Making a china bucket list

Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan province is among the 10 Chinese destinations popular with tourists from outside the mainland.[Photo by Wang Jiang/China Daily]

Tourists from different countries rank the country's myriad attractions differently, Yang Feiyue finds.

Ardi Pulaj from Albania has visited roughly 30 places across China.

"China offers so many options for traveling, and each of them is unique in what it has to offer," says Pulaj, a freelance journalist now living in Beijing.

"There are so many places that I consider as my favorites in the country, such as Sanya (in Hainan province), Dalian (in Liaoning province), and Shanghai."

He loved the weather and beaches in Sanya, which allowed him to get away from the fast pace of big-city life.

Dalian made his list because he considers the city very nice and clean and a great getaway from the hot weather in cities such as Beijing, while Shanghai is also his cup of tea: "a convenient city with true metropolis structure".

A list of 10 Chinese tourism destinations popular with tourists from outside the mainland was unveiled by the Shanghai-based tourism-consulting service Gold Palm during an industry meeting in Kunming, Yunnan province, earlier this month.

While US tourists frequent Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou, Japanese visitors choose to visit Shanghai and Beijing first, the South Koreans love Zhangjiajie, and Thai tourists have eyes for Fenghuang, according to Gold Palm.

Different tastes among tourists from outside the mainland shape the list.

Those from the US favor places offering leisure, while spots featuring challenging and even grotesque landscapes appeal to tourists from South Korea, says Gold Palm executive director Liu Dan. South Korean tourists choose Zhangjiajie, Huangshan, Fenghuang and Hangzhou because of the magnificent scenery.

"Leisurely lifestyle and distinctive cuisine - and pandas - have made Sichuan very attractive to the American tourists," Liu says.