DK Eyewitness China (Travel Guide)

So much to know and learn about China, but a great book to begin with! Great pictures and maps and many suggestions on day tours and week long tours!

What a gorgeous book! Super well written, organized, and edited, and packed with relevant cultural side notes. Gorgeous photos. As an aspiring Chinese language learner, I appreciated that Chinese characters are provided for cities and places of interest. A small thumbnail of the provinces being discussed is included at the beginning of each section, but it was often difficult to get a sense of where those provinces were in relation to the rest of the country. Although there was a full map of China with the major roads, and the inside cover has the full map with the major cities and the book sections color coded, I would have also liked to see a full map with only the provinces and main cities labeled. But that is a small complaint in a truly outstanding book. I have quite a few DK Eyewitness Travel guides, and this is one of the best! Highly recommended!

It takes Eyewitness 660 pages to guide the reader through China. They use them well, and for the most part they do a thorough job on this very challenging assignment. Even with a book this extensive, it may be helpful to supplement the coverage with city guides and other material. However, the guide gives essential coverage to all regions of this huge country. There is excellent treatment of Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet, and the more remote regions of the country as well as the cities and the more developed coastal areas. About the only thing missing is information on Taiwan, and unfortunately Eyewitness does not publish a Taiwan guide. As is typical of Eyewitness guides, there are thorough background articles and extensive "survival information," as well as information on hotels, restaurants, and shopping. This edition still has the hard cover and coated paper that helped make Eyewitness guides among the most attractive available, rather than the flimsy cover and cheaper paper that seem to be replacing these in newer editions of the publisher's books. China travelers should find this book very useful.

I love DK Eyewitness guide book. They are small enough not to weigh you down (unlike Lonely Planet). Lots of beautiful pictures. Enough detail of the major cities with maps and cultural background to be useful for a first-time visitor who wants to try and get around by themselves. I used this in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing. In the latter case, I also got their "Top 10" guide, which is great for carrying around in your pocket (for some reason, there are none for Shanghai or Hangzhou yet). I did find it interesting that despite having been updated about a year ago, there is no mention of how China has gone almost completely cash-less and everyone uses AliPay or WeChat Pay to pay for nearly everything. Of course, you need a Chinese bank account to use those smartphone apps, but still some mention of this phenomenon should be included so tourists know what is going on and why they can't participate.

I visited China on a ten day tour this past December. I picked up this book to plan for my trip learn about the sights to see. This book was outstanding. Not only did it give great information on sights to see, it provided a breakdown by city and region. I was on an organized tour group. However, the book was great in preparation for what I was about to see. Plus this book does a great job of explaining history, and also providing great information on things like maps of cities, their transit and subway systems, and museums, zoos, parks and historical landmarks. I took this book with me on the trip and referred to it regularly while on my tour. I highly recommend this book if planning a trip to China.

This is a great guide book with details about the many sights I will be taking in on my trip to China. I love the pictures and the information enclosed in the DK Eyewitness guides.

Great travel guide. There is a lot of information, lot of color pictures. You will learn a lot about Chinese Culture and History. There Civilization is multi millenarian. I highly recommend the paper version ahead of your trip or if you are going tomorrow, find the digital version that you can take with you.

Great travel guide with good maps and pictures. Only down side—-heavy to take with you.

Excelente.!!!

Very detailed and visually stunning travel guide book. A must have!

I dipped into DK Eyewitness China in preparation for my upcoming student adventure and came away feeling like I’d accidentally downloaded a small, very polite version of China directly into my brain. This book is basically that ultra-organised friend who has already planned your trip, colour-coded it, and packed snacks. Want to know where to go? It knows. What to eat? It’s already ordered for you. Cultural etiquette? It gently taps you on the shoulder before you accidentally offend an entire province. The layout is classic DK—clear, visual, and suspiciously good at making you feel like you’ve been somewhere when you’re still sitting on your sofa in Scotland eating biscuits. It’s packed with useful nuggets about history, culture, and must-see spots, without ever feeling like a lecture from a very enthusiastic tour guide who won’t let you leave. As someone heading to China as a student, I found it genuinely helpful—it gives you enough context to feel prepared, but not so much that you start trying to memorise entire dynasties for fun (unless that’s your thing… no judgement). In short: informative, reassuring, and quietly bossy in the best possible way. A must-have travel companion—just don’t be surprised if it starts running your life a little.

AWAITING TRIP TO CHINA

Took me back to my days in China. .