Discover China travel guide

The second largest country in the world by land area, China is an ancient, mysterious and beautiful country.

It abounds in ancient artefacts, large neon cities, remote mountain villages, and magnificent natural and man-made attractions.

China shares a land border with 14 other countries. Some of the largest are Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Myanmar and North Korea. Despite the country spanning five geographical timezones, time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00, which is eight hours ahead of Universal Coordinated Time.

• Present day Chinese culture is an amalgamation of old world traditions and a westernised lifestyle — although people in rural areas tend to hold to more traditional ways than those in the big cites.
  
  
• Confucian and Taoist values are prevalent in social interactions, with emphasis on good etiquette, manners, honesty and respect for elders and superiors.
• ‘Face’ is a very important concept. Arguments and emotional scenes in public mean a ‘loss of face’ and are very embarrassing for all involved.
• Queuing isn’t compulsory and personal space is less respected than in Australia, so don’t get upset if people push and shove their way ahead of you in crowded places.

• Ni Hao = Hello
• Xie Xie = Thank you
• Dou shao qian = How much?
• Gan Bei = Cheers!
• Zhù nî háoyùn = Good luck!
• Bàibài = Goodbye

• China is the world’s most populous country.
• Largest jigsaw made of tents: 900 tents were placed on a beach in Qingdao, Shandong province to form a Chinese dragon.
• Longest duration balancing on four fingers: 19.23 seconds.
• Oldest panda ever in captivity was 36 years old in 1978.