Visiting the world’s oldest living civilisation involves more than mere travelling. It’s another world in every way. For instance, China ancient and modern work hand in hand, with water buffalo toiling in a rice paddy a few hundred yards from a high tech factory. Everything about China is huge. Covering an area of nearly 9.6 million sq km, China has the world’s largest population (over one billion), the world’s highest mountain (Everest - 29,028 ft), one of the world’s largest cities (Shanghai – population 14 million) and one of the wonders of the world – the Great Wall of China, over 2,000 years old and 3,600 miles long. More people can read Chinese than any other language on earth, but that’s not much consolation for the visitor! However, English is the most widely-spoken foreign language.