9 Days Celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival

Day 1

Jan 20, 2012 Arrival Beijing
Arrive in Beijing, the Capital city of China, your local guide will meet you at the airport and transferred to your hotel. Beijing, the capital of China, with a new look that full of pre-Spring Festival joy, is welcome you!
Meals: No meals
Accommodation: In Beijing

Beijing, as one of the great travel destinations of the World, offers sights and cultural relics found no where else on Earth. The city has a character all its own.

According to the Chinese Agricultural Calendar, Chinese Spring Festival begins with the New Moon and ends on the Full Moon. Equal to Christmas in many western countries, it is the most important holiday in China. China red is the very color for this big time.
 

Day 2

Jan 21, 2012 Beijing
The most famous and popular attraction of China is its Great Wall, a massive defensive structure built to keep intruders from entering the mainland. Today you will have the opportunity to traverse the ancient steps of Badaling Great Wall, one of the mort popular and famous sites in Beijing. After the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel. Get ready for your Chinese Spring Festival experience!
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Beijing

Badaling Great Wall is located 75km northwest of Beijing. The construction of the Great Wall began in the 5th century BC and is one of the greatest construction projections in all of human history. The Great Wall has a total length of over 6,700km, and Badaling is one of the best-preserved and most accessible sections.
 

Day 3

Jan 22, 2012 Beijing
Tonight’s Spring Festival Eve! Why not join a local family and enjoy a reunion dinner with them? You will like it. But firstly, in the morning, you will have a tour to Tian'anmen Square, the World's largest urban square and the Forbidden City, the largest and most complete ancient imperial palace in the world. After lunch, you can go to nearby market that selling special purchases for the Spring Festival. Choose one of them and keep it as a special memory of your China tour. In the late afternoon, take a relaxing Hutong Tour to touch the local life. Red lanterns hanging up all around the lanes, festival couplets pasting on every doorway, all the world seems covered with China red, composing a festive and joyful scene. You can join the reunion dinner with a local family there and even try to learn how to make dumplings. You will surely get to know more about the inner spirit of this very city at this very time.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: In Beijing

Forbidden City is one of the largest, and certainly the most completely restored, ancient architectural complex in the world. Walk in the footsteps of Emperors; come to the museum and see with your eyes, and feel with your hearts; you’ll begin understand what life in this richest of feudal realms was like for the Imperial Rulers, their concubines and their slaves.

In Spring Festival Eve, people will do two things. One is seeing off the old year and greeting the new. The other is family reunion.

After putting up couplets and pictures in the doors on the Lunar New Year's Eve, each family gathers for a sumptuous meal called ‘family reunion dinner'. People will enjoy the food and drink in abundance.

The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd is necessary, as in Chinese, their pronunciations sounds like ‘Ji', ‘Yu', and ‘Doufu', with the meanings of auspicious, abundant and rich. The special dish today will be ‘Jiaozi’ (dumplings). One of them will wrap a lucky coin inside, which can bring good luck for the one who eat it.
 

Day 4

Jan 23, 2012 Beijing
After breakfast, you will have a short visit to the Temple of Heaven, where might a little bit deserted in this cold winter morning, but reveal its solemn and magnificent thoroughly. After the tour, enjoy the delightful and crowed Temple Fair! Taste local flavors, enjoy folk performances, really a different experience.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Beijing

The Temple of Heaven is decorated in blue, the color of the Heavens. The perfect harmony between the architectural environment and nature can be felt here; you might easily imagine the vivid spectacle of a great sacrifice to the Heavens for a good harvest. The magnificent Hall of Prayer of Good Harvest is one of the most important and impressive building in China.

To the old customs, Temple Fair is the most important activity during the Spring Festival. In Beijing, it has a time-honored history. Traditionally, there are various kinds of performances in temple. Besides, one can find traditional arts and handicrafts as well as countless tasty local smacks from craftsmen and vendors along the streets. Most temple fairs are features by their dragon and lion dancing as well as folk performances. For foreign visitors, it is a rare opportunity to experience Chinese colorful culture and tradition.
 

Day 5

Jan 24, 2012 Beijing    Xian
Enjoy your own exploration in this ancient city. In the afternoon, be transferred to the airport for your flight to Xian.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: In Xian

Xian, steeped in history and still giving up secrets, is your gateway to ancient Chinese civilization. In its 3,100 recorded years of evolution, it has been home to 13 dynasties.  Xian was also the end of civilization for those setting out on the famous Silk Road. Today’s Xian is a vibrant, modern city, but surrounded by history, even underfoot! So there can be no underground railways due to the obligation to preserve the wealth of ancient treasure still awaiting discovery.
 

Day 6

Jan 25, 2012 Xian
Today, start your one day trip with a visiting to the famous Qin Terracotta Army of 6,000 terra-cotta soldiers standing in battle formation guard the tomb of the very first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Then visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. In the evening, why not go for a walk around the ancient Xian City Wall and appreciate the colorful Lantern Show along the way.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Xian
 
As an ancient capital city to 13 dynasties, Xian has a rich recorded history, frequently enhanced by the evidence of new discoveries, like the 1974 unearthing of the fabulous Qin Terracotta Army, the long forgotten army created to guard Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb. Over two thousand years later, this “Eighth Wonder of the World” was rediscovered by farmers digging a well. The fine troops, horses and carriages in battle formation are a National ancient art treasure. Three excavation pits are now opened to the public and a fourth is nearing completion.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and travelers Xuanzang. Now this well-preserved holy place for Buddhist has been the symbol of Xian.

Xian was always a walled city, and today’s wall represents one of the oldest and best preserved Chinese city walls, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.  Every year, during the Spring Festival, a Lantern Show (from 18:00 to 22:00) will be held in Xian City Wall spot to celebrate the coming of the spring.   
 

Day 7

Jan 26, 2012 Xian    Shanghai
Enjoy your free time then be transferred to the airport for your flight to Shanghai. On arrival, your local guide will meet you at the airport then accompany you for a relaxing stroll alone the Bund, the showcase with the old buildings of colonial-era leftover along Huangpu River.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Shanghai

Shanghai is a city unlike any other in China. It is the bustling economic heartbeat of China that enjoys all of the comforts and amenities of a fully modern metropolis. Shanghai today looks to regain its former position at the turn of 20th of being one of the largest financial centers in the world behind New York and London. It is a city that seamlessly blends East and West.

The Bund, the showcase with the old buildings of colonial-era leftover along Huangpu River. The renowned waterfront district is the city's most famous landmark. The word BUND is of Anglo-India origin meaning embankment on the waterfront. It is also the popular site to enjoy the night view of the city.
 

Day 8

Jan 27, 2012 Shanghai
Today, enjoy your full day city tour that start with the visit to the Jade Buddha Temple, then move to Yuyuan Garden, a Chinese classic garden in city downtown, and the nearby old street-Yuyuan Market, where you can also appreciate a joyful atmosphere for the coming of the spring. After the tour, how about enjoy a breathtaking Acrobatic Show in the evening as your optional activity?
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Shanghai

Today you'll find a Buddhism shrine - Jade Buddha Temple, which is located in a crowd of Shanghai City. It was first built in 1882 in Jiangwan on the southern outskirts of Shanghai. In order to make it convenient for the adherents to visit, it was bodily moved to Shanghai City at the present sire in 1918. It is named for its two bejeweled white jade Buddha. It receives thousands of visitors and worshipers everyday while keeps its sanctity and charming. Carved from a whole piece of white jade, the sitting jade Buddha statue is translucent with a solemn expression, displaying the excellent skill and extraordinary art of Chinese people.

Yuyuan Garden has a lot of stories for it was severely damaged in the 19th century and was restored in 1961. This garden was first built in the 16th century by provincial governor, Pan Yunduan, in honor of his father who was the then government minister. It has many scenic courtyards decorated with baroque rockery, pools, and flora that are all connected by corridors and passageways. The delicate design and exquisite layout of the whole garden reveals a strong impression of 'garden in the garden, whole in the part.

Shanghai offers colorful recreations with rich contents and creative form. Your night may be filled with an interactive old form of art known as the Acrobatics. Those professional performers have been trained of as early as age six or seven so that they can play so well and excellent. It definitely will be an unforgettable night in your memory.
 

Day 9

Jan 28, 2012 Shanghai
Enjoy your free time then be transferred to the airport for your flight to next destination.
Meals: Breakfast

Service End