Destination China

China Excursions

Yu Garden & Old Town Bazaar and Arts & Crafts Centre

Yuyuan Garden, a place of peace and comfort in the heart of bustling Shanghai, dates back to the fabled Ming Dynasty. Now a popular tourist destination, Yuyuan began as a private garden created by Pan Yunduan, who spent almost 20 years - and all of his savings - to build a garden in order to please his parents in their old age.

Jade Buddha Temple was built between 1911 and 1918, housing 70 resident monks. Its exterior is easily identifiable by its bright saffron walls. Inside, the centerpiece is a two-meter-high white jade sitting Buddha encrusted with jewels.

The Arts & Crafts Research Institute was set up in 1956 and is located in a beautiful, former French bourgeois villa by the French Concession area. This is the first center in Shanghai to focus on a comprehensive study of the traditional Chinese folk arts and crafts.

Urban Planning, French Concession, the Bund and Shanghai Museum

Building a city planning exhibition centre is indicative of the need to have citizens participating and aware of our new period of urban construction and development. The centre condenses the planning stages of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Take a walking tour of the old French Concession and International Settlement to see the European influence on this port city. Most of the old style houses in this area have remained intact, providing a charming surrounding for strolling, browsing of shops, and imagining what life for Shanghai’s wealthy community prior to World War II must have been like.

The Bund, also called the Zhongshan Road, is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. Walking along the Bund, which is at the west shore of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower can be seen.

Spend the remainder of the afternoon visiting the Shanghai Museum, which contains one of the world’s best collections of Chinese art, all housed in a state of the art setting.

Zhujiajiao Water Village, the Bund & Maglev Train

Located in a suburb of Shanghai city, Zhujiajiao is an ancient water town well-known throughout the country, with a history of more than 1700 years. Covering an area of 47 square kilometers, the little fan-shaped town glimmers like a bright pearl in the landscape of lakes and mountains.

Shanghai Magnetic Suspension Express Train Project is a commercial high-speed railway combining the traffic, sightseeing and touring. It will take only eight minutes to travel between the downtown area to the airport by the maglev train, which runs at a speed of more than 400 kilometers per hour. It’s the world’s fastest, most futuristic passenger line.

Full day excursion to Suzhou

Suzhou is not only a famous cultural city and a city of gardens, but also the silk capital of China. Silk production peaked during the Han Dynasty when the manufactured goods were transported as far away as Rome from Chang’an (today’s Xian). The overland trade route was to become famously known as the Silk Road. However, there was also a Marine Silk Road extending from Xuwen, Guangdong or Hepu, Guangxi to Vietnam. An outward-bound voyage lasting five months would arrive in Vietnam; it would take another four months to reach Thailand; while a further twenty days would carry the merchants on to Burma. Two months later they would arrive in India and Sri Lanka, from where the silk would be eventually transported to Rome via the Mediterranean.

Full day excursion to Wuzhun

Wuzhen, located in the north of Zhejiang Province, is embraced by the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal with rivers and canals crisscrossing the whole town. For hundreds of years, its residents have been building houses along the rivers and trading near the bridges. The ancient docks, waterside pavilions, and corridors stretch out for miles and erect a romantic atmosphere that is typical to Jiang Nan water towns.

Urban Planning Museum, Sightseeing Tunnel and Pearl TV Tower

Travel underground to Pudong via the Sightseeing Tunnel

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is located in Pudong Park in Lujiazui, Shanghai. The tower, surrounded by the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast and the Nanpu Bridge in the southwest, creates a picture of “twin dragons playing with pearls”.

French Concession Walking Tour

Walk the Historic Fuxing Road and Shop at Shanghai’s French Concession.

A great way to see a bit of Shanghai off the beaten tourist path and do a little off-the-the-beaten path shopping is to take a nice walk down Fuxing Road to enjoy this lovely stroll down one of Shanghai’s most beautiful French Concession streets.

Begin your walking tour at the intersection of Ulumuqi and Fuxing Roads. Start on the north side of Fuxing Road and go west. Shanghai street signs are well marked in both Chinese and English and conveniently give directions (north, south, east or west) as well.

HuangPu River Cruise

Back in the 1920’s you would have arrived in Shanghai by boat - Cruising Huangpu River is the ideal way to marvel at the remarkable views of the Bund and the river front activity.

Whether it is in the daytime or at night, the views along the river are the same beautiful. The great modern skyscrapers and the characteristic buildings in different architectural styles are the best records of the development of the city and the Huangpu River, the birthplace of Shanghai, is the faithful eyewitness.

Tian’men Square, Forbidden City and Panda Zoo

Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world. It has long been a gathering place for locals and visitors alike. On the north side of the square is Tiananmen Gate (the Rostrum). It was from the balcony of the Rostrum on October 1, 1949 where Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party, proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The Forbidden City (Imperial Palace), directly behind the Rostrum, was home to 24 emperors. The entire complex consists of 8,706 rooms in which an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people lived including 3,000 eunuchs, as well as maids and concubines, all within 170 acres.

An essential highlight city tour to the Hutong area, this unique tour will be by pedicab (3-wheeled bicycle). The Hutong mostly built during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, are the narrow network of lanes created by closely built quadrangular homes.

Visit the Panda Section of Beijing Zoo.

Tour to the Great Wall

The Chinese name for the Great Wall is Wan Li Chang Cheng, or “the Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li.” The first sections were built as early as the fifth century B.C. when a number of Chinese states in the north were fighting against each other and occasionally against the northern “barbarian”. It was not until the unification of the empire under Qin Shi Huang Di in B.C. 221 that the various sections of the Wall were linked up. It is said that more than 300,000 men worked for ten years to complete it.

Drive to Northwest Beijing to visit The Summer Palace is one of the finest landmarks in Beijing. It has long been a royal garden and was considerably enlarged and embellished by Emperor Qianglong in the 18th century. It was later abandoned. Empress Dowager Cixi began rebuilding in 1888 using money that was supposedly reserved for the construction of a modern navy.

Tian’men Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven

Visit Temple of Heaven where twice a year the emperor expressed thanks for the previous harvest, and on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar year, he begged the gods of sun and moon, clouds and rain, and thunder and lightening to bless the coming harvest.

Ming Tombs & Great Wall

The Ming Tombs – the general name given to the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). The mausoleums have been perfectly preserved, as has the necropolis of each of the many emperors.

Tian’men Square, Forbidden City and Olympic Stadia

Visit two of the architectural masterpieces of the 2008 Olympic, the Birds Nest Stadium and Bubble Aquatic Centre.

Lama Temple & Hutong Tour

The Lama Temple, or Yonghegong, is the most handsome and impressive Buddhist temple in the city. The Lama Temple was originally the residence of prince Yongzheng, who later became Emperor. His mansion was converted into a temple in 1744 after he ascended the throne. One of the most prominent features of the temple is a huge, 23-meter-tall Maitreya Buddha, which was carved from the trunk of a white sandalwood tree.

Beijing’s Hutongs are alleyways and houses of traditional Beijing. Riding in a pedicab through this area is taking a step back in time. In Imperial days everyone lived around the Imperial City in low-rise courtyard style houses – often with the whole extended family living in one courtyard compound.

Terra Cotta Warriors, City Wall, Great Mosque & Old Town Bazaar

Uncovered in 1974 by peasants digging a well, the terra cotta warriors and Xian’s greatest and most important attraction. The first emperor of the Qin Dynast, Qin Shi Huangdi, ordered the making of the warriors. The estimated 8,000 terra cotta soldiers are a testament to his power and megalomania. Each figure is 5’10” tall and each head has been individually modeled with unique facial expressions.

After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall, creating the modern Xian City Wall. It’s the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

The Great Mosque is the best-known Islamic Mosque in Xian City. It was built in 742 A.D. (first year of Tian Bao of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong), being restored in each of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The distribution of pavilions, halls, towers and platforms in the mosque is compact and exquisite, blending the traditional architectural styles of Islam and Han.

Xian Museum, City Wall and Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Situated in Xian’s southern suburb, the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum – a striking Tang-Dynasty style pavilion, houses a large collection of 113,000 historic and cultural artifacts unearthed in Shaanxi.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), it functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.

Terra Cotta Wariorrs, Huaqing Hot Springs and Banpo Museum

Huaqing Hot Spring is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Emperor Xuanzong (685–762) and his concubine Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty (618–907).

The Banpo Museum is the first museum built for a ‘mankind site,’ a habitation site of early man. Its name comes from its location on the northern side of Banpo Village.

Hanyang Tomb & Foot Massage

The Hanyang Tomb is situated in the near north suburb of Xinxiang City in the southern part of Phoenix Mountain with deep springs nearby. This tomb is the best-preserved king tomb among the Qing tombs with the largest area within the country. The front part of the tomb area is a stone gateway in which there is a relievo: two dragons playing a pearl. Four big characters are carved in the horizontal plate: Lu Fan Jia Cheng (Nice Town of Lu Kingdom).

Enjoy a foot massage to end the tour.

Yangshou Day Tour

A day to enjoy a upstream cruise on the Lijiang River and be exposed to the indescribable beauty and scenery surrounding it. Disembark at a small village, where you will have chance to visit a local family. Continue drive up to Yangshuo, a small town, which has become something of the tourists. The relaxing pace of life here, friendly people, good food, scenic beauty, rice fields and clear streams, country roads for cycling, all make it the paradise for those who wish to get a rest from the harsher aspects of life in the big cities. You’ll have some free time to shop at the “Biggest Market of the World” before driving back.

Elephant Trunk Hill, Reed Flute Cave & Fubo Hill

As the symbol of Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill is located on the western bank of Li River Scenery. The shape of the hill is just like a huge elephant drinking water from the river with its trunk, so it is called Elephant Trunk Hill.

Shui Yue Cave (Water Moon Cave) is between the trunk and the legs, which is a semi-round cave penetrated by water. The inverted reflection of the cave in water plus the part above forms a full moon. This phenomenon is unique and many laudatory inscriptions were found on the wall inside the cave. Visitors can boat through the cave to the river.

Reed Flute Cave is a brilliant cave marked on almost all travel itineraries. The cave got its name from the verdant reeds growing outside it, with which people make flutes. Inside this water-eroded cave is a spectacular world of various stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations created by carbonate deposition.

Longji Rice Terraces

The Longji Terraces are located in Longsheng County about 2 hours from Guilin. The rice terraces are built into the hillsides. The terraces look like great chains or ribbons as they wind from the foot to the top of the hill. This ingenious construction makes best use of the scare arable land and water resources in the mountainous area. There are about 66 square kilometers terraced fields in southeast of Longsheng.

It is called *#8220;The champion of the terrace world”. It is the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces. The Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces is 27 kilometres from Longsheng County.