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Scenic Splendor of China »

[28 Mar 2009 | 2 Comments | 2,881 views]
Top 5 Lakes in China with Google Earth Links

There are numerous lakes in the territory of China. According to official data, there are about 2700+ lakes which are larger than 1 km2 in area. Their total area is larger than 90,000 km2, close to the size of Zhejiang Province. Not to mention that there are also lots of man-built reservoirs. They are vastly distributed all around China, while mid-and-down stream of Yangtze River and Tibet Plateau have lakes located more densely. Here I list the top 5 most beautiful lakes (scenic places) in China.

Travel »

[25 Mar 2009 | 4 Comments | 3,552 views]

What?! It’s not Beijing? Yes, and No.
Yes: Beijing is the current capital of P.R.China, and was capital of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty for over 700 years, which is the second longest time.
No:  in some sense, P.R.China is only the current dynasty along with over fifty previous ones recorded in the official historic books. Capital city has kept changing from one dynasty to another, due to political, economical or climate reasons. Among ~3,000 years of China history, over a dozen of cities had served as capital of China.
Which city had been …

Residential House »

[14 Mar 2009 | Comments Off on DiaoJiaoLou – Stilted Building in Southwestern China | 10,282 views]
DiaoJiaoLou – Stilted Building in Southwestern China

Diaojiaolou (literally means hanging attic) is a residential house with a dense architectural flavor of the ethnic minority (Miao, Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Shui, Tujia Ethnics) in the southwestern provinces (Yunnan, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan provinces). The wooden building is built close to the mountain or above the water (creek or river) with an extended floor space. These houses are usually built on slopes with only supporting wood pillars and no foundation and are 100% made of wood without iron.

Scenic Splendor of China »

[11 Mar 2009 | Comments Off on Top 5 Karst Peak Forests in China with Google Earth Links | 6,839 views]
Top 5 Karst Peak Forests in China with Google Earth Links

Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. — wikipedia
Top 5 Karst Peak Forests in China with Google Earth Links
Southern China is rich in precipitation. The power of water has carved and shaped the rocks into beautiful karst formations. Here I list the top 5 most beautiful karst “peak forest” scenic places in China.
View all in google earth here.
1. Guilin & Yangshuo 桂林阳朔 – The Gallery of Mountains and Rivers
Google Earth | wiki …

Residential House »

[27 Feb 2009 | 3 Comments | 24,755 views]
Yaodong – Cave Dwellings on Loess Plateau

In the prehistoric era our ancestors live in natural caves, during the long history of civilization, we learned how to build beautiful houses and buildings for us to live in. The designs are really diversified around the world according to people’s need, culture difference, local environment, and availability of material.

In the loess plateau of Shaanxi province in northwestern China, people are still living in caves, not natural caves. People built these cave dwellings – Yaodong.