When I asked Lily which places she would recommend for a first introduction to China, she did not immediately send us to Shanghai or Hong Kong. Her route turned out very differently: Beijing first, then Chengdu, and only after that Yunnan.
If you are travelling to China for the first time, it is very easy to feel overwhelmed before you have even bought the tickets.
The country is enormous, the cities are completely different, and trying to choose between Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, Yunnan and Hong Kong quickly turns into endlessly opening new tabs.
I wanted to ask someone who grew up in China and has spent a long time living in different parts of the country.
And Lily suggested starting not with the most international city, or with the place that is easiest for a foreigner to imagine.
🇨🇳 The first place she named was Beijing.
🏮 Beijing first, to see historical China
Beijing holds a special place for Lily.
She lived there for around ten years, then left to study in Malaysia, lived in Shenzhen, and still decided to return to the capital.
One of the main reasons she loves Beijing so much is its historical heritage.
And if someone is coming to China for the first time and wants not only to see a modern megacity, but also to get at least some sense of the country’s historical foundation, Lily recommends starting here.
For her, that distinction matters.
You can see modern China in almost any large developed city, but if you want to encounter its history and culture from the very beginning, Beijing gives you a completely different context.
🏮 So the first city on her route is not random, and not simply chosen because it is the capital.
It is a starting point that makes it more interesting to compare China with itself afterwards.
to try to understand it through one city. But if you need a first point of reference, Lily recommends starting with Beijing and then seeing just how different the country can be. :::
🐼 Then Lily would send you to Chengdu
The next city she named was Chengdu.
And here, the mood of the trip already changes.
Lily mentioned giant pandas, architecture, and separately said that Chengdu is considered one of China’s more comfortable cities to live in.
But what interests me most about her route is not even the individual reasons to go there.
After Beijing, you get the chance to see another kind of urban life within the same country and avoid getting stuck with the idea that China should always look like its capital.
These transitions between cities seem much more interesting to me than the usual attempt to tick off the main sights.
Arrive in Beijing, feel its scale and history, and then travel to another part of the country and notice that the rhythm, atmosphere and everyday life already feel different.
🌿 And after the big cities, she would choose Yunnan
When Lily started talking about Yunnan, the way she spoke about the region immediately felt different.
She loves it deeply and describes it through a sense of calm, a more natural way of life and less urbanisation.
After many years in Beijing, that contrast is especially noticeable to her.
Yunnan is home to many ethnic minorities, and Lily says their ways of life can differ significantly from those of Han Chinese communities.
For her, that is one of the reasons the region is so interesting to see.
🌿 Not simply as a beautiful part of China, but as a chance to notice how many different cultures and ways of living exist within one country.
She even compares the feeling of life there with some European countries, meaning above all a greater sense of freedom, relaxation and a more natural rhythm.
After a big city, she says, sometimes it is impossible to find that kind of feeling.
🧧 If history interests you, Xi’an is worth considering too
When talking about places where you can feel more traditional Chinese culture, Lily also mentioned Xi’an.
Not as an obligatory stop for absolutely everyone, but as another city with a long history that makes sense if historical China is what interests you most.
This says a lot about the logic behind her recommendations.
She is not trying to build a route around the most famous names.
Instead, she suggests first understanding which side of China you actually want to see.
If history comes first, the choice will be one thing.
If modern urban life interests you more, the route can look completely different.
She recommends Shanghai too, but for a different reason
Lily describes Shanghai as a very open city with its own character and its own local way of life.
So this is no longer a continuation of the historical line of Beijing or Xi’an.
It is more a chance to see another version of modern China.
And that is exactly what I like about the idea behind her route.
Not searching for one city that supposedly represents the whole country, but gradually putting China together from very different pieces.
- Beijing shows one side.
- Yunnan shows something completely different.
- Shanghai adds another layer.
- And Chengdu and Chongqing can continue the route in their own way.
🐉 Lily would not choose Hong Kong first
This was probably one of the most interesting parts of our conversation.
Lily thinks very positively about Hong Kong, especially because her boyfriend has lived there for many years and she herself may move there in the future.
But for a first introduction specifically to Chinese culture, she does not see it as the most obvious choice.
According to her, because of the city’s history and long period of British influence, the lifestyle in Hong Kong is noticeably different.
Its culture is very diverse, and that is exactly why the impression you get there will also be different.
If you want to experience China through historic cities and the local culture of the mainland, Lily would be more likely to send you to Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu or Yunnan.
That does not mean Hong Kong is less interesting.
It simply answers a different question.
We simply expected a completely different country from one trip. Hong Kong can be an amazing journey, but Lily would not use it as your only introduction to China. :::
The route became less about sights and more about different feelings
The longer we talked, the less I wanted to turn her words into another list of “places you absolutely must visit”.
Lily is not saying you need to see everything.
Her recommendations are more about showing how different one trip can become depending on what a person is interested in.
🏮 Beijing is her choice for a first introduction to history and cultural heritage.
🐼 Chengdu adds a different urban character and a version of China that no longer feels like the capital.
🌿 Yunnan is for when you want to step outside the constant rhythm of megacities and see the lives of ethnic minorities.
🧧 Xi’an can be added if you are especially interested in the historical side of the country, while Shanghai offers a more modern and open urban China.
🐉 Hong Kong, meanwhile, can remain a separate journey.
To me, that feels much more honest than trying to find one city after which you can say, “Now I know China.”
My own route changed after talking to Lily too
Before meeting her, I already had places I wanted to see.
Beijing was definitely one of them, and so was Yunnan.
But after our conversation, for the first time there was some kind of logic connecting those individual points.
Not just fly in, see the famous places and leave.
First, see a large historic city.
Then compare it with a different kind of urban life.
And after that, try to go somewhere where China itself already feels completely different.
And that is probably why I now especially want to follow this route myself one day.
Not so that afterwards I can say that I “understand China”.
Quite the opposite.
So I can finally see just how much bigger it is than the image I have of it now. 🇨🇳
