While it cracked Conde Nast Traveler’s list of the 50 Most Beautiful Places in Asia, many people consider the Forbidden City to be a one-way monolith of calculated sameness, like Ikea without the meatballs or the strategically-priced modular furniture. Desperate to change its image as an enormous tourist trap, the palace administration is in the midst of a 10-year project to give the Forbidden City its most intensive makeover since the Qianlong Emperor roamed its halls in the 18th century.…

Twenty six people have died after a fire broke out in a tourist bus along the highway to the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, CCTV reports. The report said the bus swerved into a hand rail on the highway for "unknown reasons" and then bursted into a fireball at 12:57 pm. The fire was put out half an hour later. Taipei local media said the 24-member tourist group were from Northeast China's Liaoning province, who had arrived in Taiwan…

Summer will see another travel peak for Chinese as students begin their summer vacation. Almost 60 percent of those polled said they had travel plans, according to a recent online survey conducted by ly.com, a major travel portal in China. Family travel is a strong driver behind the summer travel peak. About 40 percent of those surveyed are choosing July and August because the whole family can travel together when the children are off from school. More than 40 percent…

Hebei province's Tangshan city has invested in the development of a tourism island that is near Beijing. The local authority has invested 13 billion yuan ($2 billion) in recent years to develop the Tangshanwan International Tourism Island. To date, 70 percent of tourists have come from the capital, according to authorities. Local officials held a promotion event recently in Beijing, hoping to attract more visitors. More than 200 travel agencies were represented. The island sits on the coast of the…