Impression China

After breakfast at your hotel, set off with your guide and driver to Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of China and a witness to its remarkable journey from poverty to prosperity. Stroll across this historical plaza and admire national landmarks like the Monument to the People’s Heroes, National Museum, Great Hall of the People, and Tiananmen Tower.

Proceed northward, and we’ll reach the Forbidden City, renowned worldwide as the residence and workplace of 24 emperors from 1368 to 1911 AD. Here, golden roofs, white marble balustrades, vermilion pillars and walls, and intricate wood carvings all showcase the extravagance of imperial life. Yet it is hard to imagine that, living in such a lavish palace, the average lifespan of these emperors was merely 40 years, shorter than that of many nobles and officials of their time. While medical limitations played a part, external factors like intense work stress, power struggles, and debauchery also drove the unnatural death rates to a striking 30%. To put it in today’s context, an emperor was basically a CEO, a president, and a superstar all in one. With that in mind, does the life of an emperor still seem enviable to you?After a local-flavor lunch, let’s move to the Temple of Heaven, the world’s largest and most intact sacrificial complex. Wandering among the towering ancient cypresses, you’ll not only learn about the ancient Heaven worship culture, but also get a glimpse of a corner of local life.

★ Appreciate a Fabulous Acrobatics Show

Next, we’ll invite you to enjoy an hour-long traditional Chinese acrobatic show at the Red Theater. While watching stunts like contortion, hoop diving, tightrope walking, and motorcycle riding, you’ll be amazed by performers’ flexible bodies, strong balance, and rapid reflexes. Little do you know that they put in tremendous efforts behind the scenes: contortionists practice leg stretches and backbends as young as 5 to 6; tightrope walkers practice not just balance but also jumping rope and doing somersaults on the rope.

★ A La Carte Welcome Dinner with Peking Duck

After the show, we’ll delight your palate with a welcome dinner at a handpicked local restaurant, valued twice the local average and included in our price. Especially check the Peking Duck, a cultural symbol of both Beijing and China. For the perfect bite, wrap the crispy duck with fresh scallions and cucumber to cut through the greasiness. Also, you’re welcome to sample other Beijing classics, such as Noodles with Soybean Paste, to your taste. 

Afterward, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, lunch, a la carte welcome dinner with Peking Duck

After meeting in your hotel lobby, your guide and driver will accompany you to Mutianyu Great Wall, the longest section of its kind in China. There, a round-trip cable car ride is included to make your visit easier. Alternatively, you can choose the chairlift up and experience the thrilling toboggan ride down - also fully included at no extra cost.

During your 2.5-hour hike on the wall, you’ll notice that this section has crenels on both sides, unlike most others that only have them on the outer side. This wasn’t a design flaw; rather, it was a strategic upgrade. Once in 1550, the Mongol forces disguised themselves and infiltrated the interior, coordinating with allies outside the wall to breach it and deal a heavy blow to the imperial court. Learning from this, the emperor ordered crenels on both sides – similar to the circular defense walls of medieval European mountaintop castles – to ensure a full, unobstructed defense. Peering through these openings, you can fancy soldiers standing in the very same position 500 years ago, monitoring the enemy situation and guarding their homeland.

★ Special Inclusion:

As you descend to the base, we’ll serve you glasses of fine red wine and raise a toast to your memorable Great Wall adventure.

After a lunch buffet, we’ll return to the urban area and make a brief photo stop at the iconic National Stadium and National Aquatic Center, nicknamed the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube for their distinctive architectural designs.

★ Special Treat: Hutong Rickshaw Tour & Family Visit

As we enter the time-honored Hutong alleys, we’ll enjoy a delightful rickshaw ride. Nowadays, rickshaws are generally pedal- or electric-powered, making the carter’s work far less strenuous. However, in the early 20thcentury, the vehicles were pulled entirely on foot, with pullers often covering 50-80 kilometers (31-50 miles) a day, matching the speed of horse-drawn carriages. Due to excessive physical exertion, many rickshaw runners did not live beyond 40. After the ride, let’s step into a traditional quadrangle courtyard to gain insights into the local family culture that once housed multiple generations under one roof, or the stories behind the alleys.

Wrap up the day with a relaxing car ride back to your hotel with your guide and driver.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, buffet lunch

This morning, accompanied by your guide and driver, head to Summer Palace, an imperial garden that masterfully blends picturesque natural landscape with classical Chinese architecture. Stroll along the lakeside Long Corridor to appreciate its 14,000 exquisite paintings and climb up Longevity Hill for a panoramic view of the entire garden.

After lunch, your guide and driver will see you to the platform at Beijing’s railway station, and along with a porter, help you board the high-speed train to Xi’an. The distance between the two cities is roughly comparable to that between New York and Chicago, yet at 350 km/h (217 mph), the journey takes only about five hours. China’s high-speed rail network spreads like a spiderweb, connecting almost all its cities, with a total operational mileage exceeding 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles), longer than the rest of the world’s rail lines combined. When you learn that its first high-speed train debuted as recently as 2008, this figure becomes even more astonishing.

Upon arrival in Xi’an, your local guide and driver will pick you up at the station’s exit and escort you to your hotel.

► Free-time Inspiration:
Tonight, consider exploring the Great Tang All Day Mall, Xi’an’s liveliest nightlife hub. It’s just a 3-minute walk from our private tour’s 5-star hotel, while a 20-minute taxi ride from our other hotels. Strolling along this 2.1-km (1.3-mile) block, with ancient-style architecture and costumed performers mingling with the crowd, you might feel as if you’ve been transported back to the prosperous 7th-century Chinese capital.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, lunch

Start today with a hotel pickup by your guide and driver, then leave for the Terracotta Army Museum, the burial complex of Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC), China’s first emperor. Before you stand 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors in neat rows, all in earthy tones. Surprisingly, they were originally blazed with color: pink faces, purple robes, and black armor - just as the white marble sculptures of ancient Greece, which were also once vividly painted. Yet within minutes of excavation, those pigments oxidized and faded, vanishing like magic. The loss of color is a great pity for the human cultural heritage. Given the current limits of conservation technology, the museum has chosen not to open the emperor’s underground palace, which is said to contain untold gold and silver treasures and mercury rivers. Leaving these relics intact for future generations with better techniques is a wiser, more responsible choice. After the visit, let’s have lunch in a local restaurant.

★ Featured Inclusion 1: Visit the Home of the Discoverer

With your guide, visit the home of the farmer who discovered the first terracotta warrior in 1974. Through the hoes and shovels used to dig, the wooden cart that transported the warrior, and the photos and newspapers on display in the living room, trace the entire story of this historic find.

★ Featured Inclusion 2: Make Your Own Mini Terracotta Warrior

Learn to DIY a mini pottery figurine at a local workshop. Under the expert guidance of a skilled craftsman, use the mold to shape the basic form, a knife to refine the details, and then personalize it by inscribing your name at the base to transform it into a one-of-a-kind souvenir that’s truly yours. In the afternoon, move back downtown and admire the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, one of Xi’an’s most important Buddhist landmarks. Built some 1,300 years ago, the pagoda was commissioned at the request of the famed monk Xuanzang as a depository and translation center for the Buddhist scriptures he brought back from India. Intriguingly, ancient people believed that this pagoda could bestow wisdom, so much so that some parents once even dug soil from its foundation for their children in hopes of scholarly success.

★ Sumptuous Dumpling Dinner with Dynastic Dance Show

This evening, we’ll treat you to a dumpling banquet with a captivating Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show that retraces Wu Zetian’s (624 - 705 AD) rise to become China’s first and only female emperor. The performance brings to life female officials well-versed in history, politics, poetry, and court etiquette, including the first female chancellor appointed by Wu Zetian. Together, they built a golden age, but their achievements and talents were long overshadowed by a male-written history. This show offers them the long-overdue coronation.

Finally, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, lunch, dumpling dinner

In the morning, depart from your hotel with your guide and driver and go to the City Wall Park for a stroll. Stretching along the moat, this green buffer surrounds the old city, filtering out the fast pace and bustle of modern life and leaving behind only tranquility. 

★ Special Inclusion: 

Here, we’ll have a shadowboxing master to guide you through this Chinese martial art that combines gentle movements and meditation.

Following that, let’s climb the 600-year-old City Wall, an impressive fortification. Having witnessed centuries of dynastic strife, it is much like Croatia’s Dubrovnik Walls, which served as the filming location for ‘Game of Thrones’. Stand on it and enjoy sweeping views of the old buildings inside and modern edifices outside. If you’re interested, you can also rent a bicycle at your own expense with your guide’s assistance and enjoy a leisurely ride on the wall.

Next, we’ll make our way to the Muslim Quarter, Xi’an’s most celebrated food hub. Here, we’ll satisfy your taste buds with an a la carte lunch at a notable local restaurant. Take the chance to savor authentic local specialties, such as Xi’an Ribbon Pasta, Cold Noodles, and glutinous rice cake with jujubes.

After the meal, weave through the bustling streets and enter the Great Mosque. Unlike the domed spires you might expect, this sanctuary, from the chapel to the minaret, is entirely constructed in traditional Chinese wooden style. Strolling through it, you’ll feel as if you are not in a religious site but rather in a beautifully laid-out Chinese garden. 

Our last destination today will be the Shaanxi History Museum, a UNESCO-recognized first-class museum boasting a collection of 1.7 million historical relics. One of the must-sees here is the Tang tri-colored glazed pottery, the most representative art style of China from the 7th to 10th centuries, so named for its signature green, yellow, and white hues. Camels and horses appear in most of the works. That’s because the emperors’ passion for horses at that time sparked a craze among the nobility, prompting craftsmen to mass-produce horse figurines for profit. Camels, as the key link between China and Central Asia along the Silk Road, were equally prized. 

At the end of the day, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, a la carte local food lunch

Today, pack your things at your hotel, then your guide and driver will escort you to Xi’an’s railway station for a high-speed train to Chengdu. Roughly 3.5 hours later, your Chengdu guide and driver will meet you at the terminal and escort you to your hotel for check-in.

► Free-time Inspiration:
For the remainder of the day, consider taking a 15-minute walk from your hotel to Taikoo Li, Chengdu’s most typical commercial district, with sleek glass facades interwoven with quaint blue-tiled structures. It is home to many international brands, as well as fashionable boutiques and restaurants, perfect for passing the time and soaking up the city’s trendy vibe.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

In the company of your guide and driver, pay a morning visit to the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which is revered as the modern-day ‘Noah’s Ark’ for China’s national treasure animals. Everywhere you look, there are chubby black-and-white fur balls. Among the over 200 panda residents here, Hua Hua especially steals the spotlight. Distinctly more petite than her peers, she is easy to identify - her silhouette most resembles a triangular rice ball. Thanks to its gentle nature and excellent ability to interact with tourists, it attracted legions of fans and gradually rose to the position of the local ‘Tourism Bureau Director’. 

This afternoon, let’s go on our sightseeing to the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, a memorial site dedicated to one of China’s greatest poets of the 8th century. Take your time to admire the tranquil garden and elegant pavilions with flying eaves. Walk into a small lakeside cottage to discover the everyday life of this celebrated literary figure.

Our next stop is the People’s Park, the locals’ favorite retreat to kill time. Here, we’ll sit in a teahouse, sipping the authentic lidded-bowl tea while listening to the murmur of local dialects in the air. Then follow the path to the famous matchmaking corner, where many parents gather with their children’s resumes and chat with each other. Unlike the Western emphasis on individual choice in love and marriage, in China, they are not just a matter between two people, but a union between two families. Therefore, parents take on the role of matchmakers, set up ‘stalls’ in public, and use the most direct way to find a suitable partner for their children.

After that, venture into the Wide and Narrow Alleys. It used to be a residential area over 300 years ago, but now numerous chic boutiques, cafes, and snack bars have settled in. If you like, pay for yourself and try some of the local snacks, such as roasted sweet potato starch sheets and sugar oil cakes. At last, your guide and driver will offer you a comfy ride back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

This morning, your guide and driver will greet you at your hotel and escort you to Chengdu’s railway station for your high-speed train bound to Chongqing. After arriving in 2 hours, your local guide and driver in Chongqing will pick you up at the station and accompany you on a brief tour of this 8D magical city - built along the mountains, with buildings, roads, and tracks crisscrossing each other like a rotating cube, making it easy to get lost. 

First, we’ll spot the train zoom through the residential heart at Liziba Light Rail Station. Why not route the rail around the homes? Chongqing’s mountainous and river-fringed terrain calls for the design. Moreover, sound barriers and shock-absorbing facilities are installed on both sides of the track to keep noise disturbance to residents’ lives to a minimum. On the viewing platform, join the Chinese visitors to take a creative shot of ‘eating the light rail’. Next, make for Kuixing Tower, once a sacred site where ancient scholars prayed for success in the imperial exams. Standing on the square before it, you might think you’re at ground level, but if you look down from the railing, you’ll find that you’re actually on the 20th floor. Following is the Hongya Cave, where a cluster of stilted houses seems to float on the cliffside. If time permits, pop into the complex to explore local culinary delights such as bean curd pudding and Chongqing Noodles at your own expense.

★ Yangtze River Cruise Invitation

It’s now time to board a luxury cruise ship that boasts top-class facilities and services to commence your 4-day and 3-night Yangtze River journey. Apart from unwinding in the cabin with a private balcony, you’ll enjoy a sumptuous buffet dinner over a welcome wine party hosted by the captain tonight, as well as themed meals, abundant complimentary beverages, and late-night snacks each day over the coming days. At approximately 21:00, the ship will officially sound its horn and set sail. 

► Cruise Options: Luxury & Standard
For group tour guests, we offer the above-mentioned luxury Century Cruise, while private tour guests can flexibly make their own choices between luxury and standard cruises. Both of them follow the same cruising route, but slightly differ in the onshore excursions, and the standard cruise does not include tonight’s welcome dinner and the daily late-night snacks. If you opt for a standard cruise, you can have a light bite at Hongya Cave before boarding or prepare some snacks in advance. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, buffet dinner

When arriving at Fengdu County today, we’ll go ashore to visit the Ghost City, where the Chinese-style ghost sculptures and underworld architecture await your exploration. Unlike the Western idea of hell, which merely imprisons evil monsters, the Chinese underworld also confines ordinary people who have committed sins in life. Its ruler is not a demon like Satan, but a judge who weighs the dead’s earthly deeds and decides their fate - immortality, rebirth as human or animal, or torture in hell.
► FYI: Instead of Ghost City, luxury cruise guests can also choose to go ashore to Xiaoguanshan Ancient Folk Culture Park to visit restored ancient architectural complexes and experience folk cultural activities. Standard cruise guests will disembark at Shuanggui Mountain, a forest oxygen bar stop, to dive into heritage sites like an old literary memorial hall, a traditional academy, and the ‘No.1 Soul’ stele.

Then back on board and take a lunch break. To add a dash of excitement to your afternoon, the cruise company offers a variety of cultural activities, including kite-flying, lectures on the Three Gorges we’ll cruise through tomorrow, and scarf-tying. Just participate in whatever sparks your interests!

Following the buffet dinner on board, the luxury cruise guests can step ashore to enjoy a 70-minute live performance ‘War Fire of the Three Kingdoms’. The standard cruise fare does not include this show, but if you’re interested, you can book the ticket directly on-site to enjoy it.

Meals: Full board served in buffet style

Continuing downstream along the Yangtze River, we’ll encounter the breathtaking Three Gorges - Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge, and Xiling Gorge. Legend has it that it originated from an ancient occasion when a heroic leader, amid a flood, led the locals to chisel through the mountains, clearing a channel for the raging waters to surge forth.

As we navigate the picturesque Wu Gorge, we’ll dock and walk a short path to a transfer point. Along the way, you’ll see villagers sell wild mushrooms, fungus, and homegrown plums by the roadside - harvests they’ve carried in baskets downhill to market for generations. Once on the sampan, slip into a tributary, the Goddess Stream, known for its narrow gorges, clear water, and hidden caves. On sunny days, the sun slanted across the hills, splitting the river in gold and deep shadow, transforming its surface into a flowing canvas of light.

Upon our return to the cruise ship in two to three hours, the captain will host a farewell party for you, complete with a buffet meal and artistic performances.

Meals: Full board served in buffet style

As the morning light wakes you up, pack your belongings and step ashore to marvel at the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project. The Yangtze, as China’s mother river, has nourished civilizations along its banks for millennia, yet its waters have also brought devastation to homes and harvests. To ‘tame’ it, the Chinese built the dam, ending the scourge of flooding and opening a deep-water route that lets giant freighters reach the inland. However, behind the engineering marvel lie countless human stories of loss and reconstruction: 1.3 million people bid farewell to their ancestral homes - farmers put down their hoes to enter urban factories, shopkeepers closed their doors for city jobs, and the elderly struggled with unfamiliar lives in their twilight years. For them, their hometown is no longer just a point on a map, but a fading legend told to the younger generation.

Afterward, the cruise company will escort you to the Three Gorges Tourist Center in Yichang City, where your local guide and driver will then accompany you to the railway station for a 6.5-hour high-speed train to Shanghai with a first-class seat. Due to the tight schedule, you’ll have no time for a sit-down lunch. But rest assured that we’ll prepare a complimentary boxed lunch, including a burger, fresh fruit, and a soft drink, for your journey. On arrival in Shanghai, your local guide and driver will meet you at the exit and escort you to your hotel for check-in.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, packed lunch for the train

After receiving morning greetings from your guide and driver at your hotel, head straight for Yu Garden, a 460-year-old classical Chinese oasis nestled quietly amid Shanghai’s jungle of steel and concrete. Wandering along its zigzag paths, scattered rockeries, still ponds, and gorgeous pavilions, you might realize that the garden’s design was born from an era when entertainment was scarce, and imagination filled the gaps. Pause to find a perfect angle to capture both antique upturned eaves and distant glass skyscrapers into one frame. Outside the garden lies Yuyuan Bazaar, bustling with both locals and tourists. Here, feel free to explore local flavors, such as soup dumplings and scallion oil noodles, at your own expense. 

Next up is the Shanghai Museum, housing an extensive collection of ancient Chinese art, especially bronze and ceramic artifacts. While the ancient Greeks cast bronze into cold weapons for warfare, in China, this medium blossomed into a completely different artistic flower. Look closely at one of the museum’s highlights, the 200-kg bronze Da Ke Tripod, which has inner-wall inscriptions recording the joy of receiving an imperial reward. Today, 3,000 years later, we can still share that moment of glory through the glass.

The afternoon belongs to the Bund, where 52 European-style buildings stand along the Huangpu River, forming Shanghai’s most iconic 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) promenade. Walking here, you don’t just see a cityscape, but feel the city’s financial pulse. Yet unlike Wall Street, which was proactively consolidated through the capital power, the Bund was opened involuntarily in the 19th century and gradually grew into an Eastern financial center with the arrival of foreign enterprises and consulates.

★ Huangpu River Cruise: Meet the New Skyline and the Old Memory

Let’s now enjoy an hour-long cruise and get a fresh look at the city from midstream. As you gaze at the eastern shore, where the Oriental Pearl Tower looks like a gem embedded in the clouds, and the Shanghai Tower pierces the sky in a spiral shape, you can hardly picture that just before 1990, this skyline was merely a stretch of marshland and farmland. Nevertheless, if you ask a Shanghainese, “Where is the real Shanghai?”, most would point to the west side with colonial-era stone-gate houses and timeless neighborhoods, for it is there that the city’s most complete memory resides.

After the cruise, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel. You can also stay and take in the Bund’s night views on your own, and finally take a 10-minute, USD 7 taxi ride back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Say goodbye to China today. For private tour guests, we’ll provide a comfortable escort from your hotel to either Pudong (PVG) or Hongqiao International Airport (SHA). Group tour guests, however, need to arrange their own transportation to the airport. Thank you for traveling with us! We can also cover other popular destinations in China, such as Guilin and Zhangjiajie, in your itinerary. We welcome your inquiries anytime!

► Transport Reference: 
1. To Pudong Airport: For subway, take Line 12 from the International Cruise Terminal station, an 8-minute walk away from your hotel, transfer to the inner loop of Line 4 at Dalian Road station, switch to Line 2 at Century Avenue station, and then get off at the airport. The whole trip takes 1 to 1.5 hours and costs around USD 1. A taxi ride takes about 1 hour and costs around USD 30.
2. To Hongqiao Airport: Get on subway Line 12 at the International Cruise Terminal station, alight at Tiantong Road station, and then transfer to Line 10 to reach the airport. It takes about an hour and costs approximately 70 US cents. Alternatively, a taxi will get you there in 40-60 minutes for around USD 15.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast