translated from Spanish: A journey through China, a culturally different country full of history

The wonders of the Asian giant are endless and the willingness of its population to open up to foreigners has changed substantially over the years. The integration of cultures, mutual respect and the teaching of customs have become fundamental elements that Chinese tourism seeks to transmit to the world. What is it like to travel through this country and enter large cities and towns less crowded by foreigners? What can we learn from the traditions of this country?
Xitang, the water village
Known as the scene where the scenes of the film Mission Impossible 3 were filmed and where the famous actor Tom Cruise ran from side to side along the banks of the canals of the old village, Xitang is perhaps one of the most picturesque and curious places in this country. With only 60,000 inhabitants, this town known as “the water village” is located in Jianshan District, Zhejian Province and is characterized by nine canals dividing the city. It could be said to be the Venice of Asia as the locatarians are transported in small gondolas and communicated by bridges totaling 100.
Most of these bridges have great historical value as they were built over centuries under different dynasties and styles. The village is also famous for its eaves, roof extensions of the houses that are located on each street to shelter from the rain or the sun.

The appeal is completed with numerous ancient mansions, temples and museums, with the predominance of red color and lights, but also with its nightlife, gastronomy and crafts. Xitang is full of small alleys where even sometimes there is a single person when walking and with shops where its inhabitants offer tourists different products.
Among the most sold products are local food, scorpions, turtles and crickets are offered to serve the stick to tourists so that they can eat them while they walk along the banks of the canals. The cobblestone streets and perfectly preserved courtyards perfectly reproduce the atmosphere of the Qing and Ming dynasties.
The holiday nights in Xitang are quite particular and break with the general scheme of the place. Small bars-discotheques open between the cobblestone streets so that locals and foreigners visit them and drink a drink of alcohol or have a pleasant time dancing mainly electronic music. One of the features to get people’s attention are great figures of typical cartoon characters on the doors of locals dancing and inviting people to pass. Pokemones, pandas, robots, and even some animals like flames are in the entrances of these locals.
The capital
A very different place to the village of Xitang is Beijing, the great capital of the People’s Republic of China. Characterized by a myriad of huge buildings and technology companies, the inhabited city with almost 22 million people is the tourist center of the country. It is also the political, economic, cultural, communications epicenter and international exchanges. Beijing is a destination characterized by its landscape and climate. Winter is cold and dry, summer is hot with heavy rains, and autumn is cool at night and pleasant in the day.
Within the city there are endless activities to do such as among the best known are to visit the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall of China. You can also visit the National Museum or the Palace Museum. The only negative is that most places close between 5pm and 7pm.

One of the features of Beijing that attracts attention is the amount of traffic that exists, so it is advisable to take public transport like the subway because, in addition, moving in it is quite an experience by the number of lines that exist. A curiosity is that people pay for public transport with their cell phone through an app called “We chat” or “Alipay” via a QR code and handles very ineffective. At the same time the security in these places is maximum as there is absolute control of the things that one carries with one because he must pass them through a detector machine similar to that of the airports.
Another place you can visit in Beijing is Hutongs, Tian’anmen Square, Coal Hill, Beihai Park, Houhai Lake, Lamas Temple, Wangfujing Night Market, Drum and Bell Towers, Olympic Village , the Television Tower, tour the hutongs, get to know the Beijing Opera House, visit the pandas of the Beijing Zoo or see the curious Amusement Park.
Xian and the Terracotta
You can’t leave China without visiting the Terracotta Warriors who are a set of over 8000 figures of life-size warriors and horses who were buried near the self-proclaimed first Emperor of China of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, in 210-209 BC.
These wonderful figures are located inside the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum and were discovered during a water supply work in March 1974 near Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. Since 1987 they are considered a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Terracotta Warriors are a treasure for China and allow us to learn about the history of this culture. It corresponds to an underground chamber containing a true army where each soldier has a different face and the specialists believe they were buried in the wells to provide magical or symbolic protection to the emperor’s tomb. It may be significant that everyone looks east, the direction from which the emperor’s enemies came.
The clay figures are a replica of Shihuangdi’s royal army, so they are a fascinating reflection on how the ancient Chinese armies were organized.
The lights of Hanghzou
Hangzou, on the other hand, is the capital and largest city in Zhejiang province. It is located on the banks of the Qiantang River, near its mouth. It corresponds to the fifth most populous city in the country.
Among the city’s many attractions are its famous evening shows, highlighting the light show, but also music from Qianjiang New City, one of the city’s two great financial districts. This corresponds to a gigantic nightshow that broadcasts images about different skyscrapers, fully synchronized lights and a large-scale musical number. 700,000 LEDs and more than 30 illuminated buildings impress all people passing close to Hangzhou’s nightshow every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and nearly 1200 drones star in the performances from the Sky of China.
A technological and maximum security country
China is characterized by many positive things, but if we have to highlight two, it is its great technological development and the security that is on its streets.
When it comes to technological development, the Asian giant is well ahead of several other countries. Among the great advances that have been made in recent years are for example the use of 5G, facial recognizers, multifunctional robots, H5 software, artificial intelligence development and programs that create other dimensions. All this within Xi Jinping’s project to modernize the country of China and open up the international market for its products.
On the other hand, travel to China is perhaps one of the safest destinations to go, firstly, because the crime rate is very low and secondly because it seeks to promote tourism and therefore all necessary measures are taken to ensure that the foreigners have a comfortable and safe stay to the places they visit.
For example, all those highly resorted tourist sites have a maximum security law, in which each person who enters the area is rigorously reviewed in conjunction with the things he carries with him. There are security guards at almost every site and in many places, people must register before entering the site.
At airports the thing is not very different, there is security check both to enter and to leave, which allows to have a total record of the number of people entering each of the locations and make sure that they do not carry with them any element that is p inhibited.

Original source in Spanish