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Anyone who has been in a tourist sites such as the Forbidden City in the high September and October season won’t have much trouble believing that China is well on its way to becoming the world biggest tourist destination!

First posted in Xinhua: “SANYA, Hainan, March 21 (Xinhua) — A senior official with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said Sunday China is expected to become the world’s largest tourist destination by 2015.

“China, as we predict, is going to become the world’s No. 1 tourist destination by the year 2015,” said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UNWTO.

“China is almost there. It is now the world’s fourth largest destination when it comes to incoming tourists, and the rates of growth are moving so quickly that we think this is a realistic target,” Rifai said.

France is currently the country receiving the most international tourists, at 80 million per year, followed by the United States and Spain, both at 60 million a year, while China has about 48 million, he said.

“China’s tourism economy has moved incredibly in the last ten years. The number of incoming tourists rose from 8 million to 48 million. The potential of the growth is still big because of the size of China,” Rifai said.”

The photo below is one from the archives of the Summer Palace during National Day holidays in the late 1990s.

From the Beijinger:

“The Global Times recently reported a planned expansion of the areas of the Forbidden City open to tourists, from 30 percent to 70 percent of the complex’s total area. As well as opening up new areas of the City, the renovation aims to relieve congestion and stress on the current zones open to visitors.

According to the report the area of the Forbidden City open at present has an ideal daily capacity of approximately 30,000, yet the City sees as many as 130,000 visitors a day during peak tourist seasons. Overwhelming crowds has led to damage and general wear that many hope will be relieved with the opening of new sections within the walled City.

The expansion project marks the start of phase two of long-term renovations; the first phase began in 2002, continued for six-years and restored areas already open to the public. Beijingers may remember that many of the gates were spruced up in the years before the Beijing Olympics.

This new phase will work on areas not currently open to the public and is scheduled to continue through to 2020. Tourists may see new areas of the Forbidden City open to them within a year however.”

A new series where we profile what we think are the top ten destinations for the first time visitor to see in China. Destinations are listed in no particular order, however, what do YOU think the top ten should be???

Beijing seems to be getting a particularly icy blast of winter at the moment with the coldest temperatures in 50 years and plenty of snowfall. Click here for a China Daily slideshow…

Also, a news report from Danwei here and some excellent snowy photos on Zhao Hua Xi Shi’s Flickr photostream here.

If you are in Beijing and wondering what to do with all this snow here is a list of suggestions in the Beijinger.

Back in Beijing after a very long flight from the UK via Istanbul. Very cold, snow still on the ground after the storms earlier this week but the sky is blue and it is good to be back and catching up with old friends.

One ‘new’ bit of old Beijing I had to see was the “Qianmen foot street.” Unfinished by the time I left in August 2008 this ambitious project is now up and running. Qianmen is the street which runs south of Tianmen Square and was long the life and soul of Beijing for shops, tea houses and other nightlife orientated entertainments. This redevelopment project has tried to creatre the feel of old Qianmen with a tram system and rebuilt old shop fronts. It looks a bit too new – needs to be lived in more – but as developments in China goes it is pretty good. What I liked was the convenience of the pedestrianized street and the new shops but just behind these facades the real hutong life of Beijing continues – 2 sides of China and a good balance between modernization and keeping the old intact.

Below you can see the view looking up the street to Tianmen Square.

Came across this photo slide show for Chengde at China.org the other day.

Chengde is only 4 hours or so from Beijing and so often overlooked not just by tourists but also expats living in Beijing. It is a little visited gem that can even be seen as a day trip although an overnight stay is more preferable. The summer resort for Beijing’s Manchu Emperors, the palace here is a breathe of fresh air after the scale of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The surrounding temples built to host visiting dignitaries are outstanding both architecturally and in their setting. If China hasn’t templed you out yet Chengde is a must.

Over the weekend Beijing had its first snowfall this year and it is early (and possibly induced). Earliest for 22 years according to the South China Morning Post. Photos of the latest snowfall can be seen in the China Daily here. Also a slide show here from China.org

Despite the cold winters snowfall is not that common in Beijing with the weather being bright – well hazy – and extremely dry throughout the winter months. Photographing Beijing in the snow was never an easy thing. Firstly, as mentioned, snowfall is rare. Then, when it did snow, armies of street sweepers appeared almost immediately to start removing the snow. The emphasis is on removing – it literally disappeared in a matter of hours – a war against snow. So in a very short time much of the city looked completely snow free. Then, any snow remaining quickly lost it’s whiteness due to the usually dirty air becoming a horrible gray and providing an unwelcome remainder as to what you are breathing in!

So, the upshot is that in all my years in Beijing I only really caught a good untouched snowfall once – some photos of which are below – from way back in February 2006!

Chinese Revolutionary Art is coming up for sale in London for the first time – what would Mao think? Looking at this article from the the UK’s Telegraph newspaper he might be surprised to find what original posters are now worth. I found this interesting as some of the prices quoted are not too far off what I have seen them for sale at in Beijing’s Panjiayuan market. In this market there is a largely reproduction goods for sale to tourists but there is one building which houses furniture on the ground floor and upstairs a whole section dedicated to the real communist era’s memorabilia. Here you will find original posters priced at many thousands of Yuan each.

An interesting project about the Great Wall and photographing it historically from Danwei

“David Spindler is a self-motivated and self-funded scholar of the Great Wall, who has probably walked and climbed on more parts of the Wall around Beijing than any other living person.

His approach to his studies has been unorthodox: he has an M.A. in history from Peking University, but his Great Wall research has been conducted outside of the university system. Nonetheless, his combination of highly athletic field research — the Wall around Beijing is built on some very steep and tall mountains — and more conventional academic research has started to bear fruit.

In the first public exhibition of his research, Spindler has collaborated with photographer Jonathan Ball to produce a series of large-scale, historically-based photographs of the Great Wall.”…. Continue reading this article from Danwei

And I couldn’t let this opportunity pass to add in a few of my own photos to this post. Slightly historical in that they were taken way back in 1998 (using film!) at Simitai about three hours from Beijing and one of the more dramatic sections of the Wall.