China in your hand
August 20, 2016
With its far-reaching history and incalculable prospects, China is a must for anyone interested in past civilisations and the future of our world. It also contains three of the world’s greatest man-made sights: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors. Yet it is tempting to cover too much ground, choosing a whirlwind tour of its 5,000-year history [...]

Perfect sanctuaries away from the crowds
October 17, 2015
Organised well, China can be a holiday destination as well as a history lesson and enriching cultural experience. You can return home enlightened, newly aware of the world’s next superpower – and also restored. The challenge is that many consider China to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip and understandably want to tick off all the must-sees [...]

Shanghai is full of surprises
January 16, 2015
The literal translation may sound banal — Shanghai means on the sea — but China’s booming port city is anything but ordinary.
Located halfway down China’s east coast, it’s a destination that once seduced Charlie Chaplin, Aldous Huxley and Noël Coward with its decadence, dance halls and smoky opium dens.[...]

Travel writers' trips of a lifetime
Winter 2014
To celebrate 10 years of Ultratravel, the Telegraph's luxury-travel magazine, contributors recall their most extraordinary travel experiences.
The Peking to Paris classic-car rally, Michelle Jana Chan. Driving a 1940 Ford Coupe, my co-driver Mike Reeves and I crossed the start line at the Great Wall of China. [...]

Monumental Ming
September 18, 2014
The British Museum has declared that a period of the Ming dynasty - the first half of the 15th century - was ’50 years that changed China’. There have been a number of transformative half-centuries in this country’s history (not least, the one we are in now) but this was certainly a golden age for trade, diplomacy and art [...]

The Monthly Insider: Shanghai Surprises
August 2014
Glamorous Shanghai has reinstated its legendary position as the eastern metropolis of excess and extravagance, a city where Charlie Chaplin, Noël Coward and Aldous Huxley were once spotted in its elegant dance halls or opium dens. [...]

Hong Kong art: a new creative star rises in the east
April 19, 2014
In the heart of Hong Kong’s SoHo district, one of the city’s hottest pieces of real estate is not being turned into a bank or block of apartments. Instead, the former Police Married Quarters, renamed PMQ, is becoming a hub of design studios, ateliers and pop-ups. [...]

Peking to Paris classic car rally 2013: 'Let’s make a U-turn and do it all again'
July 6, 2013
It was a cold and wet afternoon somewhere between Saratov and Voronezh, Russia. As we drove around a corner, we saw an elderly couple standing on the side of the road in the rain. With one hand, the woman was pointing a camera at us; with the other, she was waving and cheering us on. Beside her the man was holding up a yellow banner. [...]

Peking to Paris classic car rally 2013: Highs and lows
June 28, 2013
Scariest moment? I do not think I was ever scared for our safety but there were many times I was afraid for the well-being of Shiner, our 1940 Ford Coupe. The worst moment was on Day 6 (Ulaan Baatar to Bulgan, Mongolia) when we ended up driving through a marsh. We had to keep up our speed but that meant violently porpoising for a hundred metres. [...]

Peking to Paris classic car rally 2013: fighting for victory
June 21, 2013
From time to time I indulge myself and recall how it felt to be leading one of the world’s longest and toughest vintage car rallies. Alas, the unfiltered joy lasted only a few days - although it was during some of the most challenging driving at the start of the rally in Mongolia. That is a long time ago. It is now day 24 of this 33-day competition. [...]

Death casts shadow over classic car rally
June 13, 2013
As we approached the end of the Wednesday’s stage, we heard the news: there had been a serious accident. All competitive racing was on hold. Everyone should head directly to our hotel in Tyumen, in south-west Siberia. [...]

Peking to Paris classic car rally: And they're off...
May 30, 2013
It was one of those signature murky days in Beijing. As we headed down to the hotel car park it started to drizzle. In the flat grey light of dawn, among the row of vintage Bentleys and classic Mercedes, was our car, a 1940 Ford Coupe nicknamed Shiner, ready for a journey of nearly 8,000 miles to Paris. [...]

The Himalayas: Trip of a Lifetime
May 26, 2013
Home to the highest peaks on the planet, the Himalayas begin in Pakistan stretching across India, Bhutan and Nepal until reaching China in the east. This is a majestic landscape of mountains, deep valleys and glaciers, dominated by Mount Everest (otherwise known as Sagarmatha in Nepali) at 8,848m above sea level. [...]

Revving up for the greatest classic rally
December 29, 2012
It was 15 years ago when I was working as a news journalist in Beijing that I heard about the Peking-to-Paris Motor Challenge, one of the longest and toughest rallies undertaken in a classic car. The first race had taken place 90 years earlier in 1907 and was entirely off-road, participants travelling without passports or maps or recourse to garages en route. [...]

China: a beginner's guide
November 24, 2012
China is a country that demands to be seen, but a first trip can be daunting. Our expert Michelle Jana Chan offers advice on how to ease yourself in – whether you want to explore Chinese history or glimpse the future.

Orientation Exercise
Summer 2008
Vast, alien and frenetic, Beijing is among the world’s most impenetrable cities. On the eve of the Olympics, one of our best-travelled writers provides a cultural roadmap -- and even the odd flash of Old China. [...]

The march of Xi'an's Terracotta Army
September 1, 2007
As the British Museum prepares its 'First Emperor' exhibition, Michelle Jana Chan recommends a visit to Xi'an, the city that inspired it. The Chinese army is invading London. On September 13, the British Museum will be opening its doors on a much-vaunted exhibition [...]

10 out of 10 for Hong Kong
June 23, 2007
A decade after the handover, the British legacy has been fused with modern China. It's almost 10 years since that rainy night in June when British and Chinese dignitaries crowded into Hong Kong's Convention Centre and the handover ceremony began. [...]

Pick the world's new wonders
June 16, 2007
An ancient list is being updated, through a modern worldwide poll. Michelle Jana Chan looks at the 21 contenders. On July 7, there will be a new version of the Seven Wonders of the World, a list that has always captured the imagination of travellers. [...]

Capturing The Niche
May 14, 2007
Travelers are seeking focused, meaningful trips—and tour operators are happy to comply. Claire Hurren is not interested in spending her vacation lying on a beach, shopping or museum hopping. She doesn't even want to go on safari. [...]

Beyond Beijing...
February 3, 2007
First-timers focus on cities and sights, but there’s much more to this fascinating land. Michelle Jana Chan takes in beaches and hill tribes on the island of Hainan. It has become the playground for China's wealthy elite and for Communist Party politicians on summer breaks... [...]

Old China : catch it while you can
November 4, 2006
Away from the bright lights and buzz of the cities, it is still possible to find the charms of a bygone age. All the headlines out of China are about what's sexy, shiny and brand spanking new, from the radical stadiums bubbling up... [...]

Giving Back
April 10, 2006
Hotels Make It Easier To Make A Difference. When Bill Frew checked into the Hôtel de la Paix in Cambodia in January, he planned to eat, drink and relax in five-star luxury, as well as see Angkor Wat. [...]

China : Shanghai's funky fusion of East and West
October 23, 2004
This historic port, already the country's most glamorous city, is reviving its reputation as the heart of oriental extravagance. I accidentally pushed the door into the Gents' and came across three startled figures in strappy A-line dresses of white towelling and high heels, applying riotously pink lipstick upon pouty lips and fingering their tousled hair with gel. [...]

China : A land on the move
October 23, 2004
Michelle Jana Chan returns to China after a decade away, and journeys by train across a country in the throes of momentous change. Just over 1,000 years ago, present-day Xi'an was arguably the largest, most cosmopolitan and cultured city in the world. [...]