One of China's most enduringly popular holiday spots, Hángzhōu's (杭州) dreamy West Lake panoramas and fabulously green hills can easily tempt you into long sojourns. Eulogised by poets and applauded by emperors, the lake has intoxicated the Chinese imagination for aeons.Kept spotlessly clean by armies of street sweepers and litter collectors, its scenic vistas draw you into a classical Chinese watercolour of willow-lined banks, mist-covered hills and the occasional shíkùmén (stone-gate house) and old lǐlòng (residential lane).Wonderful as it is, Hángzhōu's charms are by no means limited to West Lake scenery –delve further into the city to climb ancient pagodas and discover blissfully quiet temples.Away from the tourist drawcards exists a charismatic and buzzing city in its own right, with wide pedestrian walkways to wander, an unpretentious and exciting food scene, upbeat nightlife and increasingly cosmopolitan population.Guǎngzhōu, once better known to Westerners as Canton, is China's busiest transport and trade hub and the third-largest city in the country.A giant metropolis, Guǎngzhōu is home to both gleaming towers and leafy alleys, and its history as a strategic trade port to the South China Sea has afforded it a colonial background and culturally diverse population that combine to give Guǎngzhōu a cosmopolitan flair.Additionally, the China Import and Export Fair (more commonly known as the Canton Fair) –China's largest trade fair –sees thousands of international visitors flocking to Guǎngzhōu twice a year. And its proximity to Hong Kong means it is one of the most well-connected cities in China.Chéngdū(成都) is no great draw when it comes to major tourist sites –pandas excepted, of course –but many visitors find its laid-back pace and diversity of cultural scenes unexpectedly engaging.It could be its relaxing teahouse culture, with favourite local institutions serving the same brews across generations. Maybe it's the lively nightlife, with a strong showing of local partiers bolstered by large student and expat populations that gather at craft beer bars and super-hip clubs.It might be the food: famous for heat, history and variety even in the cuisine-rich cultures of China; and very much a point of pride. It is, after all, Unesco's first-ever City of Gastronomy.长沙For three millennia, this city on the Xiāng River (湘江; Xiāng Jiāng) flourished steadily as a centre of agriculture and intellect.In the 1920s it was still so well preserved that British philosopher Bertrand Russell is said to have compared it to a medieval town, but not long after, the Sino-Japanese War and a massive fire in 1938 gave Chángshā(长沙) an irreversible facelift, leaving little of its early history.These days it's a modern, energetic city, known mainly for sights relating to Mao Zedong, but with its magnolia-lined streets and riverine aspect, it's a pleasant enough stopover and provincial capital.The capital of Liáoníng province, prosperous Shěnyáng (沈阳) has made enormous strides in overcoming its reputation as a postindustrial 'rust-belt' city.True, Shěnyáng is still a sprawling metropolis, but the metro is easy to navigate, and there's a buzz on the streets and in the designer malls as locals grow confident, positive and urbane.For the traveller, Shěnyáng boasts its very own Imperial Palace, a tomb complex and decent museums, as well as several fine parks. Given its strategic location as a transport hub for the north of China, Shěnyáng is well worth a stopover on your journey.At China's cartographic bullseye, Lánzhōu (兰州) marks the halfway point for overlanders trekking across the country.Growing up on a strategic stretch of the Yellow River (黄河; Huáng Hé), and sitting between competing Chinese and Central Asian empires, Gānsù's elongated capital city frequently changed hands, reflected today in its mix of ethnic groups and cultures.These days, Lánzhōu is perhaps most well known for its favourite food –Lánzhōu beef noodles (牛肉面; niúròu miàn) –and with several excellent night markets, this is an excellent place to sample the delights of Chinese Silk Road fare.Lánzhōu's reputation as being hazy and traffic-choked is also changing with the building of a new metro, which should be open by the time you read this.Wǔhàn (武汉) has matured from the sprawling convergence of three smaller cities to an industrial and commercial centre with more than a smattering of fine cultural sites, including the Yellow Crane Tower and a terrific museum.Amid the traffic and smog, the Yangzi River opens up the densely packed streets, rolling around parks, lakes and a concession-era entertainment district in Hànkǒu, the pick of the three cities, growing in swagger by the financial year. This is not the place of penny postcards, but it's urban China and it's worth getting to know.Xiàmén (厦门), the island city formerly known in Western circles as Amoy, is emerging as southern China's most sophisticated city. Chinese travellers have long understood the lure of its long seaside promenade and European city architecture.Many use Xiàmén as a stepping-off point for the much smaller island of Gǔlàng Yǔ, perhaps the highlight of the entire province. Strewn with crumbling embassies, lush gardens and beaches, and hip boutique cafes and hotels, this island feels like a kind of Chinese Mediterranean, in all its wonderful oddity.dreamy: adj 朦胧的；怡然的；美妙的panorama: n 全景sojours: n 逗留；暂住；旅居eulogise: v 赞颂applaud: v 称赞aeon: n 极其漫长的时期willow: n 柳树charismatic: adj 有超凡魅力的unpretentious: adj 不事张扬的；不爱炫耀的upbeat: adj 乐观的；积极向上的leafy: adj 多树木的flair: n 资质irreversible: adj 无法复原的facelift: n 整形外科手术magnolia: n 木兰树riverine: adj 河流附近的stopover: n 中途站sprawling: adj 蔓延的cartographic: adj 制图学的；地图绘制的bullseye: n 靶心trek: v 长途跋涉elongated: adj 细长的sample: v 品尝；体验fare: n 饭菜smattering: n 略知；浅知warring: adj 战争的；交战的pick: n 精华swagger: n 神气十足promenade: n 海滨步行大道strew: v 在……上布满crumbling: adj 颓败的hip: adj 时髦的boutique: n 精品店。
