Amusement parks make a strong showing on the Forbes Traveler list of Eastern Asia’s most visited tourist attractions. From Universal Studios’ outpost in Osaka, Japan, to the Happy Valley theme park in Shenzhen, China, roller coasters and fantasy-themed lands draw millions annually.

    But the thrill rides aren’t limited to amusement parks. At Hong Kong’s most visited attraction, Victoria Peak, 9 million-plus annual visitors have a choice of traveling to the 1,811-foot summit by bus or tram. The latter option, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board Publicity and Promotions Manager Lillibeth Bishop, is a “perpendicular funicular” that “feels like a thrill ride when you’re going down.” Bishop adds, “I prefer going up, so my heart doesn’t race as much.”

    At the top, she explains, “You can see Victoria Harbour, and all these traditional junks, ocean liners and ships coming through. And the sunset drapes all of the city’s high rises. To me it’s not just a sight, it’s an experience. It makes you think, Life is beautiful after all.”

    The popularity of Victoria Peak, high above the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong, points out another possible misconception that Western tourists may bring to the East: “A lot of people think of Hong Kong as only this big city,” Bishop says. “And many people don’t know there is this other side of Hong Kong that they’re missing out if they don’t explore. For example, there are a lot of hiking trails in Hong Kong.”

    The popularity of both rural and urban attractions is borne out in the other Asian countries covered in our list. While millions flock to the ancient walled fortress, The Forbidden City, located in the populous capital of Beijing, they also come in droves to the more remote heights of Mount Tai, in China’s coastal Shandong Province. Taishan Temple lies at the foot of the mountain, and some 7,000 stone steps lead to the Azure Clouds Temple at the top. Between 6 and 8 million locals and foreigners visit the sacred mountain annually.

    Alan Lew, co-author of “Tourism in China” and professor in the department of Geography, Planning and Recreation at Northern Arizona University, says visitors to China’s attractions may be growing. Both domestic and international travel is on the rise, he says, with in-country travel at about a billion trips a year and international visitation at approximately 42 million annual trips.

    However, Lew adds, the high volume of domestic Chinese travel doesn’t always constitute heavy traffic to the iconic tourist sites known in the west. In the late 1990s, he explains, the government implemented a program called Golden Weeks. “Government employees used to get week-long vacations three times a year, and many Chinese took advantage of those holidays to travel — mostly back to their home villages,” Lew explains.

    The boom in travel during these weeks “totally overwhelmed the transportation network,” Lew says. “So now China is going to start doing what most other countries do, spreading the holidays out, and having more three day weekends.”

    How this change will affect tourism patterns remains to be seen. And while international visitation to China has steadily increased (especially during the 1990s, Lew says, when the government began opening more and more sites to foreigners), the effects of the recent global economic turmoil on tourism to China have yet to play out.

    In Hong Kong, says Lillibeth Bishop, “the economy already is impacting outbound travel to Hong Kong from the U.S.,” its No. 1 country source for the long-haul market. After steady increases through the middle of this year, Hong Kong Tourism Board’s visitor arrival statistics show a 15.5 percent decline in U.S. arrivals for August 2008 compared with August 2007. “People are hunkering down,” Bishop says.

    Naoko Marutani, director of the Japan National Tourist Organization’s (JNTO) Los Angeles Office, also notes that travel to Japan has “been a bit slow given the recent and worldwide economic situation.” But she adds that the number of U.S. travelers to Japan had been increasing since 2004: “Japan has been running its ‘Visit Japan Campaign,’ introducing Japan as a tourist destination to overseas markets (including U.S.A) with a target of 10 million overseas travelers by year 2010.” To date, many of the millions who already travel to Japan seem to favor its myriad theme parks, five of which appear on the Forbes Traveler list. (We’ve excluded religious destinations from our tally: we have a separate annual list for travel to shrines of all faiths.)

    So which mountain peak, soaring skyscraper or towering roller coaster draws the most visitors in East Asia? Read our slideshow to find out.

    福布斯旅游雜志顯示公共游樂場是東亞最受歡迎的旅游勝地。 日本大阪的環球影城，中國深圳的歡樂谷主題公園，過山車和夢幻島每年都吸引了上百萬的游客。

    但是這些驚險的旅行不僅僅包括在公共游樂場里。 香港最著名的旅游名勝是維多利亞山峰，每年有超過900萬的游客到此通過乘坐汽車或有軌電車從山腳到達海拔1811米的山頂。 根據香港旅游推廣和宣傳部門的管理人員里里柏斯說，后一種選擇是豎直的纜車軌道，當你乘坐在那上面下降的時候，你會感覺到非常刺激。 里里柏斯還說，“我更喜歡上升的感覺，因為那樣我的心跳才不會加速。”

    她說在山頂你可以看到維多利亞港口，所有的傳統垃圾，遠洋輪船和其它船舶在此穿梭。 當太陽落山時，那光線可以灑滿城市的整個高樓大廈。 對我來說這不知是景色，而且是一種經歷。 它促使你思考，生活畢竟還是美好的。

    維多利亞山峰的知名度遠遠高于香港的大都市，這也指出一個西方游客可能帶給東方國家的誤解。 里里柏斯說，“許多人們都把香港認為只是大城市。” “但是大多數人不知道香港也有其另外一面，如果人們不去探索，它們也會慢慢消失的。 比如，在香港有許多供徒步旅行的小道。“

    其它亞洲國家的鄉村和都市名勝的知名度也包括在我們的名單中。 每年有上百萬游客去參觀古老的城防堡壘，它坐落于人口眾多的北京的紫禁城，他們也有自己駕駛車去巍峨聳立的泰山，它位于中國的海岸城市—山東省。 泰山廟坐落于山腳，從山腳到山頂的碧云寺廟有7000級臺階。 每年有600萬到800萬的當地和外國游客去參觀這一險峻的山峰。

    《中國旅游》的合著者，地理部門的教授，北部亞利桑那大學規劃和娛樂學院的阿蘭流說到中國旅游的旅游可能還會上升。 他說，國內和國際的旅行正在增加，國內每年增加100萬的游客量，國際每年增加將近4200萬的游客量。

    但是，流還說，中國國內的巨大游客量不是總會構成西方人熟知的旅游勝地的交通擁擠狀況。 在20世紀90年代，他解釋道政府實施了一個法規稱為“黃金周”。 流說，“政府的雇員過去在一年中常常只有三次長假，而且許多中國人利用這些長假去旅行——大部分去他們的家鄉。”

    流說，“在這些星期的游客增加量遠遠超過整個交通運輸量。” “現在中國將開始做大部分其它國家做的事情，擴大長假，增加更多的三天周末。”

    這種變化是否會影響旅游形式仍然等待人們的觀察。 流說，由于到中國的國際游客（特別是在20世紀90年代，中國政府開始向國外開放越來越多的旅游名勝）一直在穩步增長，最近國際經濟的混亂對中國旅游業的影響也將慢慢出現。

    里里柏斯說，在香港這次經濟危機已經影響到了美國到香港出境游，美國是香港排名第一的旅游長運客源。 經過今年上半年的穩步增長后，香港旅游協會的旅客到達數據顯示2008年8月美國的旅客量比2007年8月的相比下降了15.5個百分點。流說，“人們正在觀望。”

    日本國家旅游組織洛杉磯辦公室的主管那庫說，由于近期世界范圍的經濟狀況使得到日本旅游的客流量增長緩慢。 但是她又說，到日本的美國旅客量從2004年以來一直在增長。 “日本正在開展自己的‘參觀日本活動‘，它目的是向海外市場（包括美國）介紹日本，在2010年把它建設成一個擁有1000萬海外游客量的旅游勝地。” 到目前為止，已經到過日本的百萬名旅客似乎挺喜歡它的眾多主題公園，其中有五個還出現在福布斯旅游雜志目錄上。 我們已經從目錄刪除了一些有關宗教的旅游地。 我們每年都安排不同的神殿供各自不同信仰的人們參拜。

    在東亞，是山峰，是高聳的摩天大樓還是云霄飛車吸引大批游客呢？ 請閱讀我們的導讀去發現它們吧。