http://beifan.com/

The Internet offers trainloads of travelogues with material of diverse quality and practical use. This website was created to share photos of Chinese people, and their geography, customs and food. Not especially well designed, the homepage displays gazillions of hyperlinks. As a result, the visitor is overwhelmed; fortunately, they provide an extremely handy site map. Beifan.com was created by an English teacher in a Methodist Church in Wrexham, North Wales who happened to meet some 'boat people'. How likely is that? Anyway, as a result of this chance meeting, he traveled frequently to China from 1987 to 2005. He fell in love with the Chinese and his passion spilled all over the web. The site has many different topics, in no particular order. In short, it is all about chance. Some of the links provide hours of virtual tours to some of the most gorgeous places in China (from the Yangtze Gorge, to Dalian's beaches and even Shanghai's Bund). The accompanying text is just as intense, containing a wealth of details and historical facts. Visit this site if you have plenty of spare time; ideal for train travelers.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue