Depart Hong Kong for Xian by afternoon flight. Capital of today's Shaanxi province and the ancient capital city of China for 11 dynasties, Xian is a true treasure trove of relics and monuments.
In 1974 some farmers were digging a well near Xian when they made an eye-popping discovery: legions -- the total count ultimately rising toDAY 7498 -- of terra cotta statues of soldiers, horsemen and chariots of China's first emperor, the iron willed despot and unifier Qin Shi Huang. After viewing this massive excavation, your full day tour also visits delightful Hua Qing royal hot springs (with its tragic tale of the emperor's concubine too beautiful for her own good) and Banpo Neolithic Village of 8000 year old artifacts. Evening Tang Dynasty dance show and dinner of local specialties.
Visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Ming Dynasty city wall and Great Mosque of Tang Dynasty, one of the biggest and best preserved in China; also, time permitting the extensive and impressive collections of pottery, sculpture and jewelry in the Shaanxi Provincial musuem. In the afternoon you will fly to Beijing, China's capital and greatest repository of classic art and cultural treasures.
Full day excursion to the famed Great Wall, an engineering triumph comprising stone, bricks and earth of which 3750 miles still survive, making it the only man made object on earth that is visible from orbit in outer space. Then you visit the nearby Sacred Way and Avenue of the Animals to view the fabulous Ming tombs -- of the 13, the 2 so far excavated reveal the tombs to be in effect subterranean palaces.. In the evening you will enjoy a performance of the Beijing Opera, a lively and colorful mixture of song, dance, pantomime and acrobatics.
Today is spent visiting 100 acre Tiananmen Square, still adorned with the image of Chairman Mao, the Great Helmsman who proclaimed here the birth of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1 1949. See.the Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City as it was called) and the Summer Palace, the latter with its roofs of glazed golden tiles a project of the Dowager Empress Ci Xi and built on a vast tract of almost 700 square acres (the park is brightly decorated for crowds on holidays like National Day, October First .) This evening's banquet features the local chef d'oeuvre of cuisine, Peking Duck, roasted to a gleaming golden brown perfection.
Morning tour in the city and shopping opportunities, time permitting, among such venues as the thoroughly stocked Friendship Store or Main Department Store carrying a wide variety of goods and souveniers. Afternoon flight to Shanghai, a city whose considerable foreign population before the Communist takeover and cosmopolitan charm as well as relatively sophisticated outlook -- traits which endure today -- earned Shanghai the sobriquet "Paris of the East" during the interwar years.
Visit the Bund, perhaps Shanghai's most distinctive landmark, the Yu Yuan or Garden of Happiness, a delightful area designed by a 16th century official for his aged father's respite, the famed Jade Buddha
Temple (with adjacent vegetarian restaurant run by the temple's monks), Arts and Crafts Exhibit for more shopping to supplement your forays to Shanghai's Friendship Store on the Bund or the famous shops crowding Nanjing Road, China's Fifth Avenue. Then witness the remarkable performing skills of the fresh-faced, enthusiastic and well-drilled young pupils at the so-called Children's Palace. In the evening you will be entertained by an acrobatic show.
Morning flight from Shanghai returns you south to Hong Kong.
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