China is one great developing country with properous sources, including Limpid lakes, soaring mountains, swift-flowing rivers, sheer gorges, ancient cities buried in deserts, ornate palaces, wooded hills, hot springs, ancient tombs,terracotta warriors, leaning pagodas, elaborate temples, memorials to modern heroes, steam trains, bicycles, exotic cuisine, embroidered silk, intricate ivory,translucent jade, multifarious bamboo, gnarled pines, sweeping calligraphy, walls- great walls, city walls, courtyard walls, babes in padded suits, old men in teahouses, dark-suited cadres, silk -skirted girls, nimble acrobats, Friendship Stores, noodle shops.

Given the distance that must be covered and the resulting cost, few people will travel to China more than once in their lifetime. All the more reason to choose the itinerary with due care and to prepare well for the journey. The purpose of this book is twofold: to provide a background to China’s history and culture, and an orientation of the places to be visited. As the sense of provincial identity is strong in China, I have subdivided the gazetteer by municipality, province or autonomous region, concentrating on those areas which are officially ‘open’ to the overseas visitor. Personal experience in organizing and accompanying tours to the People’s Republic of China has shown that for many people China is still as inscrutable as ever, and that although they have come to China because it is unlike any other place in the world, they are unprepared for the unexpected.

It was at the beginning of a period of great change in China, marking the end of the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of the drive towards modernization of this enormous and populous country. Although most Chinese knew that the so-called downfall of the Gang of Four in1976 would have far-reaching effects on their daily lives, the exact direction was difficult to predict and foreign observers were even less apprised of the implications of this change. In early 1977 an extensive modernization programme was announced in China, encouraging the Chinese to look for example to the experi- ence and technology of the western world.

Major changes and adjustments have taken place in the drive to update and strengthen the economy. Bonus systems have been reintroduced into factories, free markets flourish in the countryside, higher standards are being set in the educa-tional field, and the traditional arts of China have been revived. Modernization has brought contact with the rest of the world – through the expansion of tourism to China through Chinese delegations travelling to all parts of the world on trade missions, visits by Chinese leaders to the West, or the admission of the Chinese to the Olympic movement. In the topmost ranks of Chinese society 7 September 1980 saw the peaceable transfer of power from the gerontocracy to younger, business-minded hands, and the separation of ‘party’ and ‘government’ – a process which has been reflected in every level of industrial, agricultural and cultural administration.

Since 1977 the requirements of China’s modernization plans have meant that China urgently needs to increase her foreign currency earnings, hence the rapid expansion of tourism and the large investments in hotel building and refurbish-ment, excursion buses, guides, souvenir shops and all the accoutrements of a developing tourist infrastructure. The Chinese tourist authorities have recently announced that 220,000 tourists visited China in 1982, and 440,000 are expected in 1983, increasing to one million by 1985.

It remains to be seen whether China can easily absorb this rapid increase by providing adequate hotel accommodation, aircraft seats, trains and fully trained guides and interpreters, The logistics of organizing tourism in China are among the most complex in the world. People do not go to China to stay in one resort: they follow multi-centred itineraries travelling the length and breadth of China in a matter of days, taxing the limited transportation system to its limit. Scheduled itineraries are frequently subject to unpredictable changes and, with the plans for rapid expansion, the situation is unlikely to change in the near future. It would be better to visit China sooner rather than later, as no doubt the pollutant effects of rourism will tarnish the freshness and sense of uniqueness which makes travel to China such a pleasurable and rewarding experience.