A bird’s eye view of ChongQing 重庆

A trip to these three nearby cities on China's east coast.

In their last days as students at the Beijing University of Language and Culture, trips to the Summer Palace (YíHéYuán) and the ruins of, but still beautiful, 'Old Summer Palace' (YuanMingYuan). These are within walking distance of each other in west Beijing and both have metro (subway) stops. In neither film are all the scenic spots visited; but then these are huge places; both are well worth a visit when you're in Beijing ...

With DianXi XiaoGe ...

Step back in time with Tim and Glo as they visit HóngCūn, in the historical HuiZhou region of southern AnHui province, near the south west slope of Mount HuangShan, plus the close-by MuKeng Bamboo Forest. The architecture and features of the approximately 150 residences that date from the Ming and Qing dynasties are among the best of their kind in China. One of the largest residences open to visitors, ChenZhi Hall, also contains a small museum. Together with nearby XiDi, the village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Scenes from the film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' were filmed on location here.

ZhangJiaJie is one part of WuLingYuan National Forest Park in HuNan province, south China, and is a wonderland of strange peaks, stunning valleys, ancient trees, caves and waterfalls. There are over 500 scenic spots in this area of outstanding natural beauty; it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. In all, it covers around 700 square kilometers (270 square miles).

Sometimes in browsing the web disparate things just seem to come together, as here. Two different popular singing shows, one an established artist, one a teen on a first audition; one common theme - 'this girl is on fire'. In the first video, from 'I am a singer', I was so struck by the gusto of the performance. The cut-aways are to the other competitors; one can feel that the knives were out (in some cases) but she said 'take that', and nailed it ... The song is hard to translate but means something like : I want to be the real me (not one with a smile who is sad inside). Second is a lovely teen wearing a chili pepper (which is a big plus in my book); it's a bit rough in places but she hits the key lines great. Momo Wu (we love you too) watch out ;) What I love about the 'Voice of China' is that it has real humanity - judges with true music passion and pure hearts, plus a sense of hummor ... 鄧紫棋 G.E.M. (Gem Tang) - 存在_我是歌手第二季 中國好聲音 2014-07-18 第三季 - 第一期 劉至佳 - 'Girl on Fire' (Alicia Keys)

A very large market of antiques, painting and craft materials, and curios of all kinds, including large sculpture items. A fascinating place to visit ...

The city in HuBei province and its people after the coronavirus.

Near YangShuo, GuangXi province.