Those friars who followed Matteo Ricci into China brought with them the technology that mesmerized the Ming and Qing courts--clocks, celestial globes, telescopes.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Macau

Before 1990, Suzhou was a beautiful tourist town, the home of many garden villas that were the summer homes of Ming and Qing Dynasty officials.

FORBES: Thoughts on China

Stone architecture dating to the Ming and Qing dynasties (which ruled from 1368 to 1912) stands perfectly preserved 40m under Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang province, 400km south of Shanghai.

BBC: China��s Atlantis of the East

Between 1420 and 1924, 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived here in near-total seclusion, rarely venturing out beyond the 10-metre-thick walls, and commanding an almost divine power over their subjects.

BBC: The perfect trip: China

Fourteen Ming and 10 Qing emperors called the Forbidden City home and the intrigue, scandal and drama that went on here has inspired countless films and books.

BBC: Beijing's once Forbidden City

Before the Communists came to power in 1949, travellers reported an eighth wonder of the world: a green if dusty city, largely unaltered from the medieval plan laid out under Kublai Khan and built upon by the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties.

ECONOMIST: China��s Communist modernisers are wrecking the capital