The 50 Best Towns in China

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Back in my Lonely Planet days I always found it exciting when one of the company’s foreign language partners produced a Lonely Planet book which had never been published in English. Even though they looked recognisably LP. The 50 Best Towns in China is definitely in that category, I even had trouble finding out what those 50 towns were in our characters. Here they are:

Southwest China
沙溪 – Shaxi, 丙中洛 – Bingzhongluo, 和顺 – Heshun, 巍山 – Weishan, 大研和束河 – Dayan and Shuhe, 黑井 – Heijing, 建水 – Jianshui, 新都桥 – Xinduqiao, 稻城和亚丁 – Daocheng and Yading, 阆中 – Langzhong, 安仁 – Anren, 马尼干戈 – Manigange, 会理 – Huili, 泸沽湖 – Luguhu, 镇远 – Zhenyuan, 肇兴 – Zhaoxing, 天龙屯堡 – Tianlong Tunpu, 江孜 – Jiangzi, 札达 – Zhada

Southern China
开平 – Kaiping, 兴坪 – Xingping, 秀水村 – Xiushui, 涠洲岛 – Weizhou Island

Middle China
婺源 – Wuyuan, 宏村 – Hongcun, 华东

Eastern China
乌镇 – Wuzhen, 东极岛 – Dongji Island, 南浔 – Nanxun, 西塘 – Xitang, 锦溪 – Jinxi, 周庄 – Zhouzhuang, 同里 – Tongli, 和平 – Heping, 下梅 – Xiamei, 六鳌 – Liu’ao, 培田 – Peitian, 桂峰 – Guifeng

Northwest China
同仁 – Tongren, 夏河 – Xiahe, 禾木 – Hemu, 惠远 – Huiyuan, 韩城 – Hancheng,

Northern China
平遥 – Pingyao, 碛口 – Qikou, 后沟 – Hougou, 汾城 – Fencheng, 青木川 – Qingmuchuan

Northeast China
莫尔道嘎 – Mo’erdaoga, 阿尔山 – A’ershan, 漠河 – Mohe

Zhaoxing in Southwest China and Pingyao in Northern China are both towns I’ve visited recently in my Global Heritage Fund role. Zhada – also known as Tsaparang or Tholing – I went to way back in 1998 and wrote it up for the Lonely Planet Tibet guide, it almost felt like we were the first foreign tourists to visit the place.

The ‘castle’ in Tsaparang from my 1998 visit. ►