaganates in the west of the country by the Chinese), but it has never stopped rebelling and rebelling.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic people professing Islam (Sunni), related to the Turks and Uzbeks. Previously, in various television programs about travel to China, one could see men in striped Central Asian robes, skullcaps and long beards. After the 2009 uprising, when hundreds of Han Chinese died, the Communist Party put pressure on them very harshly: wiretaps, espionage, a ban on wearing beards (according to reports on the Internet - up to 5 years in prison), a ban on children under 18 years old visiting mosques, forcing them to install a program on their smartphone, monitoring all communications (if you remove it - a prison and a camp for political re-education and brainwashing), they are trying to dilute the Uyghurs with Hans (now there are less than 45% of Uyghurs in the province).

In parallel, the Chinese authorities are investing billions of yuan in infrastructure development (building roads and bridges, factories, schools, universities, etc.). But the Uyghurs do not want to learn Chinese, and accordingly, they cannot get a normal job - they live poorer. Dissatisfaction with China is growing, young people are becoming radical and falling under the influence of ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia). Several thousand people from XUAR are fighting on the side of terrorist groups in Syria; terrorist attacks are constantly being carried out in the region and throughout the country. In response, the Uyghurs receive violence from the authorities. A vicious circle... Very similar to our “stop feeding the Caucasus” situation.

This fall, the Chinese Communist Party invited several tens of thousands of people from the central regions of the XUAR to government positions (police officers, teachers, doctors and officials) with high salaries. Han pressure intensifies.

If anyone doesn’t know, Chinese is not a nationality, but an analogue of the definition of “Russian” or “Soviet person.” The titular nation in China is called “Han” or “Han” (92% of the population). There are also about 10 million Hui living in China - the same Han who speak Chinese, but profess Hanafi Islam. It is clear that the Uighurs differ significantly from the Han in appearance, language, and culture. It is not easy for them to get along in peace and harmony.

The West believes that the Chinese government is hiding information about terrorist attacks in the country. Journalists from foreign media are not accredited to cover such events. Information leaks to the press by accident.

Officially, the last terrorist attack occurred in the XUAR on December 28, 2016, when a truck crashed into an administrative building (1 person was killed). In September 2016, 16 miners were killed in a militant attack on a mine in Aksu Prefecture.

But, apparently, the problem is very acute. Over the course of 4 days in XUAR, we went through police inspections about 40 times: our passports were punched, our fingerprints were taken, and our retinas were even scanned. When traveling from Urumqi to Turfan and Fukan, there are stationary police posts along the highway. All passengers get off the bus and go through a metal detector and present their passport. To get to the high-speed train station in Turpan you need to go through four security posts with a full search.

Urumqi is predominantly inhabited by Hans, and Turfan by Uyghurs. So, in the capital of the XUAR, police officers are a dime a dozen. And wow, in the area... In Turpan you cannot stay out of sight of the police: literally, they stand at every intersection, every five minutes a patrol car or an armored personnel carrier with a machine gun passes by... At the Dap Youth Hostel there were guards on duty with shields and Kevlar helmets .

The distance from Turfan to the village of Tuyuk-Mazar is about 50 km. By the time we got there, we went through inspection at the checkpoints 4 times (we showed our passport, the driver opened the hood, trunk and glove compartment).

I understand that this story sounds rather ominous, but in practice, life goes on as usual. All the people we met in any region of China were friendly and good-natured. No anxiety is felt anywhere. And, for comparison, the last serious terrorist attack in China was two years ago. In Russia in 2017, three of them happened: in St. Petersburg and Surgut they were organized by Islamic radicals, in Yekaterinburg by Christian fundamentalists...

Note. For those site guests who visited this page for the first time, I will post information about my other stories about traveling around China on my own.

In the “Independent Trips” section in the menu above you can find reviews of holidays in China in 2011 and 2014. On the map with a description of the route above, you can see points marked with red and yellow circles.

In 2011, we flew to Beijing, where we visited the Emperor's Summer Palace (The Summer Palace,頤和園 ), with a park and Yiheyuan, we went to Wangfujing pedestrian street. We also devoted one day to a trip to the “Mutianyu” section of the Great Wall of China. Then we flew by plane to Guilin, from where we reached the town of Yangshuo, famous for its unearthly hilly landscapes.

Here we rafted down the Li River on a “bamboo” raft, rode bicycles and mopeds among the breathtaking hilly landscapes. Next, we took the Guilin – Shenzhen train to Hong Kong, where we spent half a day and flew to the Philippines. On the way back, we spent a day in Shanghai, where we walked to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and went to the luxurious oceanarium.

China has a huge number of attractions. After the first trip it was impossible to remain indifferent. In March 2014, we made a second trip to China. Now the beginning of the route was Shanghai, where we went up to the “Oriental Pearl” observation deck (low clouds prevented our first visit), walked along the Bund,外灘 ), took a ride through the tunnel under the Huangpu River and walked through Yuyuan Park (Yuyuan,豫园 . We flew by plane to Zhangjiajie National Park and spent a day and a half in the famous “Avatar Mountains”.

Then we took a bus to the ancient city of Fenghuang. From there, take a train to the village of Chengyang, which attracts tourists with its Wind and Rain Bridges. Next - a two-day excursion to the Longji rice terraces in the village of Dazhai and a trip to Guilin. This time we climbed into the Corona cave (Crown Cave), located 30 km from the regional center. On this excursion we got lost and were rescued by Chinese tourists who invited us on a boat sailing along the Lijiang River (we rafted along it in 2011 on a “bamboo” raft).

If you are preparing your trip to China, I advise you to look through these reports and read the comments - I tried to provide useful information for travelers by leaving reviews (or “news from the field” was written by other tourists). For example, in the comments to the report “Morning in Fenghuang” I talked about Mount Sanqingshan National Park,三清山 i) and Wuyishan (Wuyishan National Nature Reserve,武夷山 ), located between Shanghai and Guangzhou.

7. Visa to China for Russians. What problems may tourists have if they have a Turkish stamp in their passport?

Residents of Yekaterinburg are lucky: there is a Chinese consulate in our city (address: Tchaikovsky St., 45). Therefore, getting a visa is as easy as shelling pears: you fill out an application form, print out a photograph (see the requirements for photographs on the consulate’s website - they have a non-standard size, unlike visas of other countries), take with you the reservations of air tickets along the route and hotels (the surnames of both tourists must be indicated ), and go to the reception.

Acceptance of documents and issuance of passports with visas is carried out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 12:00. You will have to wait outside in a live queue. Therefore, advice: dress warmly.

Tariffs for Chinese visas for Russians can be found on the consulate website. Since July 2016, the duty is 3,300 rubles for a single entry, 6,600 rubles for a double entry and 9,900 rubles for a multiple entry. After accepting the documents, you will be given a receipt, which must be paid STRICTLY ON THIS DAY through Sberbank, otherwise the amount will not be credited and will not be returned!

Compared to 2011 and 2014, the requirements for documents submitted for a Chinese visa have become more stringent: you must provide airline and hotel reservations with the specified surnames of tourists. Accordingly, since cheap tickets are now non-refundable, there is a chance of losing a tidy sum due to a refusal to issue a visa.

So, it’s time to tell you how a trip to Turkey can become an obstacle to traveling to China. When I had already filled out the form and paid for plane tickets from Yekaterinburg to Urumqi, from Urumqi to Xi’an and then to Bangkok, on one of the forums I read a question from one of the travelers about how the Chinese consular service views the presence of Turkish stamps in a foreign passport.

"Hm. Is this a problem?” I thought and went to Google to see what they were saying in the news. Wow! Full of messages with the following content: “During the G20 summit in Hangzhou from August 18 to October 1, 2016, China does not want to issue visas for Russians visiting Turkey, as well as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Syria and Kazakhstan. In addition, the 72-hour visa-free transit through Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou has been abolished.”

This news relates to last year, but questions are still asked on the forums. I’m trying to call the Chinese consulate in Yekaterinburg - they don’t answer the phone. I decide to consult an agency for obtaining Chinese visas.

- Hello! I heard that tourists who traveled to Turkey may have problems visiting China. Is it true?

— Mmmm... how long were you in Turkey?

— We rented a car and drove around the country for two weeks.

Act one. My wife and I came to the consulate in the morning. We submit the documents. The employee very carefully leafs through the pages of the passport and finds Turkish stamps:

— Were you in Turkey in 2016?

- Yes. We rested.

— What were you doing in Turkey?

“I’m telling you, we went there on vacation.”

He is thoughtfully silent, studying the stamps. Asks:

— Why did you decide to go to Turkey?

- We traveled. Most Russians spend their holidays in this country.

- Have you been to Turkey.

- Yes, that’s right, we rested there...

In general, the same questions were asked 10 times, after which the documents were accepted. Visa ready in a week.

Act two. After 7 days I come to pick up my visa. They don’t remember my Turkish stamp, they issue me passports. In the next window, a young man tries to hand in the form, but the employee does not accept it:

— Were you born in Chechnya?

- Yes. But I am Russian by nationality and have been living in Tver for 15 years.

— So, you used to live in the Caucasus?

— Yes, but I’m not a Chechen and I live in Tver.

— But you were born in Chechnya?

- Yes, but I’m Russian, and Chechnya is Russia.

— But, if you live in Tver, why are you applying for a Chinese visa in Yekaterinburg? You must go to the Moscow consulate.

— I travel around Russia. I'm going to fly from Yekaterinburg to China.

- I will not accept documents from you. You must apply for a visa in Moscow...

It seemed to me that the guy had already been denied a visa at the Moscow consulate because of his place of birth, and he decided to try his luck in the Urals. Bad luck.

By the way, a visa can be obtained in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Khabarovsk and Yakutsk. And one more thing: you can stay in Hong Kong for 14 days without a visa (Russian citizens), and if more, you need to apply for a regular Chinese visa at the Chinese consulate.

Act three. Dramatic. Although, during our travels around the XUAR, our passports were checked countless times, no one paid attention to the Turkish stamp. I think this is due to the fact that Chinese police cannot read Latin. The document check looked like this:

— Passport, please.

- Here, take it.

Writes down the number and scans it.

- Thank you.

- And thank you.

- Where are you from? America?

- Mmmm, Russia...

- Russia? – a blank look.

— Russia? - It’s clear that he didn’t understand.

- Russia. Moscow. Putin.

“Putin?..” he laughs and it’s clear that this name doesn’t mean anything to him.

And so, we arrived at Xi'an airport, checked in for the flight to Bangkok, checked in our luggage and went through passport control. They let me through without any problems. They are trying to ask my wife about something, but she hardly speaks English.

— Sir, are you looking for a Chinese visa? – I ask the border guard. “It’s on page 22.”

“Mister, step back 3 meters,” he interrupts me, continuing to interrogate his wife.

Then, since he couldn’t get anything from his wife, he calls me over, checks my passport and also sees a certificate of visit to Turkey.

- Have you been to Turkey?

- Yes, we were resting...

Then the cycle of stupid questions is repeated, as at the consulate in Yekaterinburg, after which the border guard calls the shift supervisor. He takes the passports, and we go to his office together. Another interrogation. He apparently calls an officer from the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China. That polite, but steely and penetrating gaze, like in films about the NKVD and Soviet soldiers during interrogations:

— Do you have friends in Turkey?

- No, we were on vacation there.

-Are you family?

- Yes, we are family.

— Where did you get your Chinese visa?

— We received it at the Ekaterinburg consulate. The place of issue is written on it in hieroglyphs.

Imagine, it turns out that hieroglyphs can accurately convey the sound of the name of our city! He looked carefully and said:

- Ekaterinburg. Where is it?

- This is in the Urals. Between Europe and Asia.

- It's clear. What were you doing in Turkey? Who received you there?..

In general, during this half hour, my wife’s runny nose went away, and I was pretty worried and turned a little gray, since they let us go only 5 minutes before boarding the flight, after they had made connections through their system. For those who have visited Turkey and are now going to China, I advise you to change your passport. Or at least arrive at the airport early to reduce the chances of losing your ticket and spending a lot of money on buying a new one.

Probably, if the police had seen these Turkish stamps somewhere in the Turfan mountains, we would have been locked up in a Chinese jail.

I thought that such attention to tourists who visited Turkey is due to the fact that several thousand Uyghurs are fighting on the side of ISIS (it seems that after Russia, the XUAR is the main supplier of fighters for the terrorists of this banned organization). Now I read the news and realized that this is also due to the fact that 300,000 Uyghurs live in the Republic of Turkey, and Recep Erdogan periodically stands up for them when another repressive law is passed in China. According to Arab media reports, the Uyghurs are crossing the border into Syria and populating the border areas, fighting on the side of Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh (banned in Russia). And they are supported in this by Turkish intelligence (MIT - Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı).

The Chinese believe that Turkey dreams of uniting the entire “Turkic world” under its banner (hello to the “Russian world” and Russian support for separatists in neighboring states). In general, the issue is complex, and the Russians have a chance of falling under the wheel of this military-political machine...

8. How to buy train tickets in China

In my travel reports to China in November 2011 and March 2014, I wrote that it would not be possible to purchase tickets in advance. But everything flows, everything changes. High technologies are sweeping the planet. This time, I paid for travel by high-speed rail from Turfan to Urumqi and from Xi'an to Huashan (and back) in advance from Russia. And now I want to give a little instruction for tourists.

1. We open the Ctrip website (you can TravelChinaGuide) and in the “Trains” section we look at the schedule and cost for the desired direction.
2. We book a ticket and pay for it.
3. We receive a voucher by mail (in the photo there is a white printout under the tickets), where the reservation number (A) is indicated).
4. At any train station in China, go to the ticket office and show this voucher along with your passport. They give us a real ticket. You can get all travel documents along the entire route at once at one ticket office.

This way it is convenient to buy tickets, but expensive. For example, if the fare for the Huashan-Xi'an high-speed train is 54.5 RMB, the Ctrip service fee is 20 RMB, that is, 37%. Although, perhaps, over long distances everything is not so bad. Thus, a seat in a reserved seat carriage of the Beijing – Zhangjiajie train costs 407 RMB, and the Ctrip fee is 40 RMB, that is, 10%.

Be that as it may, for travelers planning a complex trip around China in advance, this opportunity to buy a train ticket in advance can come in handy. In the photo of the tickets above:

• “F” – train number,
• “B” - car number “02” and seat inside “03C”,
• “E” is the passenger’s passport number.

Also in the picture you see two tickets for intercity buses in China. We didn’t buy them in advance; we took them at the ticket office before departure.

• “C” is the license plate number of the bus; knowing it, you can easily find yours on the bus station platform.
• "G" is the departure time.
• “D” is a seat in the cabin.

They even tried to write “Ekaterina” in Latin letters on the left side of the ticket. They are also sold upon presentation of a passport.

9. The Chinese economy compared to the Russian one

I admit that on this trip to the PRC the scales fell from my eyes, and I realized that my political convictions were shaken, that the world cannot be black and white, there are halftones. Previously, I was not enthusiastic about the USSR, I believed that a socialist planned economy was obviously inferior to the capitalist structure. Although, in my work I often have to communicate with Germans, Spaniards, and Swiss, and I often heard from them the opinion that there was a lot of sound, or at least fair, in the ideas of socialism promoted in the USSR. Well, the Soviet Union sank into oblivion, China took over the baton of building socialism and showed that the economy can be powerful even under communist rule.

In 1997, at the XV Congress of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, a new official ideology was adopted on the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is based on two provisions:

1. All changes in the state must be carried out in the interests of the majority of citizens, who should benefit from it.
2. For the vast majority of Chinese residents, the price of reforms should be acceptable.

Having traveled through China for the third time, I can say that Russia has fundamentally lagged behind in its development for approximately these 20 years, that the Chinese are building their own specific socialism. For example, the infrastructure is striking: hundreds of new airports have been built in the country, there is a network of high-speed railways (as of 2017, according to Wikipedia - 22,000 km, where train speeds are 250-350 km/h), and there are 131,000 km highways with a speed limit of 120 km/h. For comparison, in Russia: high-speed railways - 0 km (the Moscow-Kazan section is being designed), highways - 816 km, modern airports - I don’t know exactly, about 8.

Even if tomorrow we spend our entire budget and all our efforts on building roads, we will be building them for the same 20 years... And China will already have an advantage (it is: GDP growth in our country is 0.5%, in China - 6% in year): in 20 years our economy will grow by 9.9%, the Chinese economy at this speed will grow by 300%. This is in nominal figures, but if we take into account inflation of 2.8% this year in the Russian Federation, then our economy is not growing, but falling by 2.3% per year...

What were the advantages of socialism? Well, let's compare how decisions are made. Let's say China produced $1 billion worth of oil. All 100% of the profits went to the state. Officials decide how to spend everything: “Let’s build a road, schools, a hospital, a university, factories and research institutes in that godforsaken town of Bingjiao.” People will receive education, jobs, medical care, and leisure. The standard of living is rising, the economy is developing.

Now let's take Russia. I don’t know what specific rate we have for the mineral extraction tax—let it be 20%. Thus, the state receives only 0.2 billion USD into the budget out of the same 1 billion. The remaining 0.8 billion is received by the oligarch. Theoretically, he could invest them in the construction of roads, hospitals, research institutes and factories, say, the town of Krasnoufimsk in the Sverdlovsk region. But in practice, he decides: “Wouldn’t it be better for me to buy a yacht or a football club abroad?”

What happens next? The Chinese city of Bingjiao produces the product and easily competes with it on the market, since the best personnel come here due to its good infrastructure, and transport accessibility makes it possible to inexpensively ship goods throughout the country and even abroad.

Active, young workers are fleeing from our Krasnoufimsk due to instability; transport inaccessibility makes the cost of any goods sky-high.

What would happen if an expressway was built from Yekaterinburg to Moscow, like in China, where tunnels were dug through the mountains, bridges were laid across gorges, so that the road surface was strictly horizontal along the entire route - the minimum speed is 120 km/h, and also launched a high-speed train with a stop in Krasnoufimsk? The average speed of trucks increases from 60 to 100 km/h, which significantly reduces fuel costs (delivery speed also increases - less driver labor costs). The transport component in goods produced in Krasnoufimsk is leveled out. The ability to travel by high-speed train from Yekaterinburg to the regional center, located 230 km from the regional center, in 30 minutes, allows you to attract highly qualified personnel from the regional center...

Yes... I was daydreaming. How to catch up with China? In the usual way, developing standard industries and industries, I think it is impossible, because, as I already said, in this direction the PRC is decades ahead. We need a technological revolution and non-standard approaches.

Take Yakutsk. It is located at the Pole of Cold on the outskirts of the world. Neither a high-speed train nor a highway will save him: whatever they produce will be incredibly expensive due to the remoteness. What if we declare it a zone where human cloning is allowed? Provide benefits and attract world scientists to study stem cells to make it a world center for growing artificial organs and transplanting them? Yes, rich people from all over the planet will flock here and spend money with us! And 1000 USD on air tickets - they won’t even notice such expenses.

Well... while our government is praying for oil prices, we can’t expect such steps from it... For reference: one tank of oil (60 tons) costs the same as 20 high-tech iPhone 10 toy phones.

OK. Let me criticize China now. Whatever the political situation in our country, we have more air of freedom than our neighbor. For those who don’t know, the PRC is building a social rating system: a citizen receives an identification number, and a computer automatically calculates points. If you violate traffic rules, do not pay loans on time, play computer games and spend time in beer bars, criticize the government, you will receive penalty points. If you go beyond the limit, you cannot get a job as an official, receive benefits, you are prohibited from selling airline or train tickets in a compartment on a night train, you cannot stay in hotels or take your children to an expensive school. Punitive measures also apply to relatives. Your life is turning into a nightmare.

10. Food in China

What will you have to eat while traveling in China? Hmm, of course, the Chinese only eat Doshirak noodles!

Joke! Even in a review of a vacation in India, where I complained that sometimes my wife and I went to bed hungry, just so as not to eat that crap, I noted that in China you don’t have to look at the menu. Whatever you order, everything will be delicious! Yes, you will mainly have to eat rice or rice noodles as a side dish. But what delicious meat there is! Seaweed! Mushrooms! And there are many other substances that you have no idea what they are. Mmm!

I can’t identify the special name of the dishes, since I had to order by pointing my finger at my neighbor’s plate. It was especially funny when you come to a cafe, want to order something to eat, and with a serious look they bring you a menu only in Chinese characters and wait for your order. Well, dumplings in China are very, very, very tasty. Be sure to try it.

One more piece of advice: don’t go to the “fast food” canteens that are popping up in big cities. The furniture there is better, but the food is noticeably worse, just like in Russian fast food establishments.

It’s much tastier to eat in small eateries, where the food is prepared with soul, especially for you.

11. Tips for tourists who are planning a trip to China on their own

The first recommendation: you need to start planning by checking whether any public holiday in China falls on your vacation days. If there is a long weekend in China at this time, a billion people go to their homeland or on tourist trips. There are crowds on excursions, there are no rooms in hotels, tickets for trains and planes are sold out. It's better to reschedule the trip.

Second tip: install the Maps.me application on your smartphone and download maps of China. Works without an Internet connection. Convenient to navigate when traveling on public transport within the country. It was with the help of “Maps.me” that we understood where to get off when we traveled around Urumqi on city buses. It is better to add coordinates of attractions, hotels, restaurants and other necessary places to “Favorites” in advance.

Third recommendation: before traveling to China, install the Google Translate application and download an English-Chinese dictionary (it does not translate from Russian very correctly). It also works without an Internet connection. This application helped us a lot when buying tickets on the subway, or when we needed to clarify something with passers-by.

Fourth tip: make a table containing the names and addresses (in Latin and hieroglyphs), as well as telephone numbers of all hotels along the route of your trip to China. Print this information in very large font (I used 40) so that a Chinese person can read the squiggles of “Chinese writing” at dusk. We showed this printout to taxi drivers. In Xi'an, the driver had to call the hostel to find directions.

Fifth recommendation: not all ATMs in China dispense cash using Russian debit cards. We took three cards with us (Gazprombank, Raiffeisen, and VTB24). Print out the names and logos of Chinese banks that work with Russian cards in advance to make it easier to find them on the street (on the forums they write that you can definitely withdraw cash from ATMs of China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). We were only able to withdraw RMB the fourth time - I don’t know if this is due to our cards or to the Chinese ATMs.

Sixth tip: print out copies of passports, medical insurance policies, copies of air and train tickets, hotel reservation vouchers, a Chinese-Russian phrasebook (in case your phone dies) and other important documents. Send copies to your personal e-mail address in order to have access in case of loss. Just keep in mind that many sites are blocked in China. Moreover, apparently, it is different in different regions. Thus, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Mail.ru, Yandex, Google, Facebook, and VKontakte did not work for us. And when we got to Xi’an, Yandex and Mail were functioning normally.

12. Conclusion to the review of the trip to China

I am now finishing the first chapter of my report on my adventures in China. We looked at a map with the travel route, discussed security issues and problems that arise with a Turkish stamp, learned how to get a Chinese visa for Russians and how to buy train tickets, and how to prepare for vacation.

I advise you to bookmark the report so as not to lose it, because in the future I plan to tell in detail (show photos) about excursions in Turpan, about a trip to the Heavenly Lake in Fukan, about how to get to Huashan from Xi'an. See you and happy travels!

I want to tell you how much work it takes to write such reports. I don't know how to write texts on a computer, so I write them by hand first. This review of a trip to China for the third time is a record-breaking blog article: it turned out to be 110 A4 sheets of handwritten text. I wrote for 4 evenings, with ballpoint pen calluses on my fingertips.

If I type in the editor it takes forever. Therefore, I do it differently: I record audio and send it to a girl in Volgograd. The resulting recording was 2 hours 06 minutes long.

My assistant is on maternity leave and cannot type text during the day; she spent 6 nights typing it while the baby was sleeping. Then, within 3 hours, I proofread and edited, preparing the text for publication.

Thanks in advance and good luck on your travels!

China is a country with a huge territory. And the population of China is breaking all records - 1.3 billion people, it is the largest country in the world by population. It is located in East Asia and the majority of the population is ethnic Chinese.

China is the oldest country in the world. The history of China goes back over four thousand years. China is a whole world, a union of worlds in which ultra-modern trains coexist with areas of poverty, skyscrapers striving upward with outback neighborhoods, the latest equipment and technology with antediluvian devices.

The path to a healthy life

China is a territory of numerous spiritual riches, a country where knowledge and experience have always been valued. What could be more important for a person than health, beauty, longevity? This was understood even in ancient times by Chinese philosophers and healers. They tried to find the key to understanding the secrets of health and the laws of longevity.

Chinese sages sought to create a set of techniques that would help a person find the path to happiness and a fulfilling life. Esoteric art became such a miraculous system in China. qigong. China is a completely unique country that stands at the origins of qigong and has preserved this precious heritage of ancient Chinese medicine to this day.

Qigong is both an art and a science. This is a general strengthening, comprehensive health system with its inherent national features. Qigong brought together the experience that was accumulated by the Chinese people in the process of human adaptation to life cycles, in the fight against illnesses and illnesses.

Qigong is especially valuable because it focuses not on the treatment itself, but on the prevention of diseases. Many famous doctors of ancient and modern Chinese medicine were and are followers of qigong.

Qigong therapy schools are everywhere in China. Mastering and practicing qigong helps everyone who wants to regain joy in life, overcome illnesses, and maintain youth and beauty.

By turning to a system of simple psychophysical exercises and gymnastics aimed at preventing and treating diseases and increasing life expectancy, you can achieve unprecedented results.

Chinese golden apples

Even in ancient times, the fruit was known, which the famous healer Ibn Sina (Avicenna) indicated in recipes, prescribing it as a medicine. This is an orange that makes everyone happy. The word “orange” translated from German means “Chinese apple”, this proves that the birthplace of this amazing fruit is China. Mention of “Chinese apples” was found among ancient sages.

For its healing properties and bright orange color, it was also called the “golden” fruit. Pulp, juice, orange peels, flowers, leaves - all this is used as food and has its own unique taste.

The fruits of the evergreen orange are extremely healthy. They contain selenium, potassium, a storehouse of vitamin C, and vitamins A, E. Orange juice helps fight gout, hypertension, atherosclerosis, liver diseases, and viral infections. It restores strength well. And it's just a delicious, sunny drink.

China is the largest country in the world by population. Its population is 1 billion 289 million people, which means that almost every fifth inhabitant of the Earth is Chinese. The country's territory is 9 million 600 thousand square meters. km, but the country is unevenly populated.
In the east, on the fertile lands of the Great Chinese Plain, four-fifths of China's total population lives. Three-quarters of Chinese live in rural areas, but the country has many millionaire cities. And the largest Chinese city is the largest seaport of Shanghai.

The country's capital, Beijing, is only slightly smaller than Shanghai. In the oldest part of Beijing is the Forbidden City - a complex of palaces of Chinese emperors. Now these palaces and parks have become museums.

China lies within the temperate, subtropical and tropical climate zones, generally warm all year round, but not swelteringly hot. The southwestern part of China is occupied by the Tibetan Plateau, in the west and northwest - the high plains and mountains of the Eastern Tien Shan. Two great rivers mean a lot for China - the Yellow River and the Yangtze. The Yellow River ("Yellow River"), descending from the mountains, carries with it light fertile soils - loess. In the valley of this river in ancient times (4 thousand years ago), agriculture was born, Chinese civilization began, which developed in an original way, separated from other civilizations by impassable mountains and desert areas inhabited by ferocious nomadic tribes. The Great Wall of China was built to protect against nomads.

In the Celestial Empire (as the Chinese called their country), paper, gunpowder, porcelain were invented, they learned to print books and spin silk threads. But for foreigners, China has been a closed country for many centuries. For many centuries, only a thin line of the Great Silk Road connected the country with states in the West. China's isolation has led to a significant lag behind advanced European countries. In the mid-nineteenth century, China was unable to resist the claims of European colonialists, who imposed a series of unequal treaties on the Chinese government. Nevertheless, China managed to maintain its sovereignty.

In 1911, the imperial dynasty was overthrown and the Republic of China was proclaimed. In the following decades, China experienced a series of revolutions and civil wars and fought against Japanese invaders. Only in 1949 was the lasting power of the Communist Party and its leader Mao Zedong established in the country. After Mao's death in 1976, the new Chinese communist leadership began reforms aimed at improving the efficiency of the country's economy. Today China is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Great success has been achieved here in the development of light industry; China has turned into a shoe and sewing workshop for the whole world. At the same time, the computer industry is rapidly developing here, and active space research is underway.

The Chinese head of state bears the traditional title of Chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This is equivalent to the presidency in other countries. But if in most countries of the world the president is elected by the population, then the chairman of the PRC must have a successful party career and lead the Communist Party of China. Since 2013, the President of the People's Republic of China has been Xi Jinping. The official language in the country is Chinese, the currency is the yuan.