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User Additions
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City Description (Indonesia, Mataram,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
Rating: +0
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Mataram is the capital of Lombok. The town actually consists of four different towns Ampenan, Mataram, Cakranegara (Cakra) and Sweta. Ampenan has most of city sights, including Negeri Nusa Tenggara Barat museum, which gives a good overview of the culture of Lombok. As a center of government administration, Mataram has many large, impressive public buildings and substantial houses. The main square is used for art exhibitions, theater, dance, and wayang kulit (puppet theater) performances. In other parts of Mataram, there are a variety of old-style markets and neighborhoods featuring traditional craftwork like basketware and gold- and silver-threaded sarongs, or wraparound garments. Mataram is in fact an agglomeration of a number of villages that have been growing together. The main ones are Ampenan, the port on the west coast and the site of the airport. Mataram itself, in the center and Cakranegara is the commercial hub to the east.
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City Description (China, Tianjin,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
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Tianjin lies in the north of China, 137km/85 miles south-east of Beijing. It can be reached from Beijing by rail, bus or air. as Tianjin is an important rail, road, air and shipping hub - it lies at the confluence of five tributaries of the Haihe river - it is also to get to from other large Chinese cities. There are also daily schedules flights to Hong Kong. The first settlements in the region date back to the times of the Warring Kingdoms (475-221 B.C.). Tianjin was well known as a trading settlement in the 12th c., when it was a centre for the sale and distribution of corn and other foodstuffs from the south. In 1404 the town - then known as Tianjinwei - was given a town-wall and made into a military garrison. It became increasingly important as a commercial centre during the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911). In 1858 the Chinese government was obliged to sign the "Treaty of Tianjin" which provided trading concessions to foreigners, something which the population found abhorrent and which led to serious conflicts. Two years later foreign powers occupied Tianjin and declared its port open to all trading ships. In the years that followed Great Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Belgium were all granted trading franchises here, and they gave the town a certain European character which it still retains to some degree. Tianjin, the third largest city in China, is one of northern China's leading industrial cities. Although heavy industry predominates, light industry, chemicals, textiles and the famous carpet factories all make an important contribution to the economy. The city co-operates to a major degree with countries overseas. Xingang, one of China's largest ports, is only 48km/30 miles from the centre of Tianjin.
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City Description (China, Qingdao,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
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Qingdao lies in the southeast of Shandong province. It is one of the largest industrial centers, and port cities in China. It has an area of 10,654 square km, and a population of 6.73 million. The city is open to tourism and trade. Qingdao is bounded on the southeast by the Yellow Sea. About half of the area are mountains and hills, the rest is fertile plains. It has a temperate maritime climate with an annual average temperature of 12ўJ, and about 209 frost-free days. Annual rainfall averages 222 millimeters. The main mineral deposits of Qingdao are graphite, gold, granite, turquoise, and crystal. It is also rich in sea resources, including fish, and salt. The chief farm products are wheat, peanuts, and fruit. Qingdao is one of the most important textile industry centers in China, and also a large industrial producer, concentrating on diesel locomotives, chemical products, rubber, electric appliances, machinery, and handcraft. The Qingdao Economic and Technical Development Zone has already been established. Qingdao has some first-class harbors with international transportation links. Ocean-going ships of up to 10,000 tons can load and unload at these harbors. The Huangdao wharf is a large oil wharf that can be used by oil tankers of 200,000 tons. The rail, road and air transportation facilities are also perfect. Qingdao is a seaside city with beautiful beaches and mountains. Laoshan, a mountain area covering some 400 square km, is a well-known scenic area. The hot spring in Jimoui, the Mausoleum of 500 Martyrs in Tianheng, the Nanlan Relic in Laixi, and the Gucheng Relic are the region's premier tourist attractions. The special local-made products include beer, wine, embroidery, and shell pictures.
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City Description (China, Shenyang,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
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Liaoning Province, 868km (538 miles) NE of Beijing, 544km (337 miles) SW of Harbin, Shenyang is the largest city in Dongbei and the region's unlovely gateway. A sprawling chaos of dirt and noise where historical buildings stand bathed in the neon of new consumerism, it is the epitome of China's propensity for criminally negligent urban planning. It was the birthplace of the Qing dynasty in the 15th century and is now the capital of Liaoning, Dongbei's southernmost and wealthiest province. Many travelers spend only enough time here to switch trains, but it is worthwhile to linger. The city may be ugly but it is also home to several of Dongbei's most fascinating historical attractions. Shenyang has existed under various names since the Tang dynasty (618-907) and has been the region's most strategically important city since 1625, when Jürchen founders of the Qing dynasty (1626-1912) made it their capital (Shenjing). The Qing's leaders stayed in the city for 19 years, perfecting a system of government modeled on the Chinese and plotting an attack on the weakened Ming from inside their palace, which still stands in the city center. With the decline of the Qing at the start of the 20th century, the city (renamed Fengtian) fell under the influence of legendary warlord Zhang Zuolin. Zhang ruled Manchuria from his downtown residence courtyard complex just south of the Qing palace, until his assassination by Japanese soldiers in 1928. The city drifted without obvious leadership until the fall of 1931, when Japan's Kwantung Army (in Japanese: Kantogun; in Mandarin: Guandong Jun) used the "discovery" of a small hole blasted in their railway line north of the city (known to them as Mukden) as a pretense to invade. The attack, referred to in China as the September 18th (or Mukden) Incident and immortalized in a museum in the north part of the city, eventually led to the establishment of Manchukuo (Mandarin: Manzhou Guo), the puppet state Japan used to mask its territorial ambitions during World War II. The mayor who transformed Dalian into the shimmering pride of northern China, now the governor of Liaoning Province, has vowed to work his magic on the capital. Shenyang has never been pretty, but perhaps it doesn't need to be. "[Mukden] is ancient and dusty, with nothing especially attractive," one visiting Catholic missionary wrote in 1919. "I found it very interesting." The same holds true today.
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City Description (China, Changsha,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
Rating: +0
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Changsha (literally Long Sand), surrounded by fertile lands and bisected by the slow flowing waters the the Xiang River, is Hunan province's capital. Populated by some six million souls, Changsha is a lively town well known for its food culture, military tradition and being one of Mao Zedong's haunts prior to launching his political career. The city is likely to attract two kinds of people, those interested in tracing the origins and journeys of Chairman Mao, and those interested in joining in the "renao" (literally hot and noise—two things the Chinese associate with having a good time) that sweeps over the city during the night time hours. Hunan cuisine is infamous for being some of the spiciest in the land and is perhaps second only to Sichuan on China's spice-o-meter. Something to bear in mind if you're sampling street-side barbecue or noodles. Changsha has an exceptionally long and no less brutal history. By 200 BC, Changsha was a fairly densly populated, fortified city. Its value as a strategic location has long been recognised by the powers that be. It was instrumental in Qin Shihuang's unification of China. At one point in the distant past before Emperor Qin's intervention, Changsha was a country unto itself. Resident of nearby Shaoshan, Mao Zedong, spent several years in town attending school and later became principal of the very school he had attended—a position he would hold for 2 years while launching his political career. Between 1939 and 1942 Chinese Nationalists repelled 3 separate invasions by the Japanese, before finally being overcome in 1944. On this final successful attempt, it would take in excess of 350,000 Japanese troops with air support to conquer the city.
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City Description (China, Luoyang,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
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Luoyang City was built in the Western Zhou Dynasty (11thcentury - 771BC) under the command of the Duke of Zhou, hence its name City of Zhou. The city was known as Luoyang during the Warring States Period (475-221BC) for its location at the north bank of the Luo River. Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), set the capital here in 25. Luoyang had since then become the capital of the Kingdom of Cao Wei, Western Jin and Northern Wei successively for over 430 years. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei State lasted much longer than other dynasties, the city was historically known as Han Wei Luoyang City. It was destroyed and abandoned at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). The Archaeology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Science conducted a comprehensive research and excavation at the site in 1962. The ancient city was in a shape of irregular rectangle, with the remains of the eastern wall about 3,895 meters long and 14 meters wide, the western wall 4290 meters long and 20 meters wide, the northern wall 3,700 meters long and 25 to 30 meters wide, and the southern wall destroyed and submerged by the Luo River. The city has a perimeter of 14 kilometers, and its wall was 1-2 meters high with the highest point at 7 meters in the northern part. The city wall had 12 gates that connected to the streets inside the city. A total of 24 streets, 20-40 meters wide, were built in the city. According to historical record, each street was divided into three ways, of which the central one was for high officials and the side ways for ordinary citizens. The city was separated into the palace, yamuns, and gardens. Main palace buildings included the southern palace and the northern palace. Record has it that the Deyang Palace, the northern palace built in the Eastern Han Dynasty, had a capacity of over 10,000 and a flight of steps of 2zhang(1zhang=3.3 meters). With jade steps and golden columns, it was like the palace on the Moon with pearl shade hanging over its jade gate. Outside the south gate were the famous Three Yong constructions built according to social etiquette, namely Mingtang, Biyong and Lingtai. This special style of ancient capital construction in China continued to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The Mingtang took a square shape, with each side of 240 meters long. Built in the center was a round foundation stone, which had a diameter of 62 meters. As the foundation for the main building, it was designed according to the traditional rule of square sky and round earth and acted as the place for the Son of Heaven to offer sacrifice to gods or ancestors. Important activities presented by the Son of Heaven were held here, including the announcement of political policies, meeting with high officials, sacrificial ceremony, celebrating and awarding ceremony, and official appointment. Biyong building was for the Son of Heaven to proclaim moral standards. With water circling around the building like walls, Biyong gained the name for its structural style. The building has a shape of a square, with each side measuring 170 meters long. It is surrounded by walls, outside which are water ditches with bridges across them. A number of stone tablets were unearthed during excavations since the late Qing Dynasty, among which the Biyong tablets of the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316) were the most precious ones. The Lingtai building site was about 80 meters east to the Mingtang. Lingtai, namely the observatory station, had a square shape with each side of about 200 meters. Surrounded by walls on four sides, the building had a high platform in the center, the remnant of which is 8 meters high. Built around the tampered-earth platform was a two-storey platform, with the lower storey constructed into a winding corridor and the upper storey having five buildings on each side. Astronomical observations were conducted up on the high platform while surrounding buildings were used for officials to keep records and carry out astronomical researches. Outstanding scientist Zhang Heng (78-139) of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was twice appointed as Taishiling (one of the most senior official titles) for over 10 years, led the compilation of several important astronomical books including the Lingxian and invented the armillary sphere, a astronomical observation tool driven by waterpower, and the seismograph.
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City Description (China, Xian,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
Rating: +1
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Xi'an is situated in central China, between the Weihe river in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south. The city lies on a major rail route which runs from Lianyungang on the Yellow Sea via Urumqi in the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang and on to Kazakhstan. There are direct rail links with Beijing and Shanghai, and flights to most large Chinese cities as well as to Hong Kong. Xi'an is one of the north-west China's chief textile centres, where cotton grown in the artificially irrigated paddy-fields in the neighbouring countryside is treated and processed. Other major branches of industry are chemicals and engineering. It probably possesses more items of archaeological interest than any other town or city in China, the most important, of course, being the world-famous Terra-cotta Warriors, which attracted 1,7000,000 domestic and foreign visitors in 1992. The Tang dynasty built its capital Chang'an 7km/4.5 miles north-west of where Xi'an lies today. Its defensive walls, 22km/14 miles in length, formed an irregular quadrilateral with twelve gates, each with three entrances. The main gate was reserved for the use of the emperor. The north side of the wall is shaped rather like the Ursa Major constellation, and the south side like Ursa Minor. The town was served by eight main streets and 160 side streets together with large numbers of palaces (none of which survive) and an excellent drainage and sewage system using pentragonal clay pipes. On the excavation site, in addition to the remains of the town walls to the south-west, the visitor can still see a large mound of earth which is all that is left of the Han imperial residence, the Palace of Weiyang, around which countless legends have been woven. At one time the palace comprised more than 40 separate buildings, the main one being 183m/600ft long, 164ft wide and 12m/39ft high. During the Tang era (618-907) what is now Xi'an formed a part of Chang'an, which at that time was 37km/23 miles in circumference and had a population of a million or so. The town was divided into two parts. The inner embraced the northern district with the imperial palace and the southern with the seats of government and administration, while the outer part, lying to the east, west and south of the inner districts, was where the ordinary people lived. Its 25 main streets were lined with numerous markets, shops and workshops. Archaeological research indicates that the western section of the town wall was 2656m/2920yd long, the northern 1135m/1248yd and the eastern (divided into three sections) 2610m/2870yd.
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City Description (China, Lanzhou,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
Rating: +0
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Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, is a major stop on the ancient "Silk Road" west of Xi'an. Situated on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Lanzhou has been important for thousands of years because of the Hexi Corridor, or “Corridor West of the Yellow River,” in which early Chinese civilization began. About 3,000 years ago, in the Zhou Dynasty, agriculture began to take shape in the basins of the Jin and Wei Rivers that formed the corridor, marking the beginning of the great Yellow River basin civilization. Starting in the Qin Dynasty, merchants and traders traveling from Xi'an to central Asia and then on to the Roman Empire, or the other way round, broke their long journey at Lanzhou. To protect this corridor and important communications hub, the Great Wall was extended under the Han as far as Yumen, in the far northwest of present-day Gansu Province. Lanzhou became capital of a succession of tribal states during the turbulent ventures that followed the decline of the Han Dynasty. During this time of turmoil, people began to turn to ideologies that satisfied their need for hope. Taoism developed into a religion, and Buddhism became the official religion in some of the northern states. Buddhist art also flourished, and shrines were built in temples, caves, and on cliffs. From the fifth to the 11th centuries, Dunhuang, beyond the Yumen Pass of the Great Wall, became a center for Buddhist study, drawing scholars and pilgrims from afar. It was a period in which magnificent works of art were created.
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City Description (China, Hangzhou,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
Rating: +0
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"There is a paradise in heaven, On earth there is Hangzhou” is the words in our song about this fantastic metropolis. Hangzhou, one of the seven ancient capitals of China and the capital of the Zhejiang Province. The city is a wonderful mix of old and new with West Lake as the heart of the city. This historical place is famous all over China for its beauty and culture and is one of the most visited tourist cities in the world. Have you not been to Hangzhou you have not seen the real China. Hangzhou is an elegant and harmonious city with a leisure perspective that no other city in China. Here you find culinary treasures from the Zhejiang province but also cuisine from the other seven Chinese kitchens as well as international gourmet restaurants. Are you looking for a night out there are numerous choices. Already in ancient times Hangzhou was called a “Heaven for shopping” and the Hangzhou silk is world wide renowned and production started 5000 years ago. This is also the birthplace of the famous Dragon Tea with a history over 1200 years. Here you find shopping streets that are still genuine but also shopping centres that fulfil every need. From a business point of view has Hangzhou a very fast-growing economy and is the city in the Pearl Delta with the most booming economy. For many years has Hangzhou been ranked as number second among the provincial capitals of China when it comes to economical development. Welcome to Hangzhou, the “Paradise on earth”.
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City Description (China, Fushun,
City Descriptions),
Added: 34 days ago
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Endowed with green mountains and clear waters, Fushun is also one of the modern cities with a population of over one million. It is an important industrial city in Northeast China with convenient transportation. Generally known as Coal City, Fushun is now also reputed as the City of Rocks. Fushun City is cuddled by hills in the south, north and east. It is a part of Longgang Mount Range of Changbai Mountain Family and has an altitude of four hundred to five hundred meters. The northern part of Fushun is characterized by low and flat highlands while its western part features the plain of accumulations by Hunhe River. The plain is one hundred to three hundred meters high above the sea level. There are Hunhe River, Taizi River, Suzi River and Fu’erjiang River, etc. Fushun City is the cradle of Qing dynasty. Hetuala City, the original location of the establishment of Qing Empire, is retained completely. Youngling Mausoleum, the mausoleum of the ancestor of Qing Empire, was designated as a world cultural relic on July 1st, 2004. Besides, there is an ancient battle field, called Sa’erhu, where General Nu’erhachi defeated the Fourth Route Army of Ming dynasty. Modern memorials in Fushun include Leifeng Memorial and Pingdingshan Martyrdom Compatriots Memorial, etc.
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New In Base
The other side of democ... (United States, Rapid City,
Photograph)
By: SuperPapa
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 6 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 5 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 4 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 3 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 2 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea View 1 (French Polynesia, Paea,
Photograph)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
Paea a commune in the sub (French Polynesia, Paea,
Description)
By: Jack
Added: 34 days ago
St. Basil's Cathed... (Russian Federation, Moscow,
Sight)
By: Alina
Added: 34 days ago
St. Basil's Cathed... (Russian Federation, Moscow,
Photograph)
By: Alina
Added: 34 days ago |
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