China is simply too much – too vast, too busy, too complex to fit neatly into the space of a few words.

It is the massive stone wall spread along the spine of China; the little girl in the pink dress sitting on her grandfather’s lap in a Beijing park; the river that has carried a nation on its broad back; the utter rush of Shanghai and Hong Kong; and delicate songs of a Chinese opera.

For more than five centuries, emperors ruled from the magnificent Forbidden City with its 9,999 rooms. In distant southeast China, ordinary people crafted some 2,415 statues, paintings and 50,000 Buddhist scriptures, textiles and historic documents in the grottoes of Magao Caves over the course of a thousand years. An emperor created a red clay army of more than 7,000 soldiers, horses and chariots.

The country’s majestic legacy had been forged in the ancient water towns of Jiangnan and along the legendary Silk Road.

Tibet is a wealth of ancient palaces, rich religious history, temples and monasteries.

From momentous civilizations to phenomenal human achievements, China’s influence has been felt across the globe. What scale, what style, what an adventure!