Day 1 Arrive Shanghai, China

Upon arrival in China this afternoon or evening, a your driver will meet you and assist with the transfer to your hotel, where you will meet your tour guide. The balance of the day is yours to relax after your overseas flight.

Day 2 Shanghai/City Tour

Join us after breakfast for an opportunity to get to know your Program Director and fellow travelers at a Welcome Briefing. Your tour guide will go over trip details and answer any questions you may have. You’ll also hear about and have the opportunity to purchase optional tours.
Then depart on an included tour of the city. First, you'll visit the lovely Yu Garden. Built in 1551 in the heart of Shanghai’s Old Town, the Yu Garden—or Garden of Peace and Comfort—offers a quiet oasis from the bustle of the city.
After lunch at a local restaurant, you’ll visit the Shanghai Museum of Art & History, which contains fascinating glimpses into ancient everyday Chinese life, including a rich collection of artifacts from the Song to Qing dynasties.
Gather with your fellow travelers this evening for a traditional, Chinese-style Welcome Dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 3 Shanghai/Home-Hosted Lunch/Dinner & Acrobatic Show with Bund Visit

After breakfast, we’ll visit a local carpet workshop, where you’ll learn about Chinese carpet-making and design. Then experience everyday life in Shanghai when you visit a local market on an exclusive Discovery Series event. You’ll see more local customs enacted firsthand when you join a Shanghai family for a Home-Hosted Lunch, which is also part of Grand Circle’s Discovery Series. Your gracious hosts will prepare and serve a typical Chinese meal.
After lunch, you'll visit the famous Bund, a five-block-long riverfront promenade containing many of Shanghai’s banks and trading houses. Here, every afternoon finds street performers and vendors sharing the boulevard with pedestrians. In the morning, locals gather to practice the slow, deliberate movements of tai chi; and the evening marks the emergence of well-dressed courting couples.
Enjoy the remainder of the afternoon and this evening at leisure in Shanghai.
Or, on an optional tour, discover the beauty of Shanghai after dark. Your tour begins with dinner at a local restaurant. Then discover the breathtaking artistry of Chinese acrobats as our guests for an acrobatic performance. On a panoramic drive through the city before returning to your hotel, you’ll see how this romantic riverfront promenade comes alive at night.

Day 4 Shanghai/Suzhou/City Tour

Join us today on a full-day tour to 500-year-old Suzhou in China’s fabled Silk Region. This is the city of silk, gardens, and canals that inspired Marco Polo. Travel by train (just over 30 minutes), arriving mid-morning.
Suzhou means “Plentiful Water,” and its Grand Canal is crowded with strings of barges laden with fruits, vegetables, construction materials, and coal. The Grand Canal, second only to the Great Wall as a Chinese engineering feat, was begun 2,400 years ago. Graceful bridges cross over the water and tile-roofed whitewashed houses sit close to shore. On arrival, you’ll disembark the train and take a short ride to the waterfront. From here, you’ll cruise the canal to the Water Gate, which connects Suzhou to the southern end of the canal and was used as a toll gate for the canal’s commercial traffic.
Then visit the Wangshi ("Master of the Fishing Net") Garden, built in 1140 and boasting a peony courtyard that has been reproduced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
After lunch at a local restaurant, visit a silk-spinning workshop for a discussion and demonstration of how silk is made from mulberry-munching silkworms to thread and fine cloth. Marco Polo reported that so much silk was produced in Suzhou that every citizen was clothed in it. At one time, Suzhou guarded the secrets of silk making so closely that smuggling silkworms out of the city was punishable by death.
Return to Shanghai by motorcoach (about a two-hour drive), perhaps seeking out one of the excellent restaurants near your hotel for dinner on your own.

Day 5 Shanghai/Fly To Xian/City Tour/Dumpling Dinner

After breakfast this morning, you'll take a short flight to Xian where you'll be transferred to your hotel—home for the next three nights.
This afternoon, depart on a panoramic tour of Xian. When ancient Peking was just a remote trading post, Xian was the capital of the Middle Kingdom and one of the world’s biggest and richest cities, the geographical beginning of China’s fabled Silk Road. The town itself is famous for its city walls, measuring more than eight miles in circumference. Xian (then named Chang’an, meaning “Everlasting Peace&#8221) reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. It was once one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of almost two million. This afternoon’s tour features a visit to the Ming Dynasty's 14th-century City Wall, one of the most-intact ancient defense systems in China today.
Savor a Chinese specialty this evening as you enjoy a dumpling dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 6 Xian/Terra Cotta Army/Home-Hosted Lunch/Optional Tang Dynasty Show & Dinner

Today, enjoy a full-day excursion to visit China’s greatest archaeological attraction, the Qin Mausoleum. More than 2,000 years ago, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried in an earth mound, along with 6,400 life-sized terra cotta warriors, archers, and infantrymen, together with their horses and chariots—each individually sculpted from live models.
In the early 1970s, farmers digging a well accidentally uncovered some of these soldiers. Since then, three large pits have been uncovered and are now on view to the public. Walkways have been constructed to give you a bird’s-eye view of the stunning sight of an entire army carved in incredible detail (each man and each horse has his own distinct personality). Here they stand, in battle formation, set in the ground to guard and protect the great emperor's tomb. No visit to China would be complete without witnessing the astounding Qin Terra Cotta Army, an exquisite and beautifully preserved symbol of an ancient era.
Then you'll be welcomed into the home of a Chinese family, where you'll enjoy local cuisine and hospitality at a Home-Hosted Lunch. After lunch, visit the Shao Ping Dian Primary School and meet some of China’s Next Generation. You’ll have the opportunity to talk with students as they lead you on a tour of their school, which is supported in part by donations from Grand Circle Foundation.
Return to your hotel in time for dinner on your own.
Or experience the culinary and cultural delights of ancient Xian this evening with an optional Tang Dynasty show and dinner. The beautiful costumes, enchanting dances, and ancient music of the Tang Dynasty—a period of peace and exceptional creativity from AD 618 to 907—have been carefully recreated for your enjoyment. This type of performance has been treasured as a national art that reflects the glory and richness of the Tang Dynasty. Dinner is served before the show.

Day 7 Xian

This morning, you’ll visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. One of the oldest pagodas in China, this delicately tiered pagoda is housed in the Jianfu Temple. Today’s exploring also includes a stop at a lacquerware furniture workshop, where you’ll witness local artisans creating intricate designs. Cap off your discoveries with lunch at a local restaurant.
This afternoon, you’ll explore the Muslim Quarter, the residential district for nearly 60,000 Muslim people. Enter by way of the Drum Tower and browse the narrow lanes of shops, sesame oil factories, and residences. You'll also admire the mix of Chinese and Islamic architectural styles at the Great Mosque, one of the largest mosques in China and also one of the oldest and best-preserved.
Spend the balance of the day exploring Xian on your own. Perhaps you’ll take in the Shaanxi History Museum, arguably the best museum in all of China. Among the treasures collected here are relics of China’s prehistory, interesting bronze artifacts, and exquisite ceramics. Dinner this evening is on your own.

Day 8 Xian/Fly to Beijing/Traditional Chinese Dinner

Explore Xian on your own this morning, then transfer to the airport to fly from the dry northwestern plateau of Xian to the urban tumble of China’s modern capital, Beijing. The cradle of Chinese civilization, Beijing is one of China’s six ancient capitals, and although it is known to have been peopled since around 1000 BC, some scholars believe people lived here as much as 2,000 years before that. Benefiting from its location as a geographic link between China’s farming population and nomadic tribes, Beijing was named the capital of the Yan Kingdom in 586 BC, and served as the capital of four feudal dynasties between 1125 and 1911. In October 1949, Beijing was declared the capital of the People’s Republic of China and has since performed as its cultural, financial, and political hub.
After checking into your hotel, you’ll have the balance of the afternoon to make discoveries on your own.
This evening, gather with your fellow travelers for a traditional Chinese dinner.

Day 9 Beijing/Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City/ Beijing Opera & Dinner Tour

After breakfast, set off on a sightseeing tour of Beijing. You’ll walk around the largest and most imposing public square in the world. Tiananmen Square has been the setting for mass Red Guard rallies through the years and, in 1989, saw huge pro-democracy demonstrations.
The city of Beijing is built around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Beijing is not only China’s political and administrative center, it is also the single greatest repository of monuments and treasures from the imperial era. Beijing did not receive its layout until the rule of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In traditional Chinese thought, the world was conceived as square. A city, especially a capital, was supposed to be square, a geometric reflection of the cosmic order.
You’ll enter the Forbidden City, so named because it was off-limits to visitors for 500 years. Completed in 1420, this was the center of Imperial palaces for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The last dynasty fell in 1911, though the last Qing Emperor lived here until 1925, when the entire complex was made a museum. The city contains 800 ceremonial buildings, with 9,999 rooms and a courtyard that can hold 100,000 people. Marvel at its acres of grandeur—elegant palaces, pavilions, courtyards, and gardens—all walled in as a rectangular island within a moat wide enough for naval engagements.
You’ll enjoy lunch at a restaurant near the Forbidden City.
This evening is free for you to enjoy as you wish.
Or join us for a special visit to the Beijing opera at a local theater tonight. The troupes in Beijing set the national standard for this ancient theatrical art, the highest expression of Chinese culture. This is not like the Western opera, full of arias and centered on singing. It’s a beautiful and delicate blend of grand opera, ballet, song, drama, and comedy that spans the entire history of China, its folklore, mythology, literature, and culture. The cost of this optional tour includes dinner.

Day 10 Beijing/Beijing’s Hidden Lanes

This morning, visit the Kung Fu School, where you may learn some new moves during a demonstration. Then visit a jade workshop, where you will learn about Chinese jade-carving and possibly make a purchase, if you wish.
After time for lunch on your own, discover Beijing’s Hidden Lanes during an included tour of a traditional hutong (small alley) residential district. In the past, several thousand lanes, alleys, and quadrangles formed residential areas for ordinary people living in the capital. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many hutongs were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming (1368-1628), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties, the emperors, in order to establish their absolute power, planned the city and arranged the residential areas.
You’ll take a rickshaw to Drum Tower and have time to walk around the area, which has a colorful farmer’s market. Then you’ll walk through Beijing’s ancient narrow hutongs, seeing the old houses and learning about the daily life of ordinary Beijing citizens. High walls surround the traditional siheyuan quadrangle, made up of four single-story buildings fronting a courtyard. Hutongs take their names from the groups who live within—for instance, the Bowstring Makers' Lane—or, if populated by a single family, their surname. Today, as the city develops into an international metropolis, its lanes and alleyways, occupying one-third of the city proper, still serve as dwellings for half the total urban population. Unfortunately, encroaching urban development now threatens hutongs. We split up into smaller groups to visit with local families and enjoy a tea break.

Day 11 Beijing/Great Wall & Ming Tombs

Today, you’ll explore the fabled Great Wall of China, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction of the Great Wall began during the Warring States Period (403-221 BC), with sections built in scattered areas to protect various provinces from northern tribes. It was only following China’s unification under its first emperor, Qin Shi Huang (221-206 BC) that some 300,000 men were put to work connecting the segments into one rampart of brick, stone, and earth nearly 4,000 miles long. Intended to shield the nation from invaders, the Great Wall is now, ironically, one of China’s leading tourist attractions.
In the 1950s, restoration was begun on several significant portions of the wall—including one of the most impressive, the Badaling section, where construction started in 1345. As you walk along its ramparts, undulating up and down steep hills and graced with massive lookout towers, imagine the scenes of battle, ceremony, commerce, and labor that have taken place along its serpentine path to the sea. Marvel at the great stone towers, that each could garrison hundreds of soldiers. The towers are built at a distance of two bowshots apart—meaning that the entire wall could be defended by the archers within it. Find out why the wall snakes along such a winding path—Chinese mythology maintains that demons and evil spirits can only travel in a straight line, and the undulating wall effectively keeps them out.
After lunch on your own, your tour ends in the peaceful valley that the Ming emperors chose as their burial ground. Pass through a great marble gateway more than four centuries old, and onto Sacred Way, the Avenue of the Animals lined with massive stone statues of kneeling and standing elephants, lions, camels, and fanciful beasts. Nearby, you will see tombs housing the remains of 13 emperors and innumerable treasures. These imperial tombs were built from 1409 to 1644 and are spread over nearly 25 square miles.
Reflect on the day’s discoveries during an included dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 12 Beijing/Optional Summer Palace Tour & Panda Visit/Farewell Dinner

Enjoy a final day to explore Beijing’s treasures on your own. One possibility is Fragrant Hills Park, a favored retreat of ancient China’s feudal emperors. You may ride a chairlift to the summit of Incense-Burner Peak here for a panoramic view of the countryside. Nearby is the magnificent Azure Clouds Temple, original burial place of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Or you can join an optional tour of the Summer Palace, the former summer retreat for the imperial family during the late Qing Dynasty and now China’s largest and best-preserved royal garden. It has an 800-year history, beginning with the creation of the Golden Hill Palace during the Jin Dynasty. Much later, in 1750, the Garden of Clear Ripples was built here. The garden has been restored twice since then, after being damaged by foreign military forces.
This twelve-square-mile complex includes many pavilions, temples, palaces, and halls in a landscape of hills amidst open water. You might find the Long Gallery an interesting feature, as it measures over 2,300 feet long and offers paintings depicting Chinese legend, history, and natural settings. You’ll also visit the Panda House at the Beijing Zoo, enjoying a brief visit with China’s most famous native animal.
Lunch is on your own, and the afternoon is yours for discovery. Perhaps you’ll enter Tiantan Park to view the Temple of Heaven, whose graceful 15th-century Ming architecture has made it a beloved icon of the city.
Share your favorite reminiscences of your sojourn through this ancient land during this evening’s Western-style Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 13 Return your country / Departure
After breakfast this morning, you’ll transfer to the airport for your flight home.