Discover China Ethnic Minority History and Culture Tour

Welcome to the People’s Republic of China! On arrival in Beijing, we are met by Goway’s local representative and transferred to our hotel. The remainder of the day is free. China is a large country in eastern Asia. It is the world's largest country in population with over 1 billion people—about 20 percent of all the people in the world. Being the third-largest country in area, only Russia and Canada have more territory, China is also one of the world's oldest countries, with a rich history that stretches over thousands of years. We will marvel at the contrasts and the mysteries waiting to be discovered. Our journey will give us time to experience the lively cities, the enthralling countryside and, above all, the friendly, smiling Chinese people. D

Overnight: Qianmen Hotel (3 nights)

After breakfast, your full day of touring begins with Tian’anmen Square, the largest public plaza in the world, followed by a visit to the Forbidden City and a Martial Arts School. After lunch, you start the Hutong Tour. Depart your restaurant for this unique opportunity to experience local people’s life. The tour takes you in rickshaws through the old quarters of Beijing – a labyrinth of narrow alleys with one-story brick houses called Hutongs. Included in this special tour is a seminar by a Feng Shui master. Learn the ancient Chinese art of manipulating and arranging your surroundings to attract positive life energy or chi, so that it flows smoothly, unblocking any obstruction in your body or environment. Your meal tonight is a special roasted Peking duck dinner at a local restaurant.

Beijing has been the capital of the nation for the last seven centuries. Today with a population of over 10 million, it is the second-largest city in China. The city is famous for its beautiful palaces, temples, and huge stone walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have long made the city China's cultural center. Beijing has been a center of government in China off and on for more than 2,000 years; Many rulers, including Mongol, Ming, and Manchu emperors, built palaces and temples in Beijing. BLD

After breakfast, you visit and climb the Great Wall of China, the only man-made object visible to the naked eye from outer space. Lunch is included at a local restaurant. This afternoon you will visit the Summer Palace, a summer retreat of Empress Cixi. The park is a beautiful combination of lakes, bridges, gardens, temples, and pavilions. BLD

Experience a morning Tai chi Lesson with a Tai Chi Master at a local park. Afterwards, visit The Temple of Heaven, another masterpiece of Ming Dynasty architecture, which exemplifies Chinese perfection of form and space and was built for important rituals for the emperors.

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Xian. On arrival, join the local guide for a tour of a farmer painter’s Village you will visit a farmer painters’ village. A particular kind of Chinese painting found in the Xian area, called by some “modern folk painting” and by others “farmers’ paintings”. In the late 50’s the government gave professional artists the task of teaching farmers the art of painting and there are now 40 such art colonies throughout the country with the village near Xian having the largest and most significant colony. The paintings are instantly recognizable by their bold, exaggerated forms and excessive use of colour. Every inch of the canvas is filled with scenes from daily rural life.

Xian, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, has been a famous historical and cultural city of China for more than 3100 years. Since 1126 B.C., it had served as the capital for more than 12 Dynasties! The city is an open-air museum and the starting point for the Silk Road. BLD

Overnight: Dynasty Hotel (2 nights)

Today is a major highlight of your China tour – a full-day excursion to the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum (the Eighth Wonder of the World). Marvel at the thousands of life-size warriors and horses guarding the tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (BC 221-210). After lunch, you visit the Banpo Museum (site of the 6000-year-old Neolithic village) and Big Wild Goose Pagoda built in 652 to keep the 657 volumes of Buddhist scriptures brought back from India. This evening you enjoy a Tang Dynasty dance show with a dumpling dinner. BLD

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnang Province. On arrival, you are met and transfer to your hotel. The remainder of the day, you are at leisure.

Known as the City of Eternal Spring because of its mild climate and profusion of flowers and plants, the provincial capital presents a unique picture to visitors. Covering an area of 6,100 square kilometers, Kunming is divided into four urban districts and eight counties, with a total population of 3.3 million people. the, In the early 20th century, Kunming became an important rail hub when the French built the rail link from Vietnam to China, and during World War II, it was one end of the Burma Road built by the Allies as a supply route. BLD

Overnight: Jin Jiang Hotel (2 nights)

Visit a flower market prior to a relaxing, 2-hour drive to the legendary “Stone Forest,” an 80- hectare area of Karst limestone pillars, needles and crags. Marine fossil found in this area suggests that the whole area was once underwater. From here, you take an excursion to a Yi Minority Nationality Village. The ancestors of the Yi ethnic group can be traced back to the Qiang people living in northwest China. They later migrated south and joined the local southwest aboriginal and created a new group, the Yi ethnic group. The Yi people have their own language, which belongs to the Yi branch of the Zang-Mian Austronesian of Han-Zang Phylum. Yi characters, as the earliest syllabic script in China, were formed in the 13th century and are still used today. A number of works of history, literature and medicine as well as genealogies of the ruling families written in the old Yi script are still seen in most Yi areas. BLD

Today, you are transferred to the airport for a short flight to Dali. On arrival, join the local guide and visit Triple Pagoda and Butterfly Spring. The rest of the day, you are at leisure.

Known as the “Geneva of the East and home to more than 20 ethnic groups, Dali enjoys a long history, diversified culture, numerous cultural and historical sites, beautiful natural settings, and a comfortable climate. It has been selected one of the 24 state-level cultural and historical cities and one of the 44 top tourist attractions in the country. BLD

Overnight: Asia Star Hotel (1 night)

Travel by road to Lijiang, an ancient town with cobblestone streets, wooden buildings and flowing canals. The seat of the Naxi minority peoples, Lijiang in the north of Yunnan province, lies at 2,500 in a stupendous mountain setting on the border with Tibet. The Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a network of narrow streets lined with small restaurants, which are intersected by canals, and a lively market square. For the remainder of the day, you are at leisure to relax. BLD

Overnight: Grand Hotel (2 nights)

Depart your hotel for a day excursion to Black Dragon Pool, where you can appreciate from afar the breathtaking view of Dragon Snow Mountain. Coach back to Jijian and your hotel. Dinner tonight in Lijiang Ancient City in the evening on your own. BL

Travel by road to Zhongdian, the capital of Dequen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, close to Tibet. The name Zhongdian refers both to the 300,000-strong county and to the town which is its capital. There is something distinctively sacred about this land of prayer flags, holy mountains, lamaseries and rock piles inscribed in Tibetan characters with Buddhist sutras. The county plays host to an interesting fusion of Tibetans, Hui, Bai, Naxi and Han peoples. BLD

Overnight: Gyalthang Dzong Hotel (2 nights)

Rejoin your coach and head for Songzhanlin Temple, a Tibetan monastery found in 1679 by the fifth Dalai Lama and the first Tibetan Buddhist Temple built in Yunnan Province. The main temple, at the top of the long flight of stone steps, is a typical Tibetan, four-storey block-house structure with a gold-plated roof. The grand Sutra-Pitaka Place on the ground floor can accommodate up to 2,000 monks chanting the scriptures. There is a bronze statue of the fifth Dalai Lama over the altar in the main hall. Don’t miss the extremely exquisite murals and wood carvings inside the temple. Next, you pay a visit to a Tibet family, where you will enjoy the hospitality of a Tibetan housewife, and taste some traditional Tibetan-style snacks and the famous buttered mil tea. BLD

Full-day excursion to Bitahai Lake (30 KM away from Zhongdian), a beautiful lake hidden in a virgin forest 3,539 meters above sea level. In the forest, there are rare plants and animals. You can also see the only living fossil fish that survived on the earth - Deqing thick-lipped fish. BLD

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Kunming, where you will connect to your flight to Shanghai, the financial centre of China. On arrival, you are met and transferred to your hotel. You have the remainder of the day to relax or explore the city on your own.

Shanghai is one of the world’s largest cities with a population of more than 12 million, which makes the city China’s largest urban centre. Shanghai played no role in the glorious days of the Chinese empire until the coming of the British opium fleet to Chinese waters in the 19th century. Shanghai was then jolted from being a quiet commercial backwater to becoming a thriving industrial metropolis. Shanghai’s identity, even today, is still inextricably linked with those treaty port days. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 opened Shanghai as a free port to western trade and influence. Even today, we can still see the foreign concession areas distinctly visible to this day. A stroll along the Bund, the legendary waterfront area of the British Concession, will give us a taste of how life must have been in the thirties and forties. B

Overnight: Shanghai Broadway Mansion (2 nights)

Enjoy a full-day tour of Shanghai, including a visit to the Bund, Nanjing, Yu Garden and the Shanghai Museum. Built in 1994, the stunning Shanghai Museum can be seen as a completely new approach to museum design in China. With a shape of an ancient Chinese ding vessel, the museum exhibits some fantastic specimens, which include an archaic green patina of the Ancient Chinese Bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, seals, jade, Ming and Qing dynasty furniture, coins and ethnics art. The exhibits are generously spaced out, giving you the opportunity to stroll leisurely and unhurriedly through the galleries. BLD

Transfer to the airport for the flight home. B