The Most Beautiful Urban Area in China

The Most beautiful Urban Area in China listed the five most beautiful urban areas for you to experience their unique charm, and enjoy the amazing scenery.

Xiamen Gulangyu Island

Located in the southeastern coastal area of China, Xiamen is presenting the landscape of the Golden Triangle in South Fujian, and faces Jinmen across the sea. The city has a sub-tropical maritime climate, and it is like spring all the year around. With various kinds of beautiful flowers, a great number of egrets flying leisurely and carefree, Xiamen is an ideal holiday resort, a paradise for tourists. Gulangyu Island covers an area of 1.87 square kilometers, near the Chinese white dolphin conservation, amphioxus reserve, Dayu island egrets’ reserves center. Boarded Sunlight Rock overlooking the panoramic view of Gulangyu, and panoramic view of the surrounding scenery, it is very beautiful.

The city’s clean, tidy and sanitary environment, civilized and polite citizens and a natural and beautiful environment have formed the harmonious, quiet and peaceful features and atmosphere. Gulangyu Island is originally quiet, the people there is simple and attract tourists to visit to enjoy slow life. In Gulangyu Island, time seems go slowly. The calm pedestrians on the street, the people drinking Gongfu Tea in leisure, and the locals who speak slow South Fujian dialects create a leisure and comfortable atmosphere. With smooth traffic, people need not to be hurry to go on a trip to other places. In Gulangyu Island, tourists will slow down their steps without knowing while enjoying the city’s special taste.

Island perfectly preserved many buildings of Chinese and foreign various architectural style, there are the Chinese traditional temple, there are small and exquisite Japanese houses, there are 19^th century European style of the original western consulate. Gulangyu is “building expo pavilion”, many buildings have a strong European style, the ancient Greek’s three big pillar Taolike, Romanesque columns, the gothic spires, Islamic dome, baroque sculpture, permeated with the color of classicism and romanticism.

As for garden, whether is its number or is its quality, Suzhou is the best. Not only that, the old city is relatively intact with the ancient city of organizational system, this is particularly prominent in contemporary China fits the pattern of urban building. Both urban system and landscape design, Suzhou reflects the idea of “humanity in harmony with nature” everywhere.

Therefore, in the selection of “the beauty” of China, Suzhou old city was after Gulangyu island, listed second class, this is worthy of the name.

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Macau is one of the two Special Administrative Districts (another one is Hong Kong ), locates on the west bank of the Pearl River Delta. This coastal city consists of Macau Peninsula, Taipa Island (Dangzai Island), Coloane Island and Lk Taipa Island City. Macau just locates at the mouth of the Pearl River; it’s been called “Ou Mun” or “trading gate in local. It is believed that, fishermen from Fujian and farmers from Guangdong were the first known settlers in Macau. Western and eastern cultures coexistence in Macau, this traditional Chinese costal city and made it a unique historical and tourism city of the world.

The Historic Centre of Macau or Macau historical ancient city (old name is Macau historical buildings) in Macau, consists of 22 peninsula of adjacent buildings and 8 pieces of official seats in Macau, make old town as the core of historical block. Macau historical city on the 29th of UNESCO’s world heritage committee meeting on July 15, 2005 won 21 members unanimously passed, officially listed as world cultural heritage list, 31st place of the world heritage in China.

Macau historical city is the oldest building existing in China s history, best preserved and the largest concentration of eastern and western style buildings, including China’s most ancient ruins of the church and monasteries, the oldest Christian cemetery, the oldest western fort buildings, the first western theatre, the first modern lighthouse and first western-style University, etc. As the first European countries establish territory in East Asia, Macau historical city witnessed the Macau for more than four hundred years of Chinese culture and western culture exchange, pluralistic coexistence of history. Because of communion between Chinese and western culture, most of the buildings in the city has a characteristic of Chinese and western coexistence. Most of the buildings within the urban area preserved today still intact or keep the original features.

Qingdao Eight Passes Scenic Spot

Made up of eight streets that are named after the eight great military forts of ancient China, the Eight Great Passes (Badaguan) is a neighborhood of European-style mansions and villas dating back to Qingdao German-concession era. Eight Great Passes scenic area is located in the Qingdao districts of Shandong province, the scenic spot which can reflect the characteristics of red green trees and blue sky of Qingdao. Before China liberation, here is the villa of bureaucratic capitalists. Today it is the famous Chinese landscape convalescence area, many national leaders and international friends had accommodated here.

Eight Great Passes’ building style is unique, which is the fusion of many national architectural styles, so it is also called “architecture expo”. Eight Great Passes scenic area covers an area of 70 hectares, ten quiet and cool roads; meanwhile, the major roads are named after the famous eight passes, namely Hanguguan, Jiayuguan, Juyongguan, Ningwuguan, Shanhaiguan, Shaoguan, Zhengyangguan and Zijingguan. The two later additions are: Linhuaiguan, which has been sandwiched in between Zhengyangguan and Juyongguan; and Wushengguan, which represents an extension of Badaguan on the northern side. Shaoguan, Ningwuguan and Zijingguan run in a north-south direction, intersecting, roughly at right angles, the other avenues, which all run in an east-west direction.

A distinctive feature of Eight Great Passes is that most of the passes avenues have their own specific theme-each avenue its own distinct species of tree, though three of the roads share the same tree species. The park and garden is match with each other, everywhere is full of lush trees, the blooming flowers of four seasons, and ten blocks of different varieties of trees.

The architecture of the European and North American villas here are often in either a Western classical or a Western romantic style, though more recent styles such as the Gothic are also present. And with respect to the Western classical versus the Western romantic style, each villa of course reflects the particular nationality of the country in question.

Beijing Shichahai Area

Shichahai are writing “ten buddhist lakes”, also called the Qinhai, surrounded by original ten Buddhist temple, therefore it is namely Shichahai. Shichahai is located in the northwest part of Beijing , and covers a large area of 146.7 hectares (about 363 areas). It is a famous scenic area that includes three lakes: Qianhai (Front Sea); Houhai (Back Sea); Xihai (Western Sea), surrounding places of historic interest and scenic beauty, and remnants of old-style Beijing residences, Hutong and Courtyard. The earliest structures of Shichahai area streets formed in the Yuan Dynasty, thus there are many ancient buildings in this region. They have typical features of traditional architecture of Beijing. Since the Qing dynasty Shichahai became a place of amusement summer, as one of Yanjing city, known as “water town in the north”.

In the history of the region there was built palace, temples, and so on up to more than 30, is still remaining a dozen. Main representative building and the most famous ones among these historical buildings are Gong Wang Fu (Prince Gong’s Mansion), Chun Wang Fu (Price Chun’s Mansion), which is the largest Siheyuan in the world and the most well preserved mansion in Beijing, the Former Residence of Song Qing Ling, the Former Residence of Mei Lan Fang (the well-known Peking Opera master) and Guang Hua Temple.

So far, some of folk activities with strong vitality still abound in the Shichahai area, such as fishing, swimming, boating, rowing, playing chess, dancing and singing. Shichahai got its own name for there are ten temples surrounded, including the Guanghua Temple, Fire Chun Kwan Temple, Huguo Temple, Baoan Temple, Zhenwu Temple, the White Horse Temple, the Yousheng Temple, Wanning Temple, Shekhu Temple, Wanyan Temple.

Shichahai is fusion of classic and modern, tradition and avant-garde, natural landscape and cultural sights. In the leisure time, water rafting or wine tasting at lake, or walking across along the lake, or searching for food, tasting the imperial cuisine dinner, or staying Hutong family to enjoy the original feeling of Beijing.