11 Days Small Group Tour of Beijing – Xi’an – Guilin – Yangshuo – Guilin – Shanghai

Welcome to join our tour to discover the true essence of China! After reclaiming your luggage at Beijing airport, you will be met by your guide outside customs, who will be holding a sign with your name on it. You will then be escorted to your hotel. Now some free time for you to rest and recover from the plane ride.
Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

At 08:30, a 30-minute tour briefing will be given in the hotel lobby and you will meet your traveling companions. Your guide will introduce the tour briefly and share some guidelines and tips for travelling in a group. You are welcome to ask any questions regarding the trip.
Your first stop today is Tiananmen Square, from where you will walk to the Forbidden City, one of the largest imperial palace complex in the world. Travelers are always impressed by its grand architecture featuring high red walls and golden roofs. Constructed during early Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD), this was the home of 24 emperors. There are many secrets about the place that contribute to its enigmatic vibes, like its capability of surviving 200 plus earthquakes intact through over 600 years of history. Follow your guide to take a look at roofs of the palaces, and you will find out a key to solve the mystery lies in those flexible joints used to connect small wooden strips to build the roofs. The main gist is to digest the whole kinetic energy and thus neutralize the impact of earthquakes. An example is the roof of Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperors’ throne hall, where you can find tens of thousands of those wooden strips.
★ We offer a special visit to the Treasury Gallery
A main feature about the Forbidden City would be its trove of priceless antiques. Today, we will have a special tour in the Treasury Gallery at the northeastern corner, where you get to witness the most luxury side of the imperial life from those historical relics on display.
★ A la carte welcome lunch is served with Peking Duck
You will enjoy an a la carte welcome lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price) at a carefully-selected restaurant that is popular even among locals. You get to taste some authentic Chinese foods, including Peking Roast Duck, a world-famous Beijing specialty and the restaurant’s signature dishes. The cook will carve the duck in front of you and teach you how to eat the slices. Hope you will enjoy!
In the afternoon, you will visit the Temple of Heaven, where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped the Gods of Heaven.Tonight, you will be entertained by the exciting Chinese Acrobatic Show at the Red Theater, which will draw a perfect period of the day tour. After appreciating the show, we will drive you back to hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte welcome lunch
Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

You might want to have a big breakfast at the hotel and prepare some snacks to provide you with energy, as you will spend much time on the Mutianyu Great Wall. It is the most splendid and one of the best preserved sections of the Great Wall of China, and less crowded if you compare it with its alternative, the Badaling section. You can take a round-trip cable car ride up and down from the wall with assistance of your guide. After getting down, your guide will invite you to drink a toast to your adventure with red wine.
► A warm reminder: At the Great Wall area, there are many peddlers selling souvenirs, but we suggest you just ignore them if you have no interest in their goods, otherwise they may persist in talking to you.
In the afternoon, we will go back downtown and drive by the National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest, for you to take pictures as mementos of this grand sports venue and a landmark of Beijing.
Then we will take you to enjoy a classic Hutong rickshaw tour, which allows you to experience the traditional Hutong alleys of Beijing and its old culture. Through the narrow winding lanes of Hutongs, you get to have a glimpse into the locals’ daily life. Then your tour here will culminate with a visit to a family in one of the courtyard houses lined on both sides of the alleys. Afterwards, we will drive you back to hotel.
Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

Before heading for the next city, you will get the opportunity to visit adorable gifts the nature bestowed up on us – giant pandas, in Panda Hall, Beijing Zoo. Then we will go to the Summer Palace, to take in the elegant landscape the largest imperial garden in China has to offer.
After having some local food for lunch, you will take a flight to the ancient city of Xi’an. Upon arrival, you will be driven to your hotel. Your guide will help you with the check-in procedure and introduce the hotel layout to you so that you will have a pleasant and enjoyable stay.
Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Xi’an

Today you will be driven to the suburb area to marvel at the spectacle of the Terracotta Army for the whole morning. Dubbed as the eighth wonder of the world, it is certainly one of the highlights of your 11 days China tour package. Witness a great army made of terracotta or bronze serving the afterlife of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC), the first emperor in China’s history. About these terracotta figures, one thing that never fails to capture everyone’s attention is their enigmatic lifelike details – take a close look to notice they all have single-edged eyelids, which were perhaps crafted so to make the whole army more formidable or less cute. Now, at a newly-set permanent exhibition hall, you can examine the details right in front of each warrior preserved within glass cases, among 230 collections, many of which have never been shown to the world before! All the relics are the most valuable and representative archaeological finds ever excavated, and how they are arranged to demonstrate in-depth Emperor Qin’s daily life and Qin people’s craftsmanship will blow your mind. With your guide, wonder at and gain more insights through the lately-introduced bronze cranes, colored figures, and gold and silver artifacts.

What makes us different:
1. Pay a visit to the discoverer of the first terracotta warrior
We will arrange a special family visit for you to the home of Mr. Yang Zhifa, the discoverer of the very first terracotta warrior. The hoe and the cart that he used to dig and carry the warrior are still well preserved and can be examined in his house. Have a short talk with him or his family, and get to know how this surprising discovery changed their life.
2. Make your own miniature warrior and take it home
Making a terracotta warrior figure was quite complicated and time-consuming in Qin Dynasty. You will come to a local workshop to hear the detailed procedure from a local traditional artisan. Then, you will have a unique experience of making your own mini warrior figure under his help. It takes around 40 minutes and, with the help of molds, would be not that difficult. Of course, you can take your cute masterpiece home to memorize this special moment.
Continue your exploration to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, a renowned Buddhist temple built in the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) missioned to introduce Buddhism. But the real use may go beyond that. The pagoda is also called the Da Ci’en Pagoda, which Ci’en in Chinese means the kindness of the loving mother, so its founding reflects Tang Emperor Gaozong’s memory of his deceased mother when he was still the crown prince. With your guide, you will delve into other imperial stories of the temple.  During dinner time, you will be invited to a theater to enjoy a traditional dumpling dinner and a splendid Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show.
The trip for today reaches its end. Now we will drive you back to your hotel.
Travel Tip: Guests visiting in Jan, Feb, Mar and Dec need to arrange dinner and evening activities on your own for today, since the theater is usually unavailable during these periods.
Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Dumpling dinner
Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Xi’an