Trifter

Image via Wikipedia

Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! In this corner, weighing in at over 1.29 billion people, the most populated country on the planet Earth, the People’s Republic of China! And in this corner, weighing in at every other person, you know ‘em, you love ‘em, it’s the rest of the world!

(Shanghai ^)

Shanghai

This huge city, sometimes known as the second Hong Kong, is home to great shopping, museums, and monuments, such as the Bund and Xintiandi. Many consider it the center of commerce and trade on mainland China.

(Pictured Above – The Hall of Supreme Harmony at the center of the forbidden city)

The Not-So Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the imperial palace of China from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is now a popular tourist attraction in China, and surely warrants a visit during your trip.

(The Great Wall)

The Great Wall

Constructed between 220 and 206 B.C. by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Great Wall stretches over 4,000 miles. This is another huge tourist attraction. MAny myths have circled about the Great Wall, including visibility from the moon – this is false.

(The Three Gorges Dam)

The Three Gorges Dam

This very controversial architectural work is set to be completed in 2009. It displaced some 1.24 million people and flooded many archaeological sights, while controlling flooding, aiding navigation and making very clean hydroelectric energy. At almost 8,000 feet long, it is hard to comprehend the size of this dam.

Some controversy surrounding this dam includes Siberian Crane – some 3,000 of the 4,000 currently living spend their winters in the wetlands that will be destroyed by the dam.