I recently returned from a two week trip across China, and without exaggeration, it was one of the best travel experiences of my life. Experiencing Chinese culture first-hand alongside the sheer diversity of landscapes, wildlife, and ancient history gave me moments I don’t think I will ever be able to replicate anywhere else in the world.
Looking back through my photos, here is a list of my five favourite experiences in China the places I visited and witnessed up close that genuinely blew my mind.
1. Great Wall of China (Jinshanling Section)
If you know anything about travelling in China, you know just how many people are at every major attraction. Famous sections of the Great Wall near Beijing like Badaling and Mutianyu are usually packed shoulder to shoulder with tourists.
That is why visiting the Jinshanling (金山岭) section, roughly 130 km northeast of Beijing, was such a special experience. Originally built in 1368 during the Ming Dynasty and fortified in 1567 by General Qi Jiguang, Jinshanling stretches 10.5 kilometres across dramatic mountain ridgelines with 67 watchtowers.
Surprisingly, it was remarkably quiet with barely any other tourists around. Having one of the Seven Wonders of the World almost entirely to myself meant I could slow down, take in the scale of the brickwork winding across the peaks, and create some truly magical photographs with my Canon EOS R8.
2. Huangshan (The Yellow Mountains)
Located in southern Anhui Province, Mount Huangshan (黄山) known as the Yellow Mountains is widely celebrated as one of China’s most beautiful and iconic mountain ranges. A famous Chinese saying goes: “After climbing the Five Great Mountains, you won’t wish to see any other mountains; but after climbing Huangshan, you won’t even wish to see the Five Great Mountains.”
While Huangshan is hugely popular with Chinese travellers (meaning the trails and viewpoints are very busy with locals), it remains surprisingly underrated among foreign visitors, many of whom skip it on their first trip to China.
Walking along the cliffside stone staircases surrounded by jagged granite spires, ancient twisted Huangshan pine trees (Pinus hwangshanensis) growing straight out of vertical rock faces, and drifting mountain mist felt like stepping inside a traditional Chinese ink painting. Even with the crowds, it is a truly scenic, magical place to walk around and experience in person.
3. Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
For wildlife and animal photography, there is one iconic species above all others in China: the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Endemic strictly to China, Giant Pandas aren’t found anywhere else in the wild on Earth.
In Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan Province), I visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which is home to both Giant Pandas and Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens). What stood out immediately is the sheer scale of the facility covering over 800 acres and how well the animals are looked after. Rather than being kept in small, cramped zoo enclosures, both the Giant Pandas and Red Pandas live in huge, open, bamboo-forested spaces designed to closely mimic their natural wild habitat in the Sichuan mountains.
Getting to witness and photograph an abundance of Giant Pandas and agile Red Pandas up close in an environment that feels almost wild was easily one of the best wildlife experiences you could ever ask for.
4. The Terracotta Army (Xi’an)
Before the trip, I watched the brilliant Netflix documentary Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors, which tells the story of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE). Over 2,200 years ago, he commissioned an entire subterranean army of life-sized clay statues to surround his burial tomb in Xi’an and guard him in the afterlife.
Standing inside the cavernous excavation hangars and seeing the ranks of warriors lined up in battle formation is mesmerizing:
5. The Summer Palace (Beijing)
Rounding out my top five is Beijing’s Summer Palace (颐和园 — Yiheyuan), the grand imperial garden where the Qing Dynasty Emperors and Empress Dowager Cixi would retreat to escape the stifling summer heat of the Forbidden City.
