China Travel blog

China Travel blog

The Russian Orthodox Mission Church: It took quite some negotiating...

It's served as a warehouse, hosted a stock exchange and housed a nightclub known as The Dome, but Shanghai's Russian Orthodox Mission Cathedral hasn't seen a religious service since 1962. That is until Wednesday, when visiting Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, presided over the Divine Liturgy here.

The mass, held on 15 May, was the cathedral's first religious service in 51 years, but this reportedly didn't come easily. Lengthy negotiations involving the Russian government in the lead up to the Patriarch's visit were required to secure permission to hold this 2.5 hour ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of visitors and worshipers, including women in traditional headscarves.

The blue-domed Russian Orthodox Mission Cathedral, located at 55 Xinle Road (Xīnlè Lù, 新乐路) in Shanghai's French Concession, was modeled on the style of the Kremlin. Built to accommodate 2,500 people, it was completed in 1937 when a sizable community of Russians resided in Shanghai—at one time up to 25,000. While much of the cathedral's stained glass was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, the building underwent a restoration in 1988 and an art gallery/museum can sometimes be visited within. For some of today's resident Russians, it provides a link back to their tradition and culture. (More after the jump....)

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Hong Kong is Asia's shopping paradise, a seaside port whose history revolves around international trade, and the economic gateway to Mainland. Naturally, this makes Hong Kong the economic gateway to the rest of the world for Mainlanders. Many foreigners come to China expecting it to house their favorite products at half the price (considering the majority are made here), but sadly, my naïve friend, that's not the way it works.

Every place in the world has their own specialties that are cheaper, like massages in China, tech support in India, or cover bands in the Philippines. Then there are countries that subsidize to attain cheap prices, like Venezuela's USD 0.06 per gallon of gas. This does not mean that Filipino pineapples will remain cheap once they get to your suburban supermarket, nor will anything exported to Alaska for that matter.

So here is a list of products that are cheaper to buy in HK, or sometimes completely unavailable in the Mainland, for you to consider the next time you are making a visa run, or you're just in the area and want to make the most of your trip....

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china visa

Let me get one of those, man.

Much change has been afoot recently with China visas: tourists can now stay in Beijing or Shanghai for 72 hours visa-free and a drastic rewrite of China's immigration policy is due to takes effect in July.

It also seems that two new visas may be introduced, both aimed at foreign professionals sought for high-level employment in Chinese companies....

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Sunset in Nuodeng

Anthony Paglino is the man behind iCurious Travel, a cultural guide that brings together insightful stories and experiences highlighting China's rich language and cultural landscape. He's a firm believer in the transformative power of traveling with a thirst for knowledge and curiosity as your guide. Join him as he journeys through a small village in Yunnan where a chance meeting leads to some unexpected results. He's recently published a digital cultural guide to China for the iPad. It is available for download on iTunes.

Out in the corner of Yunnan province sits a small village that time forgot. Maybe it is better that way. Fortunately, the village of 诺邓 (Nuòdèng) still resembles what life was like before broad avenues and traffic, before the creep of urbanization, before the work force migration and before the mass commercialization of life in China. In this village, traditional values of farming and family are not separated behind a glass wall in a museum, but living and breathing in people's everyday lives. Read on for more....

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"Looks legit to me."

Much like currency in the United States, Chinese renminbi (RMB) have undergone a few changes in the past two decades to help sort the fakes from the Real McCoy. In nearly six years living here, I've only encountered a fake bill once*. But they do show up.

Shanghai Daily reported earlier this month that a new batch of high-quality fake RMB 100 bills had been found by police in suburban areas of Jiangsu, having been used in shops and taxis or carefully swapped for legitimate bills in transactions.

Much of the time, with a little know-how, it's not so difficult to spot fake Chinese money. The problem with this batch is that the bills pass many of the usual tests.

So how do you spot these fakes?

According to a Weibo put out by the Ministry of Public Security, the bills start with the serial number PL07857. There are also a few other things you can check:

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Scarlet-robed monk—Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet (Photo © Peta Heinrich)

Tibet is once again open to foreign tourists! CTnet's Peta recounts her own adventure there years ago.>>>

It was mid-winter, 2006, and the stage was set for an epic three-day overland journey from Jinan to Tibet. Eager to visit this mysterious land, my two companions and I chose the Qinghai route—a train trip to Lanzhou in China’s Gansu Province, and another on to Golmud in Qinghai. But from there onward, the journey was something of a gamble.

At this time, prior to the completion of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Golmud was a well-known transit hub for travelers making their way overland into Tibet. Apart from its strategic location, there’s little else to draw tourists to this isolated and somewhat desolate outpost.

We wandered the town square with no real plan in mind, and initially my dark-haired companions were concerned my blonde hair would attract unwanted attention and advised me to cover it with a beanie. However, this plan worked only too well and we were seemingly ignored until I removed it. Soon afterwards a mysterious gentleman whispering “Lhasa, Lhasa” cautiously approached....

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Time to hit the road... er, tracks.

China’s a big country. Did you know that? Well, kudos. Given its scale and scope, even if you’ve lived here for 5+ years, there’s no way you would be able to see every worthwhile sight and city in the country, unless Yang Rui’s conspiracy theory was accurate, and you really are just a foreign spy. For example, a flight to Xinjiang is still 5+ hours, and deserves more than two days to appreciate it all. If you’re too busy Monday to Friday enlightening the masses or trading prescription drugs to Africa, then all you will take back from your short trip to Urumqi is, “Wow, they sure like lamb!”

For those of you in Shanghai that are stuck in your metropolitan bubble, train travel is the answer to see the many worthwhile sights nearby and expand your China experience. Train travel is an experience in of itself, but is often intimidating for many expats who can’t speak Mandarin because they are afraid their bumbling at the train station will result in a long line of impatient people yelling at them and a ticket to the wrong place.

Our parent company, Ctrip, now has a new feature worth schilling to the masses, a comprehensive booking system with train schedules, all in English, and the tickets are the same price they would be at the station. (It’s illegal to make money off of train sales in China, so no mark-up.)

Without further ado, check out these great weekend trips by train from Shanghai....

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Tibet travel_Lhasa

Tibet travel

Earlier this month the Tibet Tourism Bureau loosened the travel restrictions that have been in place since June last year. This means that as of April 1st, you can once again book tours to Tibet. The change marks a return to the (relatively) easy travel processes of 2011 that you may be familiar with. You still need to apply for a Tibet Travel Permit (TTB permit) in addition to your China visa and you will still need to book through a travel agency. However, "Travelers should make sure to allow enough time, at least 10 days, to apply for their travel permit. Though applications are now being accepted, it's still Tibet so there are no guarantees," said Catherine Xu, Ctrip's Ctrip's Tibet tour specialist. This echoes the fact that with regard to Tibet, nothing is ever truly set in stone.

So what do the changes mean? Solo travel (via travel agency) is now allowed and you can also now travel with someone who has a different passport than you, making it a lot easier to travel as a group with your international friends, or maybe even that cute French girl you met in a hostel. To reach full zen Tibet travel permit enlightenment, refer to our comprehensive Tibet travel how-to guide.

Of course, there's never any give without a little take and to balance out the easing of Tibet travel restrictions, China's Ministry of Culture recently denied Kraftwerk entry into China to headline the three-day Strawberry Music Festival in late April, allegedly because of a 1999 Free Tibet concert that they never ended up attending because it was canceled by a thunderstorm.

I hope you're happy, Tibet travelers; you've denied the Chinese people of inoffensive German electronica. Then again, somehow Sex Pistols co-founder, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) did manage to secure a visa to perform with his new band Public Image Ltd. so there's likely little logic behind it all.

Make sure to take advantage of the regulation changes and see Tibet now, while the gates are open; you never know when they might close again.

Tibet travel guide | Tibet destinations | Tibet flights | Tibet hotels (Lhasa) | Tibet tours & activities
Tibet on the China Travel Blog

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