A jaunt in China

Visitors walking out onto West Lake in Hangzhou, the capital and largest city of the Zhejiang Province in Eastern China.

THREE years ago, I got engaged on the Great Wall in Beijing. Since then, China has held a special place in my heart, so my husband and I jumped at the chance to tag along with our Mandarin-speaking friend during a two-week jaunt through the country.

China can be intimidating, but many of its cities are easy to navigate for English speakers. Here are five tourist-friendly locales.