Start in: Shanghai
End in: Beijing
Classic China History and Mountain Tour
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Shanghai
Transfer via: International flight on your own arrangement
Upon your arrival at Shanghai, our local guide will meet you and escort you to the hotel.
Sightseeing: Zhujiajiao old town,Fangsheng Bridge,Beida Street,Xi's Residence
After breakfast, you will pay a visit to the Zhujiajiao old town. At Zhujiajiao, walking through Fangsheng Bridge, Beida Street, Xi's Residence etc, it seems that you walk back to the old days. Drive back to Shanghai later.
- Zhujiajiao old town: a well-preserved and fan-shaped old town with hundreds of years of history around the shore of vast Dingshan Lake, one of the largest commercial centers on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911AD), where you can see thousands of buildings in Ming and Qing style standing along the river, 36 old stone bridges connecting nine streets in the old town to form a unique and beautiful waterscapes.
- Fangsheng Bridge: Fangsheng means freeing captive animals, the bridge looks like a rainbow over the peacefully flowing river.
- Beida Street: 1 kilometer long, with over 400-year-old history, it is the best preserved street of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Shanghai area, where there are lots of old shops and old residences.
- Xi's Residence: built by a celebrity in Ming Dynasty, it is the typical residence in Ming style. Its exquisitely carved bricks and window frames are simple yet elegant with pretty high artistic value.
Sightseeing: Shanghai Museum,Jade Buddha Temple,The Bund
Transfer via: Domestic flight on our arrangement
Today, your tour of incredible Shanghai will include: Shanghai Museum, Yu Garden, the Jade Buddha Temple and the Bund. Take evening flight to Huangshan. Upon your arrival, be met and transferred to the hotel. The rest of the day is on your own leisure.
- Shanghai Museum: often ranked as China's best museum, it is the biggest museum in China with a fine collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts.
- Jade Buddha Temple: named after its exquisite milk-white jade Buddha brought from Burma in the 19th century by a Chinese monk, it is a spiritual oasis in the midst of a modern metropolis.
- The Bund : where the great trading houses and banks had their headquarters in the 1920s and the 1930s. The Bund is about about a mile long, it is the city's fulcrum.
Sightseeing: Mt. Huangshan
After breakfast, drive 80 kilometers (1.5 hours-drive) to Huangshan Scenic Area and take cable car at Yungu Station to the top of the mountain. After check-in and lunch, you will view Brush Pen Peak, tour Lion Peak, enjoy the sunset glow at the Cloud Dispelling Pavilion, etc.
- Mt. Huangshan: located in the southern Anhui Province, extending about 40km from north to south and 30km from east to west, the Huangshan Scenic Area is comprised of numerous peaks of various heights and grotesque rocks of different formation, and is well known for its extraordinary aesthetic mountainous features. Here we can find all of the beauties of nature, with its charm lying especially in its oddly-shaped pines, fantastic rocks, sea of clouds and hot springs--the four supreme sights on the mountain. The picturesque Mt.Huangshan has been a famed destination for scholars, poets and the occasional hermits in Chinese history, and has long been effusively described as "awesome," "a wonderland" and "Heaven on Earth."
Sightseeing: Mt. Huangshan
Today, our guide will escort you to hike around the Xihai Grand Canyon (take your picnic). If weather was nice, get up early and see the sunrise.
- Mt. Huangshan: located in the southern Anhui Province, extending about 40km from north to south and 30km from east to west, the Huangshan Scenic Area is comprised of numerous peaks of various heights and grotesque rocks of different formation, and is well known for its extraordinary aesthetic mountainous features. Here we can find all of the beauties of nature, with its charm lying especially in its oddly-shaped pines, fantastic rocks, sea of clouds and hot springs--the four supreme sights on the mountain. The picturesque Mt.Huangshan has been a famed destination for scholars, poets and the occasional hermits in Chinese history, and has long been effusively described as "awesome," "a wonderland" and "Heaven on Earth."
Sightseeing: Tunxi Ancient Street,Ink Stone Factory
Try to get up early in the morning to catch the magical sunrise. After breakfast, you will tour the Jade Screem Scenic area. Take the cable car down to the foot of the Mt. Huangshan, drive back to the downtown of Huangshan city and then visit Hukaiwen Ink Stick Factory and the ancient street.
- Tunxi Ancient Street: a well preserved bustling center of trade since the Southern Song Dynasty. It is paved with slabs of stone and is one mile long with old shops lining both sides of the street. These old shops are in perfect order and an unmistakable Huizhou architectural style.
- Ink Stone Factory: ink stone is the important part of "Four Treasures of the Study" in China. Because of its solid texture, the ink stone can be handed down from one generation to another. The Ink Stone Factory in Huangshan is one of the most famous ink stone factories in China, where you can see the whole working process.
Transfer via: Domestic flight on our arrangement
Take morning express bus to Hangzhou and then take afternoon flight from Hangzhou to Guilin (no guide service in Hangzhou, please take taxi from the railway station to the airport). Upon you arrive at Guilin, our local guide meet you and escort you to the hotel. The rest of the day is on your own leisure.
Sightseeing: West Street(Yangshuo),Yangshuo County,Moon Hill
After breakfast, drive to Zhujiang Pier (about 40-minute drive) to start the boat cruise along the tranquil Li River which is the highlight in Guilin until you get to Yangshuo County. Along the river, you will be inspired by breathtaking views of peaks and pinnacles, crystal-clear water and reflections in the water together with the serene pastoral views of rice paddies and water buffaloes, you are certainly walking into a traditional Chinese painting by cruising on it. After checking in the hotel in Yangshuo, you will visit Moon Hill and cycle along Jima road. Pay a visit to one of the local farmer's home en route.
- West Street(Yangshuo): a busy and exotic slate street in Yangshuo County, about 2km long crammed with shops, pubs, cafes and hotels, where you can relax yourself and do some souvenir shopping.
- Yangshuo County: founded in 590 AD, Yangshuo County has been booming because of tourism. With so many beautifully shaped mountains surrounding this county, it is described as "the world of green lotus and jade bamboo shoots".
- Moon Hill: viewed from different places, the moon takes on different shapes, sometimes full moon, sometimes half-moon and sometimes crescent, forming a marvelous spectacle in Yangshuo. Climbing about 800 steps up to the very top, you will have a fantastic view of the whole county.
Sightseeing: Elephant Trunk Hill ,Fubo Hill
Today, you will be driven back to Guilin (1.5-hour drive) and have a city tour of the Elephant Trunk Hill and the Fubo Hill.
- Elephant Trunk Hill : the symbol of Guilin, which resembles a giant elephant drinking water from the Li River.
- Fubo Hill: where you can see lots of Buddha statues left about 1000 years ago in the Returned Pearl Cave and have a birds' eye view of the whole city after climbing up to the very top.
Sightseeing: Erling Park,Ciqikou Old Town
Transfer via: Domestic flight on our arrangement
Take morning flight to Chongqing. Upon your arrival at Chongqing, the largest city in Southwest China, our local guide will meet you and escort you to the city to have city tour including Erling Park and Ciqikou Old Town.
- Erling Park: one of the old private gardens in Chongqing, built in late Qing Dynasty around 1909 AD, due to its relatively high altitude, there you can have a bird's eye view of the whole city.
- Ciqikou Old Town: it was Chongqing's old harbor and was once the home of many of Chongqing's rich merchants, where you can still see lots of Ming and Qing dynasty architecture, local shops, tea houses, local Sichuan street performance and so on.
Sightseeing: Baoding Grottoes,Beishan Grottoes,Dazu Rock Carvings
Today, you will have a visit to view Dazu Rock Carvings in Dazu County (about 2.5-hour-drive), pay a visit to the two major sites--the Beishan (North Mountain) Grottoes and Baoding Grottoes. After the tour, you will be driven back to Chongqing.
- Baoding Grottoes: constructed from 1179 AD to 1249 AD by Tantric monk Zhao Zhifeng, the subjects of carvings here are mainly illustrations of Buddhist sutras, aiming at a representation of familiar and secular life in content. The depicting style of these grottoes is quite different from other grottoes, and the thousands of statues here never repeat each other in subject matter.
- Beishan Grottoes: smaller than Baoding Grottoes, with nearly ten thousand statues, mainly donated by common folks on subjects that fall in 51 categories and mainly about esoteric Buddhism. Carvings here are famed for the refined and meticulous depicting, showing clearly the development and change of grotto art as well as the beliefs of common Chinese from the 9th to mid 13th century.
- Dazu Rock Carvings: The steep hillsides of the Dazu area contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the 9th to the 13th century. They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, both secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life in China during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In 1999, Dazu Rock Carvings, mainly consisting of Beishan and Baoding Grottoes, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sightseeing: Shaanxi Provincial Museum,Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Free in today until our local guide meet you and escort you to the airport for the flight to Xi'an. Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. In the afternoon, you will have city tour to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
- Shaanxi Provincial Museum: opened in 1991, the largest comprehensive museum in the province. The museum exhibits over 3,000 historical relics which is just a fraction of their collection. Most of the exhibited items are rare treasures, showing you the splendid Chinese culture.
- Big Wild Goose Pagoda: regarded by many as a symbol of the city Xian, the pagoda was built in 652 A.D. in the Tang Dynasty to house the sutras brought back from India by the famous monk Xuan-zang.
Sightseeing: Terracotta Warriors and Horses,Ancient City Walls
Today you will first visit the incredible life-size Terracotta Warriors and Horses, after lunch, enjoy cycling on the Ancient City Walls (about 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Terracotta Warriors and Horses: discovered in 1974 by local farmers digging a well, this is one of the most significant archeological finds of the 20th century. These 6,000 life-size painted Terracotta Warriors and Horses --individually sculpted from real-life models and arranged in battle formation have been protecting the mausoleum of the first emperor in Chinese history--Emperor QinShihuang for 2,200 years ago.
- Ancient City Walls : built during the 14th century on Tang dynasty foundations and they date from the Ming dynasty. The walls are the largest and best-preserved ancient fortress in the world. There is a gate in each of the four sides, and the gate towers built over each gate look lofty and magnificent and form a tight defence engineering system.
Sightseeing: Great Mosque,Bell Tower
Transfer via: Domestic flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, you will visit the Bell Tower and then the Great Mosque, if you feel like, you can spend some time strolling along the backstreets of the mosque which have been home to the city's Muslim community for centuries. Take afternoon flight to Taiyuan. Upon your arrival at Taiyuan, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
- Great Mosque: the largest mosque in Xi'an and one of the four grand Islamic mosques in China with more than 1200 years' history. The mosque possesses not only traditional Chinese architectural style, but also features peculiar to Islamic mosques and now it is a major spot for religious activities of 50,000 Muslims in Xi'an.
- Bell Tower: standing in the center of the city and built in 1582, the Bell Tower is a three-story wooden structure with traditional Chinese architectural features. It is so called because an iron bell is hung in the tower to give the correct time.
Sightseeing: Pingyao,Shuanglin Temple,Rishengchang Exchange Shop,Ming and Qing Street
Be driven to Pingyao in the morning, the tour today will include Shuanglin Temple, the Ancient City Wall, Rishengchang Exchange Shop and Ming and Qing Street. You will have some free time to explore this old city. Overnight at Pingyao.
- Pingyao: a small city with 2700 years old history, famous for its well preserved ancient city walls and streets. As it borders on the southern edge of the Taiyuan Basin and joins the Loess Plateau to the south along the banks of the Yellow River, it has been an important communication hub and a famous commercial center over the country in the old days.
- Shuanglin Temple: having a history of more than 1500 years, the temple is famous for its 2,502 exquisitely painted clay figurines and statues of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and is famed as a "treasure-house of color sculpture arts".
- Rishengchang Exchange Shop: Rishengchang means "sunrise prosperity," this shop is China's first bank and was originally established in 1823. Now converted into a museum, there are 21 buildings surrounding three courtyards. On either side of the front yard are the counters, main banking activities were carried out in the middle courtyard house, which functioned as an exchange center.
- Ming and Qing Street: also called Nanda Jie is the main downtown thoroughfare and is well preserved in Ming and Qing style. This is one of the best places to explore ancient Chinese culture. You can see hotels offering traditional brick-oven beds and restaurants serving Pingyao's famous beef and shops selling a dazzling array of art wares. This bustling bazaar was the commercial centre during the dynastic periods with over 700 stores and shops. Most of these time-honored stores continue to thrive to today.
Sightseeing: Qiao Family's Compound,Jinci Temple,Taiyuan
In the morning, be driven to Taiyuan (2-hour drive), pay a visit to Qiao Family's Compound en route. Visit Jinci Temple near Taiyuan before continuing your private car journey to Wutai Mountain (about 4-hour drive). Stay overnight at Wutai County.
- Qiao Family's Compound: is located 20 kilometers north of Pingyao, built in 1756 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This well-preserved and exquisite structure used to be the residence of a powerful trading family with significant commercial influence even beyond Shanxi Province. The Qiao family' influence on trade ended in the l940's. It was this mansion that was used as the setting for the famous film 'Raise the Red Lantern' directed by Zhang Yimou.
- Jinci Temple: located 25km southwest of the city proper at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain, the temple was first built in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) to commemorate Shu Yu, the founder of the Jin state. With lots of halls, terraces, pavilions, corridors and bridges inside the temple, especially with the streams running through the complex, the temple feels a little like the charming gardens of Suzhou.
- Taiyuan: the capital of Shanxi province, first settled over 2,500 years ago, this area was strategically vital, now it is an important commercial and industrial city in the northern China.
Today's excursion around Wutai Mountain will include Xiantong Temple, Pusading (Bodhisattva Summit) Temple, the Big White Pagoda in Tayuan Temple and Wanfu Temple (Wuye Temple). Enjoy a Buddhist Vegetarian lunch.
Be driven to Datong in the morning. On the way to Datong, our guide will show you to the Hanging Temple and the Wooden Pagoda. After your tour you will be driven to Datong. Upon your arrival at Datong, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel.
Sightseeing: Nine Dragon Screen,Huayan Temple,Yungang Grottoes
Your tour today in Datong including the visiting to Nine Dragon Screen, Huayan Temple and the Yungang Grottoes.
- Nine Dragon Screen: built in 1392, supposed to have offered protection to the mansion of the 13th son of the first Ming emperor. This screen is said to be the largest one of its type in China and is 45.5 meters long, 8 meters high and 2 meters thick. It contains 426 pieces of glazed tiles. In ancient times, the screen served as a barrier by keeping passers-by from peeping into the house. It was also used for visitors to tidy themselves before meeting their hosts.
- Huayan Temple: named after the Huayan sect of Buddhism, built in the 11th century, it is one of the biggest temples in China. The temple is divided into two parts, the upper part with various halls, and the lower part which is smaller than the upper one but more interesting with 29 coloured clay figures made during the Liao Dynasty (907-1125AD) in its Bojiajiaocang Hall.
- Yungang Grottoes: a treasure-house of rare and splendid Chinese sculptures and that of ancient Buddhist art, located about 16 kilometers west of Datong. Built in compliance with the lie of the mountains, more than 1500 years ago during the Northern Wei Dynasty, it is one kilometer from east to west and the largest of its kind in China. The Grottoes consist of a series of 53 caves and over 51, 000 stone sculptures classified into three major categories. The stone carvings of the Grottoes, compactly structured, exhibit superb workmanship and a rich variety of themes.
Transfer via: Morning train-on our arrangement
After breakfast, you will be escorted to the railway station for your train to Beijing. Upon you arrive at Beijing, our local guide meet you and escort you to the hotel. The rest of the day is on your own leisure.
Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square,Forbidden City,Summer Palace
Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City. In the afternoon, you will tour the exquisite Summer Palace.
- Tiananmen Square: the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China, where the national flag is raised exactly at sunrise everyday.
- Forbidden City: located in the center of Beijing, used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years, it is the grandest integral palace complex still remaining in China.
- Summer Palace : Located on the northwestern outskirts of the city, it was an imperial summer resort of the Qing Dynasty. With its perfect layout, magnificent buildings and enchanting landscape, it is the most splendid classical garden in China.
Sightseeing: Great Wall
Today you will have a tour to the majestic Great Wall (Simatai section). Trekking from Simatai Section to Jinshanling Section. Lunches will be packed alone your tour. Our guide will escort you to Simatai Section by private car and wait for you at Jinshanling Section on the afternoon. And then you will be transferred back to the hotel.
- Great Wall: the most famous symbol of China and one of the world's most remarkable architectural wonders, it was built over 2,000 years ago and stretches about 6,700km.
Sightseeing: Beihai (north lake) Park,Temple of Heaven,Lama Temple(Yonghe Lamasery)
Today you will first marvel at Beijing's splendid Temple of Heaven and then tranquil Lama Temple. After lunch, you will visit the elegant Beihai Park.
- Beihai (north lake) Park: the oldest ancient imperial garden in Chinese history, built around the bei hai (north lake), the park's charms include pavilions and gardens, a stunning Tibetan-style pagoda and an elaborate Nine-Dragon Screen.
- Temple of Heaven: the place which was visited yearly by the emperors who performed intricate rituals to insure a good harvest for the whole nation at ancient times.
- Lama Temple(Yonghe Lamasery): the largest preserved lamasery in Beijing, a Buddhist lamasery of the Yellow Hat sect, a sect that's mainly associated with Tibet, it is an extravagant building of some beauty. Inside the temple, in the center of the Hall of Infinite Happiness (Wanfuge), stands a grand statue, an 85-foot-tall Tathagagata (Maitreya) Buddha made from a single Tibetan sandalwood tree.
Transfer via: International flight-on your own arrangement
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your onward flight to your next destination.
China domestic flights as specified in the itinerary 
Accommodations for 26 nights, including
0 meals, including 0 full breakfasts, 0 lunches and 0 dinners
Round-trip transfers---between airports, hotels and scenic spots in each city by private air-conditioned motor coaches with experienced drivers
A local English-speaking guide in each city
Entrance fees to scenic spots listed in the itinerary
Luggage transfers between airports and hotels
China Life Tourist Accident/Casualty insurance
Government taxes and service charges except tips for tour guides and drivers
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