Exploring China: The focus is on the future in the country of tomorrow

 

The future: Chengdu's bamboo fountains 

                                                 with waterfalls that mimic bamboo shoots 

The past: Tiananmen Square

It was just after midnight when the taxi driver dropped us off in an alleyway surrounded by sacks of concrete and piles of bricks. It was hard to believe this is where we would find our hotel in Beijing, but this was 17 years ago, and my husband, Tom, and I had decided to opt for staying in a hutong instead of a four-star hotel. 

Hutongs have mostly disappeared, but at the time, they were like villages inside the big city - basically communities hidden in and around alleyways surrounding common courtyards. A few, like this one, housed tiny family-run inns that welcomed visitors with comfortable courtyard rooms and cafes.

The alley entrance to our hutong in Beijing in 2009

In 2009 and 2005 while I was reporting for the Seattle Times, we concentrated on historical sites, remote villages and cultural encounters in the rural countryside. We biked an undeveloped section of the Great Wall, visited Xian's terracotta soldiers, road the "hard sleeper" train to small towns and spent the night in an ethnic village reached by a mile walk along a dirt path after a 100-mile drive that took five hours.

Fast forward to 2026 as we get ready for our third trip to China, this time focused not on the past, but the future. Rather than traditional sites such as Tiananmen Square, above, we're off this time to see modern landmarks like the Chengdu bamboo fountains, pictured above, and find out what it is like to stay in one of the gigantic Raffles City towers in Chongqing pictured below. 

The futuristic Raffles City hotel and shopping complex in Chongqing

Apparently we're not alone in our quest to experience a cashless society, ride in driverless cars, try out facial recognition at a vending machine and walk across a sky bridge that stretches across the tops of four 800-foot- tall skyscrapers. 

While the U.S. is discouraging foreign travel with visa restrictions and generally unwelcoming policies, China is encouraging international visitors any way possible, reports Wendy Lu, a Seattle-area consultant and author of a book titled "My First Impresssion of China- Washingtonians' First Trips to the Middle Kingdom." 

Writing for the online publication Post Alley, she sites a Pew Research Center survey on world opinions of 36 countries that concluded that many people now have a more favorable view of China than of the U.S.

With looser visa rules (If you are transiting through China to another country, you can stay in China for 10 days without a visa), China logged a 20.4 percent increase in inbound trips by foreign nationals in the first half of this year.

"China has had a blockbuster summer of international tourism, Lu reports. "One new trend that makes tourists to China more excited about is that they can now go beyond the conventional sightseeing of landmarks and historical sites to take immersive industrial or rural tours, watching robotic arms operate in an EV factory, for instance, or spending time with residents of ethnic villages." 

KFC delivery robot

Twenty years ago, no one thought about taking a vacation to China the way they did to Thailand or Vietnam, but after traveling there twice with the help of many English-speaking Chinese, I asked myself, why not? 

I would pose the same question today, given that it's even easier now to plan an independent trip without going on an organized tour.

 China was and still is a great value for U.S. travelers, given the dollar-yen exchange rate. The historical and modern inventions are incomparable. The food is cheap and tasty. The hotels are great values. Even the international air fare is a good value compared to fares to Europe.

Online sites such as booking.com and trip.com make booking hotels, trains and buses easy. Walking tours and day trip can be arranged and paid for in advance through sites such as freetour.com, GuruWalk and  and GetYourGuide.  

Armed with the payment app Alipay, used instead of cash for even smallest transactions; WeChat (the Chinese version of WhatsApp); and DIDI (ride share app), we are set for a three-week do-it-yourself  trip that will take us first to Shanghai on Delta's non-stop from Seattle, then onto Chengdu and Chongqing in the center of China and finally to Kunming and the ethnic minority villages of Dali in the southwest.

A nighttime light show at Chengdu's Twin Towers 

Chengdu pandas 

We'll take in some traditional sites -the Panda Research Base in Chengdu, the Dongchuan Red Lands near Kunming, and the ethnic villages near Dali, but the city we're most excited about is Chongqing, a sister city to Seattle located along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, best described as the "biggest city nobody has ever heard of."

Suspension bridges connect various parts of Chongqing

With a population of 32 million, Chongqing is the largest municipality in the world by population, although third behind Tokyo and Jakarta when measured in terms of metro area. The city's biggest mark on Seattle is the Seattle Chinese Garden on the South Seattle College campus, designed in the Sichuan style by architects and artisans from Chongqing and Seattle.

Famous for its fiery hotpot, dramatic skyline, monorails through buildings and stacked highways, Chongqing is called the "8D city" or vertical city because it is built in a steep mountainous area, resulting in significant elevation differences and the need for suspension bridges at various heights to connect various parts of the city.

Public transportation

Due to its layout, the streets are so steep that the ground floor of a building might open to a busy street, while the 22nd floor opens to a completely separate street or a public square on the other side.

The Liziba monorail

A train station inside a building in the Liziba district is located eight stories above ground. The monorail system allows trains to pass without causing disruptive vibrations, thanks to an advanced soundproofing system.

How to see all off this? We've booked a three-hour walking tour our first day through freetour.com with a local guide and later, through a local travel agency, a market tour and visit with a family for lunch in their home.

Our hotel is a far cry from the inn in the hutong we booked so many years ago in Beijing. In Chongqing, we will be staying in the Ascott Raffles City, a hotel inside Raffles City, complex of four skyscrapers sitting 820 feet above the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. 

Raffles City hotel and shopping complex

The price was a bargain $117 per night, booked on booking.com, with breakfast for one-bedroom apartment with a washing machine in the room.

Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the key feature is a top-floor observation deck called the Crystal walkway that includes the Sky Mirror, a  glass-bottomed outdoor viewing deck that cantilevers over the edge of the building.

Raffles City skywalk 

The view is straight down at the 820-foot drop to the streets and rivers below. 

If this isn't enough of a thrill, there's a Cloud Walk for those willing to gear up in a full-body safety harness and walk along the open-air spine of the crystal, with no glass walls between you and the drop. The highlight: You can sit on the edge and dangle your feet over the city. 

Sadly, China has age restrictions on the lower and higher ends. The cut-off for the Cloud Walk is 65, so we will have to see what other closer-to-the ground thrills await.