Torn up about traveling to China? You're not alone. Human rights, oppressive politics, environmental disasters, con. Incredible food (thanks Kalyn!), a culture so rich it's mind boggling, a nation in a staggering state of change? Pro! Every time I read about travels in China, every time I crack a National Geographic that's got a China feature I think two things. First, WOW, do I need to go to China. Do I ever. And secondly, WOW, China looks difficult and exhausting...I can hardly wait.

China recently changed their visa regulations - The Practical Nomad has the skinny.

Basically, the Chines government wants you to be on a tour -- not wandering around on your own, where you might make trouble or meet Chinese troublemakers. This is a huge step backward: China hasn't required tours or proof of hotel reservations for visas for about twenty years.... The big question for independent travellers is when, or if, it will once again be possible to get a visa to China without reservations.

Uncornered Market has a terrific selection of posts about travels in China. Their travels crossed the traditional and the modern.

Factory 798’s industrial brick buildings, street installations and cafes radiated industrial urban funk hipness. Personal expression was front and center; surprisingly, it hadn’t bent under the heavy cloud of censorship that seems to surround much of Chinese life.

On The Interculturalists (this is one of my favorite new reads, I hope they keep up the quality!) there's a post about what it's like to be a "solitary black American women running around the hoity-toity foreigner part of Shanghai"

My conclusion (which may be way off base) was this: Much like many places in America, the residents of Shanghai are not exposed to a lot black people- in the streets, on television, or otherwise. And much like any sort of cultural thing, the earlier generations tend to have less exposure than the younger generations.

Escape from New York ponders the popularity of Mao era kitsch souvenirs - the NY Times recently ran slideshow on this same topic. To me, it feels a little bit like being nostalgic for Lenin, but I wouldn't dream of understanding the Chinese psyche - if such a thing exists. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted by the social realism aesthetic of Mao era graphics. I'm a sucker for that stuff.

Ceramic collectibles depicting followers are lined up like atrophied action figures with a post war color palette. Propaganda posters and wind up alarm clocks complete with a devotee waving the Little Red Book of Quotations are popular items. I’ve been tempted by the alarm clock on several occasions.

If you're wondering what travel to China is like with kids, well, why not ask a kid?! National Geographic Kids has David, the 12 year old expat, blogging about what it's like to be in China. Future travel writers, look out, this kid is going to eat your lunch.

The other day, I had a dentist's appointment on an even day, but the car we had had an odd number license plate, which meant that I couldn't go into town with the car. (China has started an odd-even license plate rotation to cut down on pollution.) So this meant that I had to use public transportation, which I did. Since I had a couple of hours, some money, and a camera, I decided to snap some pictures with my dad and pick up some Olympic tickets for my aunt and cousins.

Road Junky has a series of articles on China's human rights issues and is virulently anti-China.

That a psychotic evil regime like China could be chosen to host the Olympics (never mind produce every other consumer product we buy) brings to mind the choice to honour Nazi Germany with the Games in 1936. But that was a much more naive world with limited access to information.

Brave New Traveler asks if traveling China is any worse than traveling to the US.

Not that I’m oblivious to China’s crimes against humanity and the world but I wanted to see for myself. That’s the beauty of travel; you can discover these things in situ. I wanted to read about the politics having been there, and experienced Chinese lives up close, in order to fully understand.

At my house, we're holding off on China until we can go with my sister-in-law - she's from China and while, yes, we'd love to see the sights, we are also the kind of travelers who'd happily have our minds blown by visiting with Chinese in-laws. While there's no denying that it would be awesome to be there for the Olympics and hey, even on tour we'd probably enjoy ourselves, the best possible experience we could have in China would be with a local at our side.

Image from meckleychina on Flickr - there are lots more gorgeous pics there. 

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View. Join the conversation about travelblogging on the Travelbloggers Forum.