Excited by my visit to the spiritual home of the Dalai Lama, the Red Dragon lures me to the People’s Republic of China. Here I pay my respect to Mao Zedong (in his glass box), take a stroll through the Forbidden City, and then enjoy a bracing walk along the Great Wall, before flying to Urumqi to explore the lost cities of the Takla Makan Desert, nestled at the foot of the Celestial Mountains. I travel for several more days back along the Silk Road to visit the Terracotta Army in Xi’an, and finally end up eating chop suey in a restaurant in Shanghai, contemplating the city once known for gambling, brothels and opium dens, and now basking in the dazzling lights of a global, financial superhub.
