Depart by afternoon flight north for Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, source of some of China's finest silk and renowned Longjing tea and -- most notably -- one of the select, classic beauty spots in all of China as attested by the panegyrics of poets and the proverbs of peasants alike. Upon arrival, some sightseeing arranged if time permits.
Southern terminus of the 1000-mile Grand Canal finished in the 12th century, Hangzhou was China's capital during the 12th and 13th century Southern Song dynasty, whose emperors chose to reside on Xi Hu (West Lake) after 1130. Indeed, the sun rising over West Lake is but one of the ethereal, sublime experiences offered by this lovely region, where nature has been abetted by the hand of man -- the lake's first dike was built in 821, followed by a variety of gardens, pools and teahouses over the centuries. Your lake cruise can include visiting such delightful islands as Solitary Hill or Three Pools Mirroring the Moon. Also visit Linyin Temple with its 60 foot tall Buddha and the Temple of Six Harmonies.
Morning train ride takes you from the classically serene vistas of old Hangzhou northwest through the countryside to big, bustling Shanghai, modern port city handling over 1/3 the country's seagoing freight and China's industrial powerhouse for iron and steel, heavy machinery and chemicals. Meanwhile the growing clusters of skyscrapers house the headquarters of Shanghai's burgeoning worldwide trade and financial operations . This afternoon you visit the historic Bund, the former "Wall Street" of foreign concessions where today locals stroll and practice their Tai Chi, bazaars of Old Town and Yu Yuan (a Garden of Happiness created by a mandarin son's devotion) and nearby charming Wuxingting Teahouse..
Visit the famed Jade Buddha Temple with its two white jade statues of the Enlightened One and adjacent vegetarian restaurant run by the temple's monks, the crowded, glittering emporiums and stores along Nanjing Road, (the closest thing to Fifth Avenue hereabouts) the Arts and Crafts Exhibit for more shopping and finally witness the remarkable young performers at a Children's Palace. Near the Bund is the 3-storey Shanghai Museum of Art and History housing outstanding collections (bronzes, ceramics, scroll paintings)and definitely worth a visit, time permitting. In the evening you will be entertained by an acrobatic show.
From Shanghai by train to Suzhou, the 2500 year old "Venice of China" -- one of China's oldest continuously inhabited cities -- whose charms are celebrated in the oft-repeated Chinese proverb linking the municipality with its southern neighbor: "In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Hangzhou and Suzhou." Visit Tiger Hill Pagoda (one of the most ancient in China), the Humble Administrator's Garden, Garden of the Master of Nets and wander among the many arched stone bridges, narrow winding canals and shaded streets of this alluring, tranquil garden city.
Continue on another train ride from Suzhou, which Marco Polo called a "city of six thousand bridges of stone":bringing you to Wuxi -- or alternatively you may come via boat cruising the Grand Canal, which was designed some 1400 years ago as a vital water transport link between theYangzi Valley breadbasket and northern cities. Known for silk production and clay figurines, Wuxi's sightseeing highlights include vast Lake Tai with its hundred islands, Plum Park and Turtle Head Island.
Morning city tour of Wuxi, then travel by train in the afternoon to Nanjing, an ancient and important city with a long, fascinating and sometimes very bloody history: the capital several times, it was the locus of the vast, massively destructive -- and savagely suppressed -- peasant explosion in the mid-19th century called the Taiping Rebellion and, in this century, the scene of the infamous, sickening "Rape of Nanking" of 1938 during the Japanese invasion of China.
Visit the Mausoleum of the revered Dr Sun Yatsen, one of China's authentic modern heroes, Jiangsu Provincial Museum and Yangzi River Bridge, a big and dauntingly difficult engineering feat to span the stormy Yangzi which was accomplished without Soviet or other help and is a source of deep, widespread national pride. Nearby is a towering monument, with an inscription by Deng Xiaoping, one of the commanders, commemorating the Communist crossing of the Yangzi and capture of Nanjing in 1949 in the final phase of the long civil war against Chiang Kaishek's forces.
Morning flight due north to Beijing (Peking) the massive, grandiose, somber, sometimes wind-swept "Northern Capital" on the dry North China Plain, a 3000 year old city which has been a prime center of advanced Chinese civilization and administrative control going back at least 8 centuries to the era of Kublai Khan. Beijing is today the political and cultural hub of an immense nation: 1.2 billion souls spread out over a territory of 3,700,000 square miles, administered from this teeming capital of over 10 million residents (owners of 5 million bicycles!) Afternoon visit to the architectural wonder of the Temple of Heaven, a magnificent and ingenious 15th century masterpiece with many geometrical, astrological and acoutstical subtleties.
Full day excursion to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. China's most famous landmark is an engineering triumph -- at enormous human cost of the masses of prisoner-laborers sacrificed -- of which 3750 miles still survive, extending from near the Bohai Sea in the east to its western terminus at the Jiayuguan Pass near the Gobi desert; you will survey its serpentine undulations in the hills north of Beijing at Badaling. In the afternoon, stroll along the Sacred Way and Avenue of the Animals to view the fabulous Ming tombs, final resting places of 13 of these "sons of heaven." with assorted wives and treasures.
Today is spent visiting 100 acre Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square, dominated by the presence of Mao Zedong immortalized in his portrait atop the Ming dynasty Gate of Heavenly Peace and in the Memorial Hall enshrining his remains in a crystal sarcophagus since the Great Helmsman's death in 1975 ; also tour the golden-roofed palaces of the "Forbidden City" as the vast yet elegant, intricate and richly detailed Imperial Palace in the heart of Beijing was called. A sumptuous Peking Duck banquet provides a culinary climax to this day..
Morning flight to Xian, capital of today's Shaanxi province and the ancient capital city of China for 11 dynasties, hence a true treasure trove of monuments and artifacts. Many of the latter can be found in the rich collection of the Shaanxi Provincial Museum you visit this afternoon: sculpture, bronzes, pottery, jewelry and especially 1000-plus stelae, stone tablets inscribed in beautiful calligraphy of classic texts such as Confucius.
But Xian's new archaeological pride and joy is the recently discovered trove of 7500-8000 terra cotta statues of soldiers, horsemen and chariots -- many of them marvels of sculptural artistry and individual characterization -- standing eternal guard over the tomb of China's first emperor, the iron willed despot and unifier Qin Shi Huangdi. Your full day tour also visits the Big and Little Wild Goose Pagodas, 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 entertainment of Tang dynasty dance show with dinner of local specialities.
Morning flight south to Guilin, sometimes called China's most beautiful town. Morning visits to three attractions in Guilin and vicinity: Ludi Yan (Reed Flute Cave), discovered over a thousand years ago northwest of the present day city and most famous of the many caves in the area; and Diecai Hill for a panoramic view of the city and surrounding area -- celebrated for centuries in words and paint for its gorgeous and fantastically varied scenery.
This morning you embark on a wondrous 5-hour cruise down the winding turns of the beautiful Li river, surrounded on either bank by the verdant landscape and fascinating shapes of the karst formations, those serenely majestic and ever varying limestone structures which thrust up their unique conical, craggy outlines (given names like Elephant Trunk Hill, Old Man Mountain and Folded Brocade Hill) into the ever-changing mists and hues of the sky above or which hollow out into spectacular grottos and caves of stalactite and stalagmite formations of unending profusion and subterranean beauty. Return in afternoon from Yangshuo to Guilin by motorcoach.
Depart on morning flight for Guangzhou (Canton), capital of Guangdong province, the major southern trade and industrial metropolis on the Pearl River; known since distant times through the symbol of five goats (subjects of an ancient legend) and identified particularly today with economic reform and experimentation involving the province's "special economic zones" and business ties with neighboring Hong Kong Six Banyan Pagoda, the Memorial to Dr Sun Yatsen, the nationalist leader and founder of the Chinese Republic in the early 20th century and the Chen Family Ancestral Temple, an intricately carved handsome structure symbolic of traditional ancestor worship and respect ..
Depart this morning by train for Hong Kong.
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