A Journey Back in Time: China At its Best

Depart for Beijing

Welcome to the People’s Republic of China! On arrival at Beijing Capital Airport, we will be met by Goway’s local representative and transferred to our hotel. This evening we will meet our expert local guide in the hotel lobby and depart for a local-flavoured dinner at a one of Beijing’s trendiest restaurants.

China is the world's largest country in population with over 1 billion people—about 20 percent of all the people in the world. It is the third largest country, in area, and one of the world's oldest countries, with a rich history that stretches over thousands of years. During this tour, you will marvel at the contrasts and the mysteries waiting to be discovered.

After a leisurely breakfast, we will depart our hotel for a full day tour of Beijing. Our exclusive private tour begins at the Tian’anmen Square, the largest public plaza in the world. Next we visit the Forbidden City, the best-known image of Imperial China built by more than 200,000 workers in the 5th century during the Ming Dynasty. Home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the huge complex consists of the ceremonial spaces, working areas and private quarters once used by its privileged occupants.

After lunch, we will proceed to the centuries-old hutongs (including a rickshaw ride), the ancient quarters of Beijing, for a fresh insight of Beijing’s local life. After a genuine Beijing Duck dinner at Dadong Restaurant, we enjoy a Kungfu (martial art) performance. The exciting theatrical performance, The Legend of Kung Fu, tells a story of a young boy who dreams of becoming a kung fu master one day.  The show’s performers, a collection of some of the country’s best kung fu artists, put on a spectacular display that will leave you mesmerized. We will be transferred back to our hotel at the end of the show.

This morning we join your guide and coach and visit the Temple of Heaven, a masterpiece of 15th century Ming Dynasty architecture built for important rituals for the emperors, a magnificent example of 15th century mechanics and geometry whose design follows strict numerological symbolism and a most significant imperial building for the Chinese.

From here proceed to join a Taichi master and practice this ancient Chinese exercise. Found in the mid 1600, Tai Chi, or T’ai Chi Chuan (supreme ultimate fist), is designed partly to provide relaxation in the process of body-conditioning exercise. It employs flowing, rhythmic, deliberate movements, with carefully prescribed stances and positions.

After lunch, we will visit the Summer Palace, a royal garden and summer retreat of Empress Dowager Cixi. Travel back to our hotel before savoring the tastes and textures at a local restaurant.

We will depart the hotel again this morning for the grand tour of one of China’s most well known icons: the Great Wall. Enjoy the views from our coach while we drive past the Bird’s Nest, which is the National Stadium, and the Water Cube, the National Aquatics Center. The next stop is the Sacred Path of the Ming Tombs for a view of the beautifully carved statues of real and mythical animals and guardians. Our last stop is at the Mutianyu Great Wall, (with round trip cable rides) the only man-made object visible to the naked eye from space. The Wall was built in the fifth century BC to protect China from the aggressive northern Tartars and winds 6000 kilometers through Northern China. After dinner at a fine local restaurant, we will travel back to the hotel. 

After breakfast at the hotel, we will be transferred to the airport for the flight south west to Xian, one of the former imperial capitals and the gateway to the legendary Silk Road.

On arrival, we will be met and transferred to the Huxian Farmer’s Village, where we will be greeted by a lion dance followed by a Chinese painting lesson. Huxian Village is famous for its style of Chinese painting. It is instantly recognizable, mainly for the bold, exaggerated forms and excessive use of color. Every inch of the canvas is filled with scenes from daily rural life.

After lunch with at the local painter’s house, we will travel to Xian and our hotel. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon at leisure. Dinner is on your own tonight. Later we join our guide for an evening Muslim market tour.

Just one-and-a-half hours by air from Beijing, Xian is the home of the world-famous life-size Terra Cotta Army, unearthed in 1974. It was known in ancient times as Changang (meaning Long Peace) and was one of the largest and most cultured cities in the world. Between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, it served as the imperial capital for eleven dynasties, and as such it comes as no surprise that the place is filled with, and surrounded by, a wealth of important sites and relics.

This morning we depart our hotel for another day of breath-taking experiences with our visit to the Terra Cotta Warrior and Horse Museum. Before arriving at the Museum, we will visit a terrace cotta replica factory to see how the artisans made the terra cotta warriors. Wishing to have a standing army to protect him and defend his tomb in his after-life, the emperor of the Qin Dynasty had 700,000 forced laborers to construct his tomb. The tomb was unearthed accidentally in 1974 by farmers digging a well.

After lunch, we continue our visit of the Museum. Before traveling back to our hotel for a short break, we experience Xian from a unique perspective on a bike or golf cart ride atop the massive Ming Dynasty city wall. Tonight we will enjoy a Tang Dynasty Dancing and Singing Performance with dinner at the Tang Yue Gong Palace.

Leaving Xian this morning we fly to Shanghai, China’s financial capital. Upon arrival, we travel by road to Suzhou and arrive in time for lunch at a local restaurant. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure before enjoying a local snack dinner.

Dating back some 2500 years, Suzhou is one of the oldest towns in the Yangzi Basin. With the completion of the Grand Canal during the Sui Dynasty, Suzhou began to flourish as a centre of shipping and grain storage, bustling with merchants and artisans. Among both the Chinese and international visitors, Suzhou is one of the most highly favoured cites and was described by Marco Polo as “Venice of the East and the most beautiful city in China. The city has long been known as a place of culture, beauty, and sophistication. Its gardens, a symphonic combination of rocks, water, trees, and buildings, reflect the Chinese appreciation of balance and harmony.

Blended with the movements of Taiji and other martial arts and dances, Taiji Fan is an exercise or dance practiced by many people in the early morning at local parks. This morning after breakfast, we travel to a local park and join a group of Taichi Fan dancers to learn and participate in this ornamental and artistic dance(subject to weather and availability). From here, we will visit the Humble Administrator’s Garden followed by a traditional sampan ride on the Grand Canal. The largest of Suzhou's gardens, Humble Administrator’s Garden dates from 1513, makes complex use of the element of water. Linked by zigzag bridges, the maze of connected pools and islands seems endless. The creation of multiple vistas and the dividing of spaces into distinct segments are the garden artist's means of expanding the compressed spaces of the estate. As we stroll through the garden, new spaces and vistas open up at every turn. Next, we will visit a silk spinning factory. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure. The dinner will be on own arrangement today.

We set out this afternoon and travel by road to Shanghai, China’s financial capital. On arrival, we will check in to our hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

With a population of more than 12 million, Shanghai is China’s largest urban centre. In the 19th century, Shanghai was jolted from being a quiet commercial backwater to a thriving financial metropolis. 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 (mainly European) concession areas distinctly visible to this day. Tonight we enjoy a delicious Western-style dinner at one of Shanghai’s renowned restaurants favoured by many expats living in the city.

We begin our full day tour of Shanghai at the local longtang (walled brick town house rows) with distinctive local tradition. Next we proceed to Yu Gardens. Situated in the old Chinese quarter of the city, this marvelous garden was built in 1577 and hidden behind carved brick walls decorated with undulating dragon walls and lovely lotus pools. After lunch at a local restaurant, we will visit the French concession area. In the early 20th century, Europeans immigrated to Shanghai for business and trade, and settled in specific areas, set aside for their homes and businesses. The ambience of these concession areas still remains. Visit the Bund, a collection of numerous buildings, built in different styles, including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance. After viewing the famous harbor of Shanghai, proceed to the Shanghai Museum.  Built in 1994, the stunning museum can be seen as a completely new approach to museum design in China.  The exhibits in ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, jade, Ming and Ch’ing (Qing) dynasty furniture, coins and ethnic art are fantastic. Tonight enjoy our ‘farewell’ dinner at one of the Peninsula’s glamerous restaurants. 

We will be transferred to the airport for the flights home.