i don't care about the Wall, the terracotta soldiers, hong kong, or beijing. I want to know about some other places in China worth visiting. Not necessarily inaccessible off-the-beaten-path places, just nice places that aren't too touristy and/or have a very unique draw to them.

here is my short list (and why):
Rural Zhejiang (not a lot of people, i love mountains)
Qingdao (clean air, nice beach, good seafood, beer, architecture, nice people, standard mandarin)
Yangshuo County, Guizhou (beautiful mountains, rock climbing/kayaking, great hiking not a lot of people just outside of Yangshuo city)

What is your list?

there are many place on my list : the big plain in xinjiang, qinghai,sichuan,and the full eye flower.
the autumn in xinjiang,t¡bet;neimenggu province,too many need to write

Kashgar.

Might actually go see the Wall for the first time in a few weeks...

Here are some additional places on my short list!

Bicycle Around West Lake (day trip, they have bike rentals)
Hiking in hills surrounding West Lake (are there marked trails?)
Zhejiang-Anhui hike on Huihang Trail (not enough hiking yet
Hakka Village
Dingshan (on skirts of Tai Hu (Lake Tai), pottery & hiking)
Xishan http://www.xsnjlweb.com

.

Gulangyu Island. Wonderful old derelict architecture and the best part? No cars.

Kansas Lake at Xinjiang

Jiuzai Gou at Sichuan

Huangshan at Anhui

the top 3 favourite

How is Hainan or Gulangyu island unique place to travel to in China?
Those are among the top touristy spots in China.

Different food, air, noise levels, people, dialect, dress sense, weather... You're bound to find something unique there. Eg, Gulangyu has no cars on the island. I'd consider that unique. Hainan has its own special coconut drink products sold around the world AFAIK. That's unique.

You're a travel writer, yeah?

^ and, being "top touristy spots" has nothing to do with the price of eggs

I've recommended this before.....Stay at the Ramada in Taian.....Mt Taishan is worth the trip....Mt Tai is the first of the Five Sacred Mountains in China.....It's almost 1600 meters high and very majestic....The Ramada is also very nice.....don't stay in downtown Taian.....

BTW.. You may be the only Foreigner there....there will be Chinese Pilgrams and Tourist.....

^ definitely agree Taishan mountain is worth visiting. The chair lift is a spectacular ride there and the air is beautiful and clean. Camp overnight and watch the sunrise too. Magnificent place.

I recent came back from a Yunnan trip, so I'll recommend a few:

Dali. A lot of people skip this for Lijiang, but if I would recommend the opposite. Relaxed town with lots to do (biking, hiking, sightseeing, rock climbing). There'll be more tourists in Old Town in the late morning and early afternoon, but they come and go pretty quickly, and at the end of the day, you have a pretty quiet town. Cangshan Mountains to the west, Erhai Lake to the east, easily accessible by bicycle for 15rmb per day. But the hostel (Jade Emu) I stayed at really made my trip. The Bai locals are very nice, too.

Tiger Leaping Gorge. Awesome hike though stunning cliffs, waterfalls, local villages, and farmland. It's a well known hike, but my buddy and I hiked through it and hardly met anyone along the trail (with the exception of a busload of Korean tourists). The hike is not to be taken lightly, you should be in decent athletic shape to do it as the trail can get pretty steep and demanding at times. The backpacker community and guesthouses are very pleasant.

Shangri-la. Sadly, this place seems like it's becoming more like Lijiang (judging from the construction), but it's still relatively isolated. The new airport is tiny, and there is currently no railroad that goes there, hence not many Chinese tourists. I found this town to have a lot of character, despite the presence of a tourism push. Very strong t¡betan presence, kinda like Lhasa, but more rural. I rented a motorcycle and visited nearby local villages, which was one of the highlights of my 3-week trip. Note: not sure if it's been updated, but the 2009 Lonely Planet China is completely useless here.

revolution9 wrote:Different food, air, noise levels, people, dialect, dress sense, weather... You're bound to find something unique there. Eg, Gulangyu has no cars on the island. I'd consider that unique. Hainan has its own special coconut drink products sold around the world AFAIK. That's unique.

You're a travel writer, yeah?

OP said "...places that aren't too touristy".
I think Hainan and Gulangyu are very touristy.

That's all I am trying to say.

Umm, actually you were questioning how those places were unique. Tourism may be a big industry in those places but I wouldn't say they're overly touristy in feel, which I think the OP was alluding to.

actually I think DaXiong moutain is good place to visit if you have local friends or good tourist guide。
it`s in HuNan province,

nanxijiang where i am goingto back pack this weekend, beautiful view
and also nanji islands ,so beautiful

Basically this is China, it's almost crowded in anywhere it's nice.
otherwise if the place is damn ex, probably lesser with locals
but then again, there won't be enough business if is too expensive to visit.

The majority incomes comes from locals afterall

not sure if you had heard this one
http://www.nakedretreats.cn/

Hi there,
I recommend you to visit Silk Road in China. The Silk Road, Beginning at the magnificent ancient Chinese city of Chang'an (Xi'an), the route took traders westward along the Hexi Corridor to the giant barrier of the Great Wall, then either north or south of the Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar before continuing on to other parts of the world.
You will have a great opportunity to visit many historical wonders, Buddhism temples, Islamic mosques as well as many beautiful Chinese, Uyghur classical architectures. http://www.uighurtour.com

here's a list of ten disappearing places to travel in china, i think i'd love to travel most of them
http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/newsle ... capes.html

Wu Mao wrote:Yangshuo

Yangshuo's great. 10,000 backpacking students eating Pizza and Apple pie who think they are discovering China.

Wu Mao wrote:i don't care about the Wall, the terracotta soldiers, hong kong, or beijing.

I care more about people how they live than about places
South East Guizhou; Qiandongnan, for this attracts me very much
I have been three times there last years for several months.
I will go back there as I intend to travel in China between september and december 2010

[quote="revolution9"} Gulangyu has no cars on the island. I'd consider that unique.
[/quote]

Yes unique in China.
How good it was to have some rest there years ago

isabel la catolica wrote:sichuan

I remained 10 days in Chengdu in May because I had twisted my ankle previously and didn't know if it was "safe" to walk.

I go back walking in Guizhou in autumn will probably go to walk in some places of Sichuan.

fWerrF wrote:

revolution9 wrote:Different food, air, noise levels, people, dialect, dress sense, weather... You're bound to find something unique there. Eg, Gulangyu has no cars on the island. I'd consider that unique. Hainan has its own special coconut drink products sold around the world AFAIK. That's unique.

You're a travel writer, yeah?

OP said "...places that aren't too touristy".
I think Hainan and Gulangyu are very touristy.

That's all I am trying to say.

Not ALL parts of Hainan Island are touristy. I got board staying at a resort at Sanya after abt half a day and hired a car and drove to through a few old villages. From the looks of it they hadn't seen many blondes around their neck of the woods.........and no I wasn't still in my bathers thank you very much.

I really enjoyed it and though it quite unique and only abt 30mins from the resort.

Adrienne

Adrienne wrote:

fWerrF wrote:

revolution9 wrote:I think Hainan and Gulangyu are very touristy.

I was years ago in the middle of winter so it was quiet. I felt lonely in the hotel.

I was in Hainan in 1993 winter and it was relatively quiet although hotels being built around.
I enjoyed eating coconuts from the cococnut trees that sheltered my bungalow.

I have always had a thing about borders, dunno why, I just like seeing the blurred edges of two cultures together.

Yunnans border areas with Myanmar, as well as the areas near t¡bet, are always interesting to visit.