8 Day tour of China

Day 01, Sunday

Depart from hometown on United Airlines, Northwest or Cathay Pacific flight CX881 for Hongkong, departing Los Angeles at 11:20pm. Please make sure to check your baggage all the way to Beijing!

Day 03 , Monday Beijing
Upon arrival at Hongkong at 06:45am, make a direct connection to Dragon Air flight KA900 departing Hongkong at 08:00am arriving at Beijing at 10:55am. Our guide will meet you on arrival and transfer you to The Grand Hotel. The remainder of the day is on your own to rest and recuperates from the long journey. meals are served on board or are on your own.

Day 04, Tuesday

After a full American breakfast our guide will pick you up for a full day tour to the Summer Palace and Lama Temple, with a Chinese lunch to be provided en-route.

The SUMMER PALACE is Located approximately twelve kilometers to the northwest of Beijing's city proper, it was first built in 1750 and rebuilt in 1886. An outstanding example of imperial gardens in classical Chinese style, the Summer Palace spreads on an area of 2.9 million square meters, three fourths of which are water surfaces. Its major attractions are the Wanshou (Longevity) Hill and the Kunming (Jade Spring) Lake. The garden is a showcase of pavilions in diversified, exotic designs, which are strung together by a corridor more than seven hundred meters in length and a seemingly unending chain of balustrades of snow-white marble. With western hills simmering in the background, the Summer Palace is strewn with postcard-perfect scenes, including the Yuquan (Jade Spring) Pagoda, the Kunming Lake, and the bridge with seventeen arches. The huge garden's artistic style, which is at once kaleidoscopic and harmonious, is attributable to the unknown designers' ingenious landscaping skills.

YONGHEGONG LAMASERY ... Situated in the Eastern District of Beijing, the Yonghegong Lamasery was first built in 1694. It was the largest lamasery in Beijing and the center for major Lamaist activities in and around the capital. The entire complex, built in a style that incorporates the architectural elements of the Hans, Mongols, Manchus and Tibetans, is a maze of pavilions and towers, looking elegant and lofty with curving eaves and ridged rooftops. The lamasery is famous for its three treasures: a 26-metre-high statue of Maitreya (the Smiling Buddha) carved out of a single sandalwood trunk; the miniature "Mountain of Five Hundred arhats" made of gold, silver, copper, iron and tin; and a shrine made of Nanmu, a precious hardwood with golden veins. (B/L)

Day 05, Wednesday

After breakfast you will again be picked up for a full day tour to the Great Wall and Ming Tomb, with a Chines lunch to be provided.

10,000-LI GREAT WALL ... reputedly 10,000 li long, it covers a total length of 6,350 kilo-meters from the shore of the Yalu River in the east to Jiayu Pass in the west, but the Shanhaiguan-Jiayuguan section is regarded as its main body. Construction of this

formidable defense work began in the seventh century B.C. After it was brought to completion during the reign of Qinshihuang, the founding emperor of the Qin Dynasty, it was extended repeatedly in later dynastic periods until the Ming Dynasty. The best preserved and most imposing-looking section of the wall is found at Badaling in Beijing.

MING TOMBS (DINGLING UNDERGROUND PALACE) ... At the southern foot of the Tianshou Mountain in the northern part of Changping county, Beijing, lie the tombs of thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Arranged in a gigantic semi-circle, they are known as Shisanling or Thirteen Ming Tombs. Most famous of these tombs is the Dingling, which features an underground palace now for public viewing.

The Dingling was the tomb for Zhu Yijun, or Emperor Shenzong, and his two empresses. Covering a total floor space of 1,195 square meters, the underground palace was a gigantic assemblage of vaulted halls fashioned out of masonry. The arched passageways that conduct to the various chambers is graced with exquisitely chiselled stone carvings. (B/L)

Day 06, Thursday

After breakfast our guide will pick you up for a full day tour to the Forbidden and The Temple of Heaven. A Chinese lunch will be served.

FORBIDDEN CITY ... The Palace Museum, known as "Forbidden City" in bygone days, was situated in the middle of Beijing's meridian line. Built during the 1406-1420 period, it had served as the imperial palace for the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the intervening years twenty-four emperors had lived in this compound with its hoard of 1.05 million rare and precious cultural relics. Sprawling on an area of 720,000 square meters, its seventy-odd palaces and 9,000-plus houses totaling a floor space of 150,000 square meters, it is the largest palace ever discovered in this world and one of mankind's major cultural legacies. All the palaces are providently laid out in a symmetrical fashion.

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN (TIANTAN) ... Situated in Chongwen District, Tiantan or Temple of Heaven, is a 2.7 million-square-meter affair which was first constructed in 1420 as the venue for emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray to Heaven for good harvests. The worldwide fame of Tiantan is attributed to its well-disciplined layout and unique, elegantly ornamented architecture structures. The Qiniandian, or Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, is the centerpiece of Tiantan; built in a unique Chinese style, it is a circular wooden structure 38 meters in height and 32 meters in diameter, with a triple conical roof topped with a huge gold-plated cupola. (B/L)

Day 07, Friday BEIJING/XIAN

After breakfast our guide will transfer you to the airport for your Air China International flight CA 1215 departing at 0735am arriving at Xian at 0910am. On arrival you will be met and taken on tour visiting the famous Terracotta warriors, ending at The Golden Flower Hotel Lunch will be served After lunch you will enjoy a city tour to Banpo Museum and city wall..

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS ... Among the numerous pits for buried objects at the Qinshihuang Mausoleum, three are devoted to Terracotta warriors 1.5 kilometers from the mausoleum. From the space of 14,260 square meters of Pit One, a total of 6,000 life-size Terracotta warriors and horses are discovered in an awesome military formation, with the figurines aligned in 38 lines behind a three-row vanguard. More than 1,000 Terracotta warriors and horse-drawn chariots are found in the 6,000-square-metre Pit Two. The 500-square-metre space of Pit Three features a chariot and 66 warriors, arranged in what looks like the command headquarters of the military formation. All the warriors are touching in graceful imagery and lifelike conception.

BANPO MUSEUM (BANPO VILLAGE RUINS) ... The ruins, discovered north of Banpo Village on the eastern outskirts of Xian, belong to a typical matriarchal commune in the Yellow River basin more than 6,000 years ago. Covering an area of about 50,000 square meters, the site is divided into a residential quarter, a pottery-making zone and a burial ground.

CITY WALL OF XIAN ... The moated Xian city wall as it stands today was built during the early years of the Ming Dynasty on the basis of the former Chang'an city, the Tang-dynasty capital. The only large city wall completely preserved in China, the Ian City wall laid out on an oblong plane stands 12 meters tall and 11.9 kilometers in circumference. The wall is 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 meters wide at the bottom. A total of 5,894 crenels are built along the outer edge of the wall, and the inner edge has no crenels at all. Ninety-eight "horse-faced" mounds stand protruding from the wall, each with a pavilion built on it, and a turret stands on each of the four corners. Sitting atop each of the four city gates is the Frontal Tower, the Arrow Tower and the Side Tower and the Side Tower. People cannot take a walk on the City Wall or go angling in the moat. (B/L)

Day 08, Saturday 08 Nov. XIAN/GUILIN/HONG KONG

After breakfast the morning is your own until lunch. After lunch at the hotel our guide will transfer you to the airport for your flight on Air China International CA1375 departing for Guilin at 4:45pm arriving there at 6:45pm You will make a direct connection to Dragon Air flight KA701 departing Guilin at 9:15pm arriving at Hongkong at 10:25pm. At Hongkong you will transfer to your homeward bound flight. (B/L)

Optional stay in Hongkong can be arranged as well as extending tour to Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Flight schedules and times and pricing subject to change and availability at time of booking.
Contact us for 1999/2000 conditions.

See: Cancellation Fee Waiver
See: Terms & conditions.

Participants may purchase land programs only without airfare in case frequent flyer miles and the like is able to be used. In that case call for pricing.

See S.E Asia page