China Travel Guide

As modern archeology gradually confirms ancient records of the country's earliest times, it seems that, however far back you go, China's history is essentially the saga of its dynasties, a succession of warring rulers who ultimately differed only in the degree of their autocracy. Although this generalized view is inevitable in the brief account below, bear in mind that, while the concept of being Chinese has been around for over two thousand years, the closer you look, the less "China" seems to exist as an entity - right from the start, regionalism played an important part in the country's history. And while concentrating on the great events, it's also easy to forget that the lot of those ruled was often appalling. The emperors may have lived in splendour while their courts produced talented writers, poets and artisans, but among the peasantry taxes, famine and early death were the norm. The Cultural Revolution, ingrained corruption, and clampdowns on political dissidence in Beijing and Tibet may not be a good track record for the People's Republic, it's also true that only since its birth in 1949 - yesterday in China's immense timescale - has even the possibility of a decent quality of life been imaginable for the ordinary citizen