The Great Wall of China
China is one of the world’s oldest and most revered civilizations, with a noted, continuous history of over 4000 years. Chinese cuisine has been popular in the UK and across Europe for many decades now, which shows with our vast abundance of Chinese restaurants and interest in Chinese culture. Southampton, London, Manchester and Newcastle have seen takeaway outlets double in last fifty years, which again shows our ever-growing love of the amazing orient and all it has to eat!
But what we should be doing is going to visit these amazing countries themselves and taste the exquisite food we have grown to love in its native lands and cooked by its own people and not always by your local Chinese on a Friday night!
China is a beautiful and awe-inspiring place full of history and wonder beyond anything you’re likely to have seen before. It is the largest part of East Asia, and was declared a Communist republic in 1949 by Mao Zedong and has been this way ever since. China has many places of interest and stunning natural beauty such as the magnificent snowy peaks of Diqing, the rice fields of Yunnan and the quaint isolated mountain villages still around to this day of the Ming-Dynasty. Although, a visit to China wouldn’t be complete without a trek around the legendary “Great Wall”. The “Great Wall” of China was built all the way back in the fifth century BC and spans all the way from Shanhaiguan in the East provinces to the southern edges of Mongolia.
It was erected to protect the Chinese empire from various enemies and nomadic groups and helped them maintain their glorious status and become the aspiring superpower they are today. The “Great Wall” is a stunning piece of architectural magnificence and one of the wonders of the world, it should definitely be taken in by anyone visiting this magical place. To trek the whole of the wall takes around 10 days, according to the lonely planet guide but shorter tours and car hire are also available from most travel operators in China.
The Chinese cuisine is absolutely sublime, with a vast array of seafood and exotic Chinese spices and seasoning. Also with a multitude of amazing fresh fruit and vegetables, your usual Chinese just won’t cut it anymore! The main regional dishes that you must try whilst out there are Bejing Roast Duck, Dim Sum (spicy soup), Char Sui (BBQ roast pork), Zha jiang mian (noodles in a meaty sauce), Mapo Doufu (spicy-chlli beancurd) Wanton dumplings and Yuebing (light sponge). These dishes are of course available in the UK but until you have them in their native land, you will not truly appreciate and understand the complexity and richness of all the Chinese flavours.
So, the next time you think of spending your Friday night pigging out on the sofa with a few DVDs and your mates remember you could be saving that money towards a trip to one of the world’s most amazing places! Then again, contrary to what has just been written above, we all love to tuck in to a nice big fat Chinese takeaway now and again. And most outlets in the UK are now run by Chinese people now anyway, so we’re getting the best of both worlds! But this still shouldn’t deter you, as China is a beautiful place!