About Mogao Grottoes history:The grotto was first chiseled in 366 AD. According to legend, this area was marshland over 1000 years ago. A monk called Yue Zun dreamed of 1000 golden Buddhas when he was traveling home across this region and he decided to turned his dream into reality.

Over the next 1000 years, 16 dynasties rose and fell; artists of each period contributed. The construction work was completed during the Yuan dynasty and since ever, the grottos have stood there through natural erosion and war flames for hundreds of years. Today, 492 caves are still standing. Altogether there are 2,000 statues and over 45,000 separate murals.

In addition, murals of Buddha, Bodhisattva, kings of the paradise, mighty fighters, minor thousand-Buddha, and flying Buddhist angels, with the background of mountains and rivers, beatify the mystic grottos into an Buddhist world with wind blowing and clouds floating.

In fact, the Mogao Grottos value themselves more than art as most murals reflect the lives of those times. For example, there is a mural showing a scene of robbers robbing a foreign businessman. This picture has revealed the contact between China and the world.

Today the Potala Palace history has been converted into a museum by the Chinese.The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes.Thirteen stories of buildings – containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues – soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor.Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet."

The western part of the platform is White Palace. Going into the lobby of White Palace, you will see a small and steep wooden ladder. Please note, you must go up via the side ladders of either side, the middle ladder is to be used only by Dalai Lama and the minister of Ch'ing Dynasty in Tibet.

On the lobby wall, there's drawing of the scene of the story of the princess Wencheng entering Tibet. The south of lobby is the law book sealed by the Fifth Dalai Lama. This law book is very precious and it is a historical clue of studying the Tibetan history in 17th century.

The Forbidden City, also named Palace Museum, is the most magnificent and splendid palace complex in China and one of the five world-famous palaces with the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in England, the White House in the U.S. and the Kremlin in Russia.

The incomparable palace occupies an area of 720,000 square meters (177.9 acres) and has approximately 8,700 rooms. A high red wall with a total length of 3,400 meters (3,718 yards) encases the palace. There are four gates in each side, with Meridian Gate (Wu Men) as the main entrance. Four exquisite watchtowers sit at the corners of the wall. With roofs covered with golden glazed tile, red painted walls and grey-white bases, the rectangular palace appears extremely luxurious and grand. Spectacular halls in it are neatly arranged in bilateral symmetry along a central axis that conforms to the axis of Beijing City.The palace has two primary parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Court. Some halls are converted into art galleries to exhibit paintings, clocks, bronze wares, pottery and other invaluable treasures. It is said that there are over 1,000,000 articles in this museum that account for one-sixth of such national treasures. Tourists can enter into the palace from the Wu Men (Meridian Gate) or the Shenwu Men (Gate of Divine Might). It is impossible for visitors to see every corner of the palace in a single day. Let's start our virtual guide  from the Wu Men to make our route clear.

The Forbidden City Route: Wu Men - Golden Water Bridges - Outer Court - Inner Court - Imperial Garden - Shenwu Men

The Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang,about 6,385 km long (3915 mi) and flows from its source in Qinghai Province, eastwards into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It acts as a dividing line between North and South China, although geographers generally consider the Qinling-Huai River line to be the official line of geographical division. As the largest river in the region, the Yangtze is historically, culturally, and economically important to China. One of the dams on the river, the Three Gorges Dam, is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. The section of the river flowing through deep gorges in Yunnan province is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected. 

Waters of the Yangtze are often used for rice and wheat irrigation. It also has enormous and inexhaustible hydroelectric resources. In 1995 construction began on the Three Gorges Dam near Yichang and is scheduled for completion in 2009. The dam will measure about 600 feet and about 1.5 miles wide. The dam is expected to help control the flooding of the Yangtze River Valley. The Three Gorges (the Qutang Gorge, the Wuxia Gorge, and Xiling Gorge) will also be the largest electricity generating facility in the world. The hydroelectric generators will provide 1/9 of China's total power output.

The Terracotta Army has lain underground for more than 2000 years. However, in 1974, farmers digging a well uncovered one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world. The first part of the Terracotta Army site to be discovered was named Vault One. In 1976, two other vaults were uncovered 20-25 meters from Vault One, and were named Vault Two and Vault Three.

Pit No.1 is in oblong shape, covering an area of 14260 square meters. There are five sloping entrances on the eastern and western side of the pit respectively.

Down inside the tunnel, there are ten earth-rammed partition walls, across which huge and strong rafters were placed, covered with mats and fine soil and filling earth. The floors are paved with bricks.The terracotta warriors and horses in Pit No.1 are arrayed in a practical battle formation. In the long corridor to the east end of the pit stand three rows of terracotta warriors in battle tunics and puttees, facing east, 70 in each row, totaling 210 altogether. Armed with bows and arrows, they constitute the vanguard.There is one row of warriors in the south, north and west of the corridor respectively, facing outward. They are probably the flanks and the rear guard. Holding crossbows, arrows and other long-distance shooting weapons, they took up the job of defending the whole battle formation. The ten rammed partition walls divided Pit No.1 into eleven latitudinal passage ways where stand 38 columns of warriors with horse-drawn chariots in the center.

About Great Wall of China:The great wall averages 7.8 meters in height and is 6.5 meters wide at the base and 5.7 meters at the top. The width is enough for five horses to go side by side.On both sides of the road there are dwarf walls called "parapet wall". The 1.7-meter-high "crenel wall" is the outer wall. On its top, there are battlements for patrolling and watching. Below the battlements are peepholes, used for firing at the enemy. At intervals along the inner wall are arched entrances with stone stairways leading to the top of the wall.

Every other 300 to 500 meters, there are fortresses. There are two kinds of fortresses. One is two-storied fortress called fighting tower. The ground floor was used for living, storing weapons and the top floor was used for watching and shooting. Another kind is fighting terrace or enemy terrace, which was used for patrolling and fighting.

History of Great Wall:The Great Wall has a history of more than 2,000 years. As early as the Warring States Period, in order to self-protect, rival kingdoms built walls around their territories. This is the earliest Great Wall.When Qin Shihuang, the first emperor in Chinese history, unified the whole country in 221B.C, he ordered to build another new wall on the base of the original walls of the Countries Qin, Zhao, and Yan in effort to guard against the invasion of the northern nomadic tribes.