I haven't been to TPE yet, but I know PEK very, very well. Beijing is a fabulous city with extraordinary sights, world-class restaurants of very variety you can imagine, lots of clubs, museums, theater, dance and, of course, shopping. Though it doesn't look or feel like New York, I'm always reminded of New York by both its scale and scope of activities -- it's on my "Top 5 Cities in the World" list and I can't wait to go back (my last trip to PEK was just this November).

Whoever characterized China as a dictatorship has, apparently, not read a history book in a long time. Mao died in the 70s. China is extremely tourist-friendly.