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If you're solely basing it on "cleanness" then Singapore would top the list at #1.
I still think China has the most beautiful scenery. Not only natural beauty, but also cultural history. From the Terracotta warriors, great wall, the Imperial Tombs, the 13 tombs of the Ming Dynasty and the several hundreds of other ancient sites.
Since when we rank cities based on their cleanness? if so, NYC, London, Paris would be the most backward cities in the world
I don't think they are talking about city cleanliness really. When traveling rural China it's common to see piles of trash and rubble, even in their national parks. Chinese restrooms are the worst I have seen anywhere. I spent a few months in Shanghai and the city is clean as far as trash goes. Air pollution is still a problem. Chinese cities are clean because they have armies of people cleaning the streets with brooms and picking up trash, and that's a good thing. Now they just need to tackle air pollution and maybe grow some grass (and keep people from walking on it).
If you're solely basing it on "cleanness" then Singapore would top the list at #1.
I still think China has the most beautiful scenery. Not only natural beauty, but also cultural history. From the Terracotta warriors, great wall, the Imperial Tombs, the 13 tombs of the Ming Dynasty and the several hundreds of other ancient sites.
Anyone who thinks Japan beats China in terms of scenary must believe "I have to travel to first world countries with the exact order and cleanness as well as mature infrastructure I have in my own country".
Japan has some impressive scenes and cultures, and they take care of everything to the smallest detail. I enjoyed my visit very much. Japan is pleasant. But in terms cultural and natural beauty offerings, China just due to its sheer size and diversity is completely different level and a different scale. Y
In terms of culture, yes, China sucks at preservating history and has been very short sighted in destroying much of its history, yet despite this, it still has far more than what Japan will ever have. China can have another cultural revolution and burn down another 1000 ancient temples and palaces, and it will still easily beat Japan in the culture department.
In terms nature, it is even less a competition. The different between an elephant and a cat. Keep in mind China is 30 times larger than Japan, crossing several climate zones. It is like no matter how great and clean Switzerland is, the US or Brazil as a much larger country still offer far more.
People keep forgetting OP's question is "which country is more scenically beautiful", not which country is more pleasant/care-free to visit. They are completely different questions.
This is exacerbated by the fact that most Westerns while visiting China only see Beijing, Shanghai and possibly a couple of other cities, while completely ignore the most beautiful part of the country - Hunan, Sichuan, Yunan, Guizhou, etc in the southwest. Most have never heard of them. Then they complain China is just a polluted concrete jungle with commie blocks.
Sometimes it is pretty funny to see westerns marvel at some of the temples and pavilions in Japan as if they were a big deal, or somehow epitomize "Asian culture".
If you have several years, then China. If you are taking a trip of 1-2 weeks, Japan with have more accessible sights.
that sounds about right.
If one has 10 days, he can visit Japan's main cities. If one has 2-3 weeks, he can pretty much enjoy all the best attractions Japan has to offer. Japan is very easy to visit. Very few people visited Japan and not liked it.
China on the other hand is a completely difference scale. It probably will take months just to have a flavour of what all its regions are like. There are 8 Chinese provinces that are larger than the entire Japan.
Take mountains for example, the tallest ones in japan are in the range of 3000 meters. For China, there are 30 that are taller than 7000 meters alones.
Even outside Tibet/Xinjiang, Sichuan province alone has 5 mountains taller than 6000 meters. There are also 10 taller than 3000 meters in Yunnan lone. Mt Fuji if put in China would be just one of the mountains not many people hear about (and no, it is not just because of height).
I am not saying the taller, the better, and most of them are not really accesible. But it serves to give an idea that Japan vs. China is not even a competition to start with.
Cultural diversity, history, food, language, you name it. China is a difference scale. Travelling in China is definitely not as easy or pleasant as in Japan, but if you put the effort, the reward is much larger also.
I can't find a superimposed map of Japan on Chinese map, so I use the US map (US and China are of similar size). Japan's proven history dates back to 300 BC (Yayoi Period) and China 1850 BC (Shang Dynasty). And China had been far more advanced than Japan for a hell lot longer than Japan is more advanced than China (the past 150 years or so). You'd be the judge. I don't blame westerners for liking Japan better or wanting to visit it more, but at least get the facts straight first.
Last edited by botticelli; 03-11-2017 at 10:16 AM..
You mean tourist attractions by country, Japan or China? That is related to scenery. By tourist arrivals, China's is way higher than Japan's, even higher than any country in the world when combining, Hong Kong, Macau (not sure about Taiwan) into China. Here's some data of tourist arrivals by Asian countries according to Wiki:
*China 56.9 million
*Thailand 29.9 million
*Hong Kong 26.7 million
*Malaysia 25.7 million
*Japan 19.7 million
*Macau 14.3 million
*South Korea 13.2 million
*Singapore 12.1 million
*Taiwan 10.44 million
*Indonesia 10.41 million
*India 8.0 million
*Vietnam 7.9 million
You mean tourist attractions by country, Japan or China? That is related to scenery. By tourist arrivals, China's is way higher than Japan's, even higher than any country in the world when combining, Hong Kong, Macau
You can't do that because those numbers of Hong Kong and Macau include tourists from China.
You mean tourist attractions by country, Japan or China? That is related to scenery. By tourist arrivals, China's is way higher than Japan's, even higher than any country in the world when combining, Hong Kong, Macau (not sure about Taiwan) into China. Here's some data of tourist arrivals by Asian countries according to Wiki:
*China 56.9 million
*Thailand 29.9 million
*Hong Kong 26.7 million
*Malaysia 25.7 million
*Japan 19.7 million
*Macau 14.3 million
*South Korea 13.2 million
*Singapore 12.1 million
*Taiwan 10.44 million
*Indonesia 10.41 million
*India 8.0 million
*Vietnam 7.9 million
This is despite the fact that China requires a visa from citizens of almost every developed country, the people who have the most money and interest to travel, while Japan does not. If China offers a unilateral visa free policy to Europe and North America like Thailand does, the statistics would be significantly higher.
PS: HK's artificially high number is largely due to its status as of the global financial centre. I bet most of the arrivals are not associated with pure leisure tourism.
PS: HK's artificially high number is largely due to its status as of the global financial centre. I bet most of the arrivals are not associated with pure leisure tourism.
Actually they are.
Quote:
Global Top 20 Destination Cities Expenditure Breakdown (2016)
Purpose of visit
Business / Leisure and other purposes
3. Paris 29.7% / 70.3%
9. Tokyo 27.5% / 72.5%
11. HK 23.4% / 76.6%
19. Shanghai 54.6% / 45.4%
Btw WTO's figures strangely do not match China's official figures at all. According to China's own numbers, the total foreign visitor arrivals in 2015 is around 26 million, even if you include those from Taiwan (which they don't, well ) it'd be aroud 30, but if you include those from HK and Macau it'd be more than 130 million, so it's not that either. Maybe the methodology is different.
(Source: 2015? 1-12???????????????)
Btw WTO's figures strangely do not match China's official figures at all. According to China's own numbers, the total foreign visitor arrivals in 2015 is around 26 million, even if you include those from Taiwan (which they don't, well ) it'd be aroud 30, but if you include those from HK and Macau it'd be more than 130 million, so it's not that either. Maybe the methodology is different.
(Source: 2015? 1-12???????????????)
I don't dispute the numbers, but there is probably a difference between going to HK for just leisure, and arriving at the HK airport for the purpose of leisure. For example two of my friends will fly to Geneva airport next weekend but they will visit south France, not Switzerland whatsoever.
In the stats, I just don't think the number of people who visit HK (and HK alone) is almost half of those who visit the entire China. This is where the flight arrivals are not that useful because transit hubs always skew the number. I have several friends who live in south China and whenever they go back from North America, they connect through HK because it makes more sense.
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) it'd be aroud 30, but if you include those from HK and Macau it'd be more than 130 million, so it's not that either. Maybe the methodology is different.
