Arrival in Beijing
Welcome to Beijing. You will be greeted by your guide who will help you transfer to your hotel. You are at your leisure for the rest of the day, relax and enjoy the evening.
Visit Shanghai
Today's city tour starts with a visit to Cheng Huang Miao, you will also experience the bustling shopping district of Nanjing Road and People's Square and use your bargaining skills to acquire memento for this visit. After shopping, spend some free time at Shanghai Museum. You can easily spend a few hours to examine its rich and high-quality collection of ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, with special exhibites and collection of 120,000 precious works of art, this museum has become one of the best in China. Tonight you will have local Shanghai Cuisine as farewell dinner party.
Visit Beijing
Forbidden City (the Imperial Palaces) Beijing, the capital city of China, is its second largest city with a population of 17.4 million. Your full day tour begins at Tiananmen Square (Gate of Heavenly Peace), one of the largest public squares in the world, and includes the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of History and Revolution, and Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall (where Mao's embalmed body lies). Next, you will tour the Forbidden City (Gu Gong or The Imperial Palaces), established as the capital by the third Ming Emperor, YongLe in early 1400 and serving as the imperial palace for Ming and Qing emperors for 500 years. The Summer Palace is described by UNESCO as "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design". Enjoy a walk along Lake Kunming, and, after a long day of sightseeing, refresh yourself with a fabulous Peking Duck Banquet (Kao Ya). You'll be served carved crispy duck skins; roll them up in small pancakes with cucumber, onion, and special sauce for a mouth-watering experience that you won't forget.
Visit Beijing
Today, you'll visit the Great Wall of China, a world heritage site, considered to be one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Visiting the great wall is a dream destination for millions of Chinese and for people around the world who wish to fulfill the famous Chinese saying: "One cannot be a successful person without a visit to the Great Wall of China." A stone monument on the site bears the late Chairman Mao's inscription of the same phrase in Chinese. Hike along the Badaling Pass of the Great Wall, where President Richard Nixon and his wife visited on February 24, 1972, during his historic journey to China. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant, followed by a visit to a historic area of old town Beijing, where you will see the Hu Tong, narrow alleys formed between traditional residences. The Hu Tong are residential neighborhoods, and here you will experience the many different sights and sounds of historic Beijing. Take a walk along the World Trade Street, in The Place, a trendy lifestyle shopping mall.
Visit Beijing
Explore the capital city of China on your own today, or take the optional 'Tianjin-one-day-tour.' Tianjin is the sixth largest city of China, only 30 minutes away from Beijing by Maglev (magnetic levitation) train. A number of famous snack items are available in Tianjin, including Goubuli, a traditional brand of steamed buns with a tasty filling that is famous throughout China. Another treat is Guifaxiang, a traditional brand of mahua (twisted dough sticks). Visit Ancient Culture Street, a 580-meter-long street full of Qing Dynasty architecture. After stopping at Yangliuqing (Green Willows) Museum famous for its popular Chinese New Year-themed, traditional-style, colorful Wash Paintings, head back to Beijing.
Beijing/Xian
Today, visit the Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan), where the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed annual ceremonies, praying to heaven for a good harvest. You will see gardens and pavilions where citizens of Beijing practice Tai Chi, play classical musical instruments, perform songs and dances, or participate in a game of Chinese chess. Walk along New Qianmen Street and admire up close the beautiful Bird's Nest National Stadium and the Beijing National Aquatics Center, better known as the Water Cube. Later in the day, you will catch a flight to Xian, known as Chang'an in the old days, the starting point of the historic Silk Road. You'll visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Da Yan Ta), the most distinctive landmark in Xian, constructed for a Tang dynasty (618-907) Buddhist monk, Xuan Zang, whose pilgrimage to India was immortalized in the famous Chinese classical novel, "Journey to the West." The pagoda at Xian was used to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought back from India. Xuan Zang asked 50 hierarchs to the temple to translate Sanskrit sutras into Chinese. The translation of these 1,335 volumes heralded a new era in the history of translation. After dinner, you can stroll down to the Muslim district to see traditional Muslim culture alive in Xian.
Visit Xian
Xian, the former capital of many Chinese dynasties, has a rich history dating back thousands of years. It is believed that prehistoric Lantian man lived here 500,000 years ago. The first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, unified China in 201 BC and significantly influenced Chinese history. When he died, an entire Terra Cotta Army was buried with the emperor in his mausoleum. Chinese historians had documented this mausoleum, but it wasn't until 1974 that a team of farmers accidentally uncovered the site, one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. You will see this army, sometimes known as the 8th wonder of the world, when you visit the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum (Bing Ma Yong). The museum is a cultural treasure vault with extensive collections of ancient relics. After a stop at the Bell Tower, enjoy an Imperial Dumpling Banquet (Jiao Zi) and then watch the world famous Tang Dynasty Stage Show. Your visit to Xian is not complete without a visit to the Ancient City Wall (Cheng Qiang). Xi'an's 14th-century wall is one of the most complete city walls in China and certainly one of the best examples from the Ming dynasty.
Xi'an/Shanghai
Welcome to Shanghai. You will be greeted by your guide who will help you transfer to your hotel. You are at your leisure for the rest of the day, relax and enjoy the evening.
Departure from Shanghai
Transfer to the airport for your flight home.
