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The best halal cities in China for Indonesian Muslim travelers: Xi'an Muslim Quarter, Beijing Niujie, halal food signs, mosques, and a halal-friendly sample route.

A 6-day Chengdu and Zhangjiajie nature itinerary for Indonesian travelers: giant pandas in the morning, the Avatar mountains of Zhangjiajie, and easy logistics between the two.

Explore Gulangyu, Xiamen's car-free island of pianos and colonial villas: ferry booking, Sunset Rock, Shuzhuang Garden, beaches and local snacks.

Visit the UNESCO Fujian tulou — giant earthen fortresses of the Hakka people: the Tianluokeng cluster, Chengqi Lou, how they were built and how to get there.

Discover Quanzhou, the UNESCO Maritime Silk Road port: Kaiyuan Temple, Qingjing Mosque, Luoyang Bridge, fusion cuisine and a 2-day itinerary.

Walk the three lanes and seven alleys of Fuzhou: the best-preserved ancient neighborhood in south China, its scholar mansions, museums and night atmosphere.

A complete guide to Wuyi Mountain in Fujian: the Nine-Bend River bamboo raft, Da Hong Pao tea origin, red cliff peaks and how to plan your visit.

Shaanxi is the cradle of Chinese civilization, and it shows. The Terracotta Army alone would justify a trip, but Xi'an (the provincial capital) was the imperial capital of thirteen dynasties, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and the seat of Tang-dynasty power at its height. The mountains south and north of the city — including Mount Hua, one of China's Five Sacred Mountains — add dramatic scenery to a province that most travelers experience only as a stopover.

China is not a camping trip. It's one of the most modern travel destinations in the world — city metros, high-speed rail, convenience stores on every corner, and hotels that provide most basics. The packing mistakes travelers make in China are usually overpacking, and forgetting the few things that genuinely can't be bought easily.

In March 1974, farmers digging a well outside Xi'an found terracotta fragments underground. They had no idea they'd struck one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century: a 2,200-year-old army of more than 8,000 life-size clay soldiers, buried to guard China's first emperor in the afterlife.

Two hours east of Xi'an rises one of China's most dramatic mountains. Mount Hua (Hua Shan) is the westernmost of China's Five Sacred Mountains — and the one with a reputation that precedes it: the most dangerous hike in China. Its cliffs are so steep that for centuries pilgrims crossed them on wooden planks bolted into sheer rock, and today visitors still queue to walk that same "Plank Walk in the Sky."

In the 7th century, the monk Xuanzang returned to Xi'an after 17 years traveling to India — the real-life journey behind Journey to the West. To house the Buddhist scriptures he carried home, he built a brick pagoda at the Da Ci'en Temple in 652 AD. That tower, rebuilt and enlarged under Empress Wu Zetian, is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that still stands at the heart of Xi'an today.

Unlike most Chinese cities, where ancient walls survive only in fragments or museum exhibits, Xi'an still has its complete Ming-dynasty city wall — a 13.7-kilometer rectangle of rammed earth faced with brick, built in the 1370s and still standing guard around the old city center. It's the best-preserved city wall in China, and one of the few places in the country where you can ride a bicycle around an entire ancient city.

Xi'an was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road — and for over a thousand years, Muslim merchants and their descendants have lived at the center of the city. Their neighborhood, the Muslim Quarter, sits directly behind the Drum Tower in the old city. Today it's a labyrinth of narrow lanes lined with more than 300 halal food stalls and restaurants — one of the biggest and most authentic Muslim food districts in China.

For centuries, the heart of Xi'an beat to two buildings: the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, standing 500 meters apart at the exact center of the old city. In the Ming dynasty, the bell was struck at dawn and the drum at dusk — a city-wide signal for when to open gates, start markets and end the day. They were the clock of an imperial capital.

At the foot of Mount Li, 30 kilometers east of Xi'an, lies a palace that has hosted emperors for over 3,000 years. Huaqing Palace began as a Zhou-dynasty resort, expanded into a Tang-dynasty royal retreat, and is best known today for two things: the love story of Emperor Xuanzong and Concubine Yang Guifei, and the 1936 Xi'an Incident that changed modern China.