Day 1 - October 3rd - Saturday
USA / International Date Line
Depart from the U.S.
Day 2 - October 4th - Sunday
Beijing
Evening arrival in Beijing, China's second-largest city and capital for 700 years. Here you will have the opportunity to visit sites that connect the illustrious past of imperial China with the modernizing present of the People's Republic.
Beijing International Hotel
Day 3 - October 5th - Monday (B, L, D)
Beijing
You will take an extended tour of the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, which is the largest example of Chinese architecture in existence and contains palaces, pavilions, gates and chambers and is surrounded by a wall and moat. Visit the world’s largest plaza, Tian An Men, where the first flag of the People’s Republic of China was raised in 1949. View the impressive monuments, museums and parade grounds of Tian An Men. Lecture on China’s “One Child Policy” by representatives of the China Population Information and Research Center. View the perfection of Ming architecture, the Temple of Heaven where shape, color and sound take on symbolic significance.
Beijing International Hotel
"Learning about China's people, its culture, its history through the national
and local guides was what I liked most about my Learning Vacation to China.
The guides shared their knowledge of China with pride and enthusiasm. My
mind is richer for learning China's long history and my heart is kinder for
learning more about its people and its culture. I return to the United
States as an unofficial ambassador to China. I encourage others to go to
China and become enlightened."
China - L Noblin, TX
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Day 4 - October 6th - Tuesday (B, L, D)
Beijing
A memorable visit to the 2,000-year-old Great Wall. Dating from the 4th century B.C. and stretching over 3,000 miles across China’s northern frontier, the Great Wall remains one of the world’s most remarkable engineering feats. After lunch, take a rickshaw tour of Beijing’s ancient Hutongs to see the daily life of ordinary residents. Enjoy the culinary experience of a Peking Duck Dinner.
Beijing International Hotel
Day 5 - October 7th - Wednesday (B, L, D)
Beijing / Jinan
Visit the Summer Palace. Drive to Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. Enjoy a dinner, featuring one of the oldest and respected of the major nine cuisines of China, specially arranged by our Chinese hosts from the Shandong Province.
Shandong Mansion Hotel
Day 6 - October 8th - Thursday (B, L, D)
Jinan / Qufu
Look out across the Yellow River, whose banks often rise twenty feet above the city. The river is often called "China's Sorrow" because of its unpredictable flooding. After breakfast, travel to Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. With its fine imperial architecture and cultural relics, Qufu's historic sites are second only to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Visit the Temple of Confucius. See the stone-carved statue of Confucius and walk through the maze of more than 450 halls, rooms, and buildings of the Kong Mansion, the largest and most sumptuous aristocratic mansion in China. Enjoy the lecture, "Confucius's Life and his Philosophic Thought." A singing and dancing show is planned for the evening.
Queli Hotel
Day 7 - October 9th - Friday (B, L, D)
Qufu / Tai'an
Travel by traditional horse-drawn carriages to visit Kong Lin (Confucian Forest), the largest man- made park and best-preserved cemetery in China. Travel to Tai'an, the gateway town to Mount Taishan, the most revered of the five sacred mountains of China. Enjoy a walk up Mt. Taishan ("When one goes up Taishan Mountain, the world will be dwarfed beneath his feet." - Confucius). The grandeur of this time-honored attraction can be experienced as you ascend the 7,000 stone steps on foot (if you dare) or by cable car.
Ramada Hotel Taishan Resort
Day 8 - October 10th - Saturday (B, L, D)
Tai'an / Xi’an
Travel back to Jinan to catch your flight to Xi’an. Arrive in Xi'an, considered to be the cradle of Chinese civilization and one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Castle Hotel
 Day 9 - October 11th - Sunday (B, L, D)
Xi'an
Visit the archaeological excavation of the 6,000-figure life-sized Terra Cotta Warriors that guard the still unopened burial mound of Qin Shi Huang, the emperor who unified China in 221 B.C. Attend a lecture “Education in China” at a local university where you will have the opportunity to speak with some of the students. View a cooking demonstration reflecting Chinese culinary arts and then experience a Royal Dumpling Banquet. This evening attend the Tang Dynasty Cultural Show. Castle Hotel
Day 10 - October 12th - Monday (B, L, D)
Xi'an / Chongqing
After breakfast, see the seven-story Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which offers a splendid view of the city. A visit to the City Wall, the longest and best preserved wall from the Ming Dynasty. Take an afternoon flight to Chongqing, the "mountain city" of Chongqing which clings to the steep slopes of the Yangtze.
Intercontinental Hotel
Day 11 - October 13th - Tuesday (B, L, D)
Yangtze River Cruise
After breakfast, visit a Qing-style old town on the outskirts of Chongqing and enjoy a special banquet featuring Szechuan cuisine. Visit the Panda Zoo. Enjoy a monorail ride to overlook the city in the river valley. Chongqing was the short-lived wartime capital of China which suffered devastating losses at the hands of the Japanese. Visit the Stillwell Museum and learn about the time Stillwell served as Commander-in-Chief of the American forces in the China-Burma-India theater, between 1941 and 1945 when the threat of the Japanese Imperial Army was finally overcome. After dinner embark on the President Cruise Ship, one of the premier cruise ships on the Yangtze River to begin your three-night Yangtze River Cruise.
President Cruise Ship
Day 12 - October 14th - Wednesday (B, L, D)
Yangtze River Cruise
After breakfast, take a shore excursion to Shibaozhai, built in the Qing Dynasty in 1750 with a height of 56 meters. Shibaozhai is simply a rectangular rock with sheer cliffs, standing on the riverside. A red wooden pagoda, 12 stories high, was built against the rock wall and you can climb to the top by spiral staircase in the pagoda. 160 meters above the river, enjoy a panoramic view of the winding river, the village and the countryside. Hear a lecture and view a demonstration on Chinese Cooking.
President Cruise Ship
"I liked having a National Guide with us the entire trip and local guides at
each location. Our guide was so helpful, kind and thoughtful, he said we
were his "American Mothers" and treated us with great respect and
consideration. It added so much to our educational experience to have a
national and a local guide to ask questions. The big attraction were
marvelous: Great Wall, Terra Cotta Warriors, etc. but the visit to a
University and a typical Hutong home were 'icing on the cake'!"
China - M. Bailey, IL
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Day 13 - October 15th - Thursday (B, L, D)
Yangtze River Cruise
After an early breakfast, depending on the water level of the Yangtze, disembark and board the small motor boats or authentic sampans to sail through the Lesser Three Gorges for an excursion on a crystal clear tributary river of the Yangtze. You can see the ruins of the ancient plank road and suspending coffins of the ancient Ba people hanging on the cliffs above you as you enjoy the spectacular scenery. Enter Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge, the last of the Three Gorges. The combination of the height of the gorges and the narrowness of the river in this area - less than a hundred yards in places make the water swift. View the cliffs and peaks with pinnacles soaring up to 4,000 feet that have inspired Chinese landscape artists and poets for thousands of years. Hear a lecture and view a demonstration on Chinese painting. Enjoy a special banquet featuring Szechuan cuisine.
President Cruise Ship
Day 14 - October 16th - Friday (B, L, D)
Yangtze River Cruise / Shanghai
Disembark at Yichang and visit the world largest Three Gorges Dam with unprecedented magnitude standing 185 meters high and 2.3km long, a modern engineering feature that only the Great Wall in the ancient China could parallel. This controversial water conservative project will force 1.3 million inhabitants in the Three Gorge area to relocate in various parts of China, and provoke some eco-environmental concerns, but it will also benefit the people in the aspects of flood control, power generation, and navigation improvement. Transfer to the airport for your flight to Shanghai. Arrive and transfer to your hotel.
Rainbow Hotel
Day 15 - October 17th - Saturday (B, L, D)
Shanghai
After breakfast, visit the Shanghai Museum of Art and History, the finest in all of China, and considered one of the great museums of the world. Visit a Children's Palace. Visit the residential area called Caoyang Residential Village. There will also be some time for shopping in the "old town" quarter of Shanghai. After dinner, go to a performance of the daring Shanghai Acrobatic Circus.
Rainbow Hotel
Day 16 - October 18th - Sunday (B)
Shanghai / USA
Transfer for your flight to the USA.
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