In Transit: International flight Departures

Afternoon: Arrive at Beijing International Airport where your Group Leader (National Guide) will be waiting for you. After check-in and a short rest, get together for a Welcome Meeting at your hotel. Note: CAEE Group Leaders are qualified National Guides who are full-time permanent members of our offices. All are university graduates, fluent in English, well-educated in safety and protocol and are supported by offices nation-wide.

Dinner: Dinner will be at your hotel.

Evening: at your leisure

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Dinner

the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square/ free time/ Peking Duck Welcome Dinner

Breakfast: buffet breakfast at our hotel .

Morning: Discover the Forbidden City, the former seat and residence of Qing rulers and forbidden to all others. Explore this vast "city" from its formal reception halls to the residential chambers of the Emperor and his family of wives, concubines, and attendants.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Walk through Tian'anmen Square. Meaning "Gate of Heavenly Peace," the square, set in the heart of Beijing, serves as the location of formal celebrations and ceremonies. More commonly, this huge piazza is where families come to stroll and chat and where kites and balloons abound. The rest of the afternoon is at leisure. Choose to return to the hotel or explore independently.

Dinner: This evening at a Welcome Dinner, celebrate with a Beijing specialty: Peking Duck Dinner. Peking Duck was first created in Beijing for emperors six hundred years ago during the Ming Dynasty. Thinly sliced, with crisp skin, the duck is wrapped in light pancakes with julienned cucumbers and a variety of sauces. It is often said that if you go to Beijing there are two things you must do: walk the Great Wall and enjoy Peking Duck.

Evening: After dinner, the rest of the evening is at your leisure.

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel buffet is offered between 6:30 am and 9:30 am. Optional tai ji class before breakfast at 7:15 am.

Morning: Drive out to the Great Wall at Jin Shan Ling -- sometimes referred to as 'the Wild Great Wall' as it is not overly restored. Take a gondola lift to the upper part of the wall, then walk along its battlements and through watchtowers to experience magnificent views of the wall as it climbs and descends over the distant mountains.

Lunch: A picnic lunch is provided to enjoy in a spot of your choosing on the Wall.

Afternoon: Return to your hotel in Beijing.

Dinner: Dinner is at your hotel.

Evening: At a nearby theater, enjoy a taste of Beijing opera, a unique art form that uses brilliant costumes, mannerized make-up, acrobatics and martial arts, various types of falsetto singing, and exuberant percussionists. The performance is a 'sampling' presented with English and modern Chinese supertitles. Chinese Opera is an ‘acquired taste’ for Western ears. For an introduction to Beijing Opera and its traditions, try to see the film ‘Farewell My Concubine.’

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: After morning tai ji, enjoy your hotel's buffet breakfast. Hotel buffet is offered between 6:30 am and 9:30 am.

Morning: Explore the hutongs (small residential alleys and courtyards) near Beihai Park. Walk or pedicab around the district that houses many historic residences, including the former home of Song Qing Ling, politicial activist and wife of Dr. Sun Yat Sen.

Lunch: Enjoy a local lunch hosted by hutong families.

Afternoon: This afternoon is at your leisure.

Dinner: Your choice to explore local fare.

Evening: at your leisure

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: Hotel buffet breakfast

Morning: This morning, explore the 15th century architectural masterpiece, the Temple of Heaven which symbolizes the relationship between heaven and earth. Walk the extensive grounds to the Temple itself or stay in its environs and enjoy the activities of local people practicing calligraphy, tai ji, musical instruments, dancing, or flying kites. .

Lunch: a light lunch served on your flight to Luoyang.

Afternoon: Fly to the small city of Luoyang in Henan Province. Luoyang was one of the four great ancient capitals of China and is home to the extraordinary Longmen Buddhist cliff carvings.

Dinner: At the hotel or a nearby restaurant.

Evening: Enjoy a private introduction and demonstration of Chinese musical instruments at your hotel.

Lodging: Friendship Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy early morning tai ji movements at 7:15 am in the People's Square (filled with local people practicing martial arts, ballroom dancing or airing pet birds). The square is very active in the morning and evening. Hotel's buffet breakfast is offered between 6:00 am and 10:00 am.

Morning: After breakfast, depart for the 1,500 year old Longmen Grottoes. Learn about these stone carvings that overlook the Yi River and which celebrate the introduction of Buddhism into China.

Lunch: With families in Huaishuwan, an agricultural village.

Afternoon: This afternoon, visit Huai Shu Wan agricultural village and its Primary School. Huai Shu Wan is a typical north Chinese country village and its primary school has about 200 pupils from various villages in the area. Observe classes, talk with the English teachers and then visit families in the village. On the way back to your hotel, if time permits, stop at Luoyang's small Old Section.

Dinner: Your choice to explore local fare.

Evening: Practice Chinese conversation with your group leader.

Lodging: Friendship Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: After morning tai ji, enjoy a buffet breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: Take a morning train to the City of Xi'an. Enjoy views of rural life from the train as you ascend China's Yellow Soil Plateau. The land is covered with a thick layer of wind-blown loess soil, which masks the original landforms. Deeply eroded, the landscape has steep ravines and almost vertical cliff faces pocked with holes and caves known as 'yaodong,' which are used for dwelling and resting.

Lunch: Box lunch on train.

Afternoon: Enjoy the views of rural life as the train ascends China's Yellow Soil Plateau. Here, the land is covered with a thick layer of wind-blown loess soil, that masks the original geography. The deeply-eroded landscape is marked by deep ravines and almost-vertical cliff faces. Observe holes and caves in the faces of cliffs, known as 'yaodong' and used locally as dwellings. Arrive in Xi’an mid-afternoon to explore Xi'an's nearby bustling Muslim section with its historic and beautiful mosque built in Chinese temple style.

Dinner: Dinner is at your hotel or nearby restaurant.

Evening: After dinner, visit the campus of Xi’an International Studies University to join their ‘Thursday English Corner’ – a weekly gathering of students and some local citizens who want to practice spoken English and with whom you can have informal chats.

Lodging: Grand Noble Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: After morning tai ji, enjoy a buffet breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: At Xi'an International Studies University, one of China's key universities, you learn about Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism as a way of understanding Chinese character and customs. After, visit the campus with students from the university's renowned English Department and learn about student life in China.

Lunch: University dining room.

Afternoon: Understand China's dynastic history, as well as its rich and enduring culture in a tour of its state-of-the-art Museum of History.

Dinner: Taste a selection of unique dumplings with amusing shapes and delicious variations in fillings -- a Xi'an specialty.

Evening: Join your Program Leader for informal instruction in useful Chinese conversational phrases.

Lodging: Grand Noble Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: After morning tai ji, enjoy a buffet breakfast in the hotel

Morning: Experience the unparelled wonder of the Qin Emperor's Tomb. Learn about and explore this remarkable 2,000-year-old tomb site that contains thousands of life-size terra cotta warriors, cavalrymen and graceful archers -- each believed to represent an actual member of the Emperor's retinue.

Lunch: at a nearby restaurant

Afternoon: Get together with your Program Leader for a discussion of Chinese government structure.

Dinner: Dinner will either be at your hotel or at restaurant.

Evening: Meet with your group leader for a Orientation Session on High Altitude

Lodging: Grand Noble Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: After morning tai ji, enjoy a buffet breakfast in the hotel.

Morning: Depart for flight to Lhasa, the ancient capital of Tibet.

Lunch: a light lunch will be served in flight.

Afternoon: This afternoon, At Tibet University, learn about Tibetan Life, Culture, and Religion. Then explore Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama which contains his residential quarters. (Note that although Tibet uses ‘Beijing time,’ it is actually about 2 hours ‘later’ than Beijing. Your itinerary adjusts for this time difference.)

Dinner: in the hotel.

Evening: Practice Chinese conversation with your group leader.

Lodging: Tibet Dekang Hotel Lhasa

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: buffet breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Explore the heart of Lhasa - Jokhang Temple, built in the 7th century. This is the most revered temple in Tibet, and the destination of pilgrims who journey by any means, even on foot, to worship here. Surrounding the temple, the Bokhor Bazaar offers an exciting array of Tibetan goods both old and new: Tools, cloth, thangkas, jewelry and yak hides.

Lunch: At a restaurant overlooking the bazaar, serving Tibetan and international dishes.

Afternoon: Walk to the nearby traditional Tibetan Medicine Hospital for an introductory talk by Dr. Chiwang, who explains the precepts of Tibetan medicine and treatments. Enjoy the hospital's colorful array of medical thangkas. Choose to return to the hotel or continue to the outskirts of Lhasa to experience the magnificent Drepong Monastery, Tibet's largest.

Dinner: In the hotel or nearby restaurant.

Evening: Discuss Tibetan culture and religion with your Tibetan guide.

Lodging: Tibet Dekang Hotel Lhasa

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: In the hotel. Before breakfast, meet in the hotel courtyard to learn Gorshay, an exuberant circle dance.

Morning: Travel to Nomadic grasslands beyond Lhasa where pastoral families raise yak, sheep, goats and horses. If it is grazing season, visit with nomadic families and then observe Tibetan rural life in a small village. Visit its primary school and meet with its dedicated director.

Lunch: al fresco

Afternoon: On the way back, stop at the Tibet Museum, home to a rich collection of cultural relics, antique thangkas, scriptures, costumes, and folk art. For those who would like to continue on to your hotel, feel free to do so.

Dinner: Your choice to explore local fare.

Evening: Practice Chinese conversation with your group leader.

Lodging: Tibet Dekang Hotel Lhasa

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: In the hotel.

Morning: Explore the Potala Palace, seat of the Dalai Lama and one of the most awe-inspiring princely residences and palaces in the world.

Lunch: At Lhasa cuisine restaurant

Afternoon: Learn about traditional Thangka painting (Tibetan religious scrolls) through a talk and demonstration by a Master at Tibet University.

Dinner: at your hotel

Evening: Enjoy a private Farewell Tibetan Dance and Singing party.

Lodging: Tibet Dekang Hotel Lhasa

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: In the hotel.

Morning: Depart for flight to Chongqing, an independent municipality situated inside Szechuan Province and at the head of the navigable Yangtze.

Lunch: a light lunch will be served in flight.

Afternoon: At Chongqing Zoological Gardens, meet its giant pandas, indigenous to Szechuan Province only.

Dinner: at a restaurant near the Yangtze Piers.

Evening: Board your Yangtze vessel and, as you depart, view the hill city of Chongqing at night.

Lodging: Victoria Cruise Lines

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Ship's Buffet

Morning: Discuss traditional Chinese medicine and consider the Yangtze's influence on China. Where possible, your national guide will also continue instruction in Tai Ji and Chinese conversation.

Lunch: ship's buffet

Afternoon: Visit a new village for relocated families. Explore their agricultural market and visit with a local family.

Dinner: Before a set dinner on board, the Captain invites you to a welcome reception.

Evening: Evening entertainment includes performances of Chinese music and dance

Lodging: Victoria Cruise Lines

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: ship's buffet

Morning: Today, pass through the magnificent Yangtze Gorges and cruise in sampans up a mini-gorge on a pristine tributary of the Yangtze where you can catch glimpses of red monkeys amongst the trees, goats clinging to the craggy cliffs, and 'hanging coffins' secured in the cliff face by the Ba people centuries ago.

Lunch: ship's buffet

Afternoon: Free afternoon to enjoy sailing on the river, ship's presentations, or Chinese language learning with your program leader.

Dinner: Set dinner in ship's dining room.

Evening: Enjoy an on-board performance of Chinese music and dance.

Lodging: Victoria Cruise Lines

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Ship's buffet

Morning: This morning, take a short coach ride to the Three Gorges Dam site. From an observation deck, you have a bird's-eye view of the dam, five-step ship lock, diversion canal, and power station. A nearby exhibition displays a dam model; a briefing will explain this project, one of the largest construction ventures ever.

Lunch: early lunch on board

Afternoon: Disembark in the Yangtze town of Yichang for a late afternoon flight to Shanghai.

Dinner: at a nearby restaurant.

Evening: If time permits, join your Program Leader for Chinese conversation.

Lodging: Four Points by Sheraton Daning Hotel Shanghai

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: in the hotel. Tai ji is offered before breakfast.

Morning: This morning, explore Shanghai Art Museum which houses China’s finest collection of ceramics, painting, sculpture, and bronzes. If you like, join your local guide for a ride on the Shanghai metro to the Museum stop – or take the coach.

Lunch: Coach to Shanghai's fashionable Xin Tian Di (New Heaven Earth) section. Explore its lanes, cafes, shops, and a small restored residence/museum independently. Take lunch of your own choosing.

Afternoon: Learn the background of new Shanghai at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. View archival photos and a vast scale model of Shanghai as projected in 2020.

Dinner: in a local restaurant

Evening: Acrobatics is considered one of China's performing arts 'treasures'. It has a history of thousands of years and figures in other genres such as Chinese opera. This evening, enjoy a performance by the famed Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe.

Lodging: Four Points by Sheraton Daning Hotel Shanghai

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Hotel buffet.

Morning: Explore the Ming Dynasty Yu Garden in Shanghai’s historic district. The garden’s classical pavilions, fountains, and arching bridges exemplify traditional Chinese garden landscaping.Continue on to the riverfront Bund beside iconic art deco and neo-classic buildings stemming from Shanghai's history as a foreign 'concession'. View across the river 'new Shanghai' -- until recently undeveloped farmland and now a forest of glittering skyscrapers.

Lunch: Experience a delicious and imaginative vegetarian meal, supervised by monks at the active Longhua Temple.

Afternoon: Free time.

Dinner: Farewell Banquet in nearby restaurant

Evening: At leisure.

Lodging: Four Points by Sheraton Daning Hotel Shanghai

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: at your hotel

Morning: Depart for Pudong International Airport for departures.

Meals Included: Breakfast