On my first visit to China, I received a kiss from an elderly Chinese gentleman at the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai. He wore a blue suit and a matching blue hat, his gray hair showing time but his eyes radiated warmth. Having never been in a temple before, I fussed with my hair, adjusted my overstuffed daypack, and worried I’d accidentally break some unspoken rule.
Sensing the confusion of a foreigner, my guardian suddenly took my arm with a firm grip. Without a word, he tenderly led me to a cherry-coloured table covered with pink incense sticks. I paid for a bundle, and we shared them.
Then he guided me in front of the large incense burner and showed me how to light them, how to hold them, how to pray. Gently. Still without a smile. Once my incense sticks were firmly placed in the sand, releasing soft spirals of smoke for my soul, we moved to the side. My guide finally appeared. She often went on walkabouts, and I didn’t blame her. She realized that I was looking for something in China that the ordinary visitor wouldn’t. She let me wander, interact with people on my own, even though I didn’t speak a word of Chinese.
“He wants to kiss you,” she said.
Bewildered I asked "Why?"
“You wanted to learn about his country, and he wants to say thank you.”
And so I received a big kiss on my left cheek. I still cherish it.
Yes, China is a home to the 60 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, thousands of years of history, tantalizing food, lush rice paddies, the iconic karst peaks of Guilin, the breathtaking Yangtze River gorges, and gorgeous pandas. But what truly makes China lovable is its people. Hardworking, smart, fast learners, and proud to show you a country you may very easily fall in love with.
My love affair with China is still going strong.
Of course, we have our lovers’ tiffs. The country keeps changing too fast. One visit is never the same as the next. The old hotel gives way to a new one, where everything works on sensors or voice control. If you don’t speak Chinese, you simply don’t move — in case you accidentally turn on the music, switch the lights on, or call room service. But then there is always something new to learn, to discover. It’s a challenge to figure out right platform at the train stations the size of American airports. Or when you can’t find the hotel room because the numbers go up on one side and down on the other, and the building is circular, so you feel like you’re on a racetrack chasing first place.
But then you step into your room and are transported to another planet. The city glows beneath your feet, the skyline shimmering as if it were placed there just for you, and you feel truly special.
China is ancient and futuristic at the same time. One moment you stand in a thousand-year-old temple, the next you’re on a high-speed train moving faster than you ever thought possible. It teaches you that opposites can live together beautifully.
And China humbles you — in the best possible way. The scale. The history. The future. You realize you are part of something far bigger than yourself.
And your ego softens. It teaches you humility — something the Chinese people have long understood and quietly practiced.
On Century Cruises itineraries, you experience China as beautifully as love itself — a quiet morning in a temple, an afternoon on a high‑speed train, and an evening watching the skyline drift by from your ship on the majestic Yangtze River.
Isn’t all that the perfect reason to make China your Valentine’s destination this year?
