China

This attractive little volume is the perfect stocking stuffer for any Sinophile: its 238 breathtaking color photographs take us on a visual journey through the greatest splendors of China's varied geography and the chief monuments of its 5,000-year-old civilization. These remarkable images show us the country's most famous landmarks--like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the terra-cotta army of the First Qin Emperor--as we have never seen them before, and provide us with a spectacular introduction to less familiar but just as fascinating attractions, like the great tulous, or earthen houses, of Fujian Province; the terraced fields of Yuanyang County; and the multicolored travertine lakes of Huanglong Valley. Extended captions at the back of the book provide a concise introduction to the history and significance of each of the forty-four locales depicted, twenty-eight of which have been designated as World Heritage sites.