KEY POINTS:
Modern China: The new international city
For years, Shanghai with its Blade Runner-esque skyline and thrusting commercialism was the only destination if you wanted the rush of a modern metropolis on mainland China.
Not anymore. A decade of relentless and often destructive development, accelerated by Olympic preparations, has transformed Beijing into an international city.
Art galleries, bohemian bars, outlet stores and saunas line streets that in the 1990s were filled with factories. The pre-Olympic greening of Beijing has softened its concrete jungle tendency with trees and gardens, and you're never far from a city park.
The newly extended modern subway makes it easier and more pleasant to explore Beijing's six main districts, at the unbelievably cheap rate of RMB2 (about 40c) a trip, no matter how far you go.
Beijing's red-hot contemporary art scene, with its subversive chutzpah, exemplifies the capital's reinvention. The obvious starting point for visitors is 798 Art Zone, aka Dashanzi Art District. Housed in a 50-year-old gutted military factory complex, the zone contains 100-plus galleries and studios. Touchstone galleries include the White Space Gallery, Beijing Commune, 798 Photo Gallery and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (check out Wang Qingsong's Follow Me, a photo of a teacher in front of a blackboard scrawled with playful digs at the politics around the Beijing Olympics, such as "marathon" spelt with a McDonald's golden arches 'M').
A looser, less commercialised artist community has sprung up around the edges.
Cultured out and want to burn some yuan? Join Beijing's middle classes at one of its malls. Oriental Plaza on main shopping strip Wangfujing Dajie has mid-range international and Chinese chains.
If Gucci or Chanel and imperious shop assistants are more your thing, try Shin Kong Plaza or the China World Shopping Mall, which also has an ice-skating rink. The Village at Sanlitun has mainland China's first Apple store, a sure sign of elite retailer confidence.
For something more distinctly Chinese, you'll have to brave a market. The Silk Market, which sells clothing, shoes, accessories and knick-knacks, is pitched at tourists but worth the (mostly) friendly haranguing by shop assistants.
The rule of thumb is to counter-offer 10 per cent of the opening price and work your way up to no higher than a third. Harder said than done given the amenable Kiwi nature and the assistants' impressively slick spiel; so best to figure out what the product is worth to you and go no higher. (And don't assume the assistants are rewarded for their persistence: I asked one if she was paid commission; she wasn't, and her annual salary was RMB18,000 ($3600) plus accommodation with her boss.) Hongqiao (Pearl) Market is less touristy, but you still have to bargain hard.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the food. The diversity and quality had me gorging daily - and I'm a vegetarian. You can eat all the regional cuisines as well as international food (inner-city food stalls have been banned from selling dog meat during the Games so as not to offend Western sensibilities).
Two major nightlife hubs are the Houhai district, set around lit-up lakes, and Sanlitun. Try popular Vietnamese restaurant Nuage in Houhai - the unexcitingly named curry vegetables is divine.
The newest place to be seen at is Hidden City 1949 bar and restaurant, managed by ex-pat Malcolm McLaughlin. You'll need to book early to eat at Duck de Chine; the tapas bar is more casual. Monk-chefs at Pure Lotus Vegetarian offer the slightly disconcerting experience of tasty meat-substitute dishes.
After dinner, the nightlife is as sophisticated, raw or generic as you want. Bed Bar attracts the bohemian set with artworks displayed in its various rooms; swanky Face bar serves cocktails to moneyed locals and expat businesspeople, and its Phillipe Starck interior makes Le Lan a talking point.
Architecture is big in modern Beijing. Even if you can't afford to stay there, the Commune By The Great Wall merits a visit. It's a collection of restaurants and luxury villas designed by 12 Asian architects with private access to a portion of the Great Wall. Mid-range hotel options are still limited, but traditional courtyard hotels such as Bamboo Garden offer a beautiful, uniquely Chinese place to rest your head.
Many are in the remaining hutong (traditional alleyway neighbourhoods), which give you a glimpse of the old Beijing now largely sacrificed to urbanisation.
Ancient China: The oasis of Dunhuang
Chinese are fond of reminding visitors that the country has a 5000-year history. The Western desert district of Dunhuang gives you a sense of this, and of China's geographical vastness.
A three-hour flight west of Beijing, the low-rise oasis city of Dunhuang of 100,000 is surrounded by the high mountains and gravelly featureless desert of the Gobi (one of the few terrains where Hummers make sense) and the sand dunes of the Kumtag desert. The city - rebuilt in the 1970s after flooding - has a friendly, relaxed vibe and a great night market full of local produce and tourist tat.
An important junction of the Silk Road, the trade route connecting east and west Asia, passed close to Dunhuang, and many of the sights relate to this history.
A camel ride sparks the imagination. Once you get used to the rolling motion it's not too uncomfortable, and the motion combined with the monotonous Mordor-like landscape has a meditative effect (our group ended up singing folk songs - no one can hear you in the Gobi).
Don't expect public amenities. Our guide quipped: "The Gobi Desert needs your contribution".
You can also see one of the oldest surviving remnants of China's Great Wall (really a series of fortification walls built and rebuilt over centuries). The crumbling sand and dried grass structure near Dunhuang was built in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220BC), and is diminishing by the day. It's had none of the expensive restoration lavished on its famous cousin near Beijing; tourists are free to scramble over it; and rain erosion is inexorable.
Our guide estimates it could be "run away" within 15 years.
Nearby are five reedy pyres used for smoke signalling - the wall was used more for rapid communication than for repelling invaders and looters. There used to be eight, but 10 years ago - during a particularly cold winter - a local shepherd used the other three for fires.
Two other sites also worth the bus ride are the Magao Caves and the Yadan Ghost City. Located 25km southeast of Dunhuang, the network of Buddhist cave shrines built into a rocky cliff contain centuries-old Buddhist art. See the towering buddhas carved into the rock and murals depicting myths and everyday life 1500 years ago. The "library cave" once contained a scholars' treasure trove of manuscripts.
Most were relocated to Western museums and thus survived the Cultural Revolution.
The Ghost City is a 25km-long, 1-2km-wide ``city' of wind and rain-sculpted structures, some resembling buildings and animals.
The museum's concluding comments grandly promise "the images of persons and events at all times and in all lands and views and things in the boundless universe can all be found in it".
Perhaps not, but it's an eerie spectacle.
For some light relief, visit the dramatic Minsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Lake at its foot, and toboggan down the dunes.
Nicola Shepheard travelled to China courtesy of Air New Zealand.
IF YOU GO
Getting there: Air New Zealand flies direct to Beijing from Auckland twice a week. Visit www.airnz.co.nz
Where to stay: In Beijing, try the Sofitel Wanda Beijing. It is located in the CBD near the exhibition centre, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. For something quainter and quieter try Bamboo Garden Hotel, in the Xicheng District. For tips and ideas on making the most of your China trip, visit travel-the-real-china.com
