As travelers are making plans to visit the Summer Olympics in Beijing and tour China, this fascinating volume portrays China’s must-see places as well as regions visitors rarely discover. In his travels, Basil Pao photographed cities, villages, landscapes, people, and places to give a comprehensive view of China today.

This spectacular photo-journey highlights China’s dramatic landscape, including such incredible structures as the Great Wall, natural treasures like the Khunjarab Pass, and even the world’s largest Buddha sculpture, carved into a mountain at the confluence of three rivers. Among his striking images of Chinas people are children contorting and balancing themselves into an acrobatic pyramid; a uniformed guard patrolling terracotta warriors unearthed from Emperor Qin’s massive grave; and a panda-keeper embracing a cub at a breeding center that allows visitors to observe pandas close-up.

The text, based on Pao’s firsthand observations, is both personal and informative, an invaluable travel guide revealing China in the twenty-first century.

Basil Pao began his photographic career in 1980, upon returning to his native Hong Kong after ten years working for American recording companies. His work includes collaborations with Michael Palin such as Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, and Himalaya. He has created travel photo collections of Aman and Bhutan, and he also took photographs for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor and Little Buddha.