Study Tour Highlights

Day 4

Tiananmen Square (Gate of Heavenly Peace)

Located at the center of Beijing City is Tiananmen Square, where you can visit Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony. Thousands of people come to the Square every day. It is the must place to visit in Beijing City.

Fobidden City
Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City , called Gu Gong, in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Devine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world wide.
_________________________________________________________

Day 5

Great Wall in Beijing - Badaling Great Wall

Badaling is located at Yanqing County, more than 70 kilometers northwest from the center of Beijing City. It is a mountain pass of the Jundu Mountain. Badaling is at the highest point of north end of the Guan'gou gorge, in which the Juyongguan Pass lies. In the history, the function of Badaling was to protect the Juyongguan Pass. Along with Guan'gou gorge, there are several interests and historic sites. Badaling is a rare ancient military defense project. The elevation of it is about 1,000 meters.

Dingling Tomb of Ming Dynasty

Dingling is under ground and about 27 meters deep. It is the mausoleum 
of Emperor Zhu Yijun, the thirteenth emperor who occupied the throne the 
longest during the Ming Dynasty, and his two empresses. The main features 
are the Stone Bridge, Soul Tower, Baocheng and the Underground Place, 
which was unearthed between 1956 and 1958. The entire palace is made 
of stone. The Soul Tower is symbolic of the whole of Dingling and it forms 
the entrance to the underground chambers.The yellow glazed tiles; eaves, 
archway, rafters and columns are all sculptured from stone, and colorfully 
painted. The entire construction is stable and beautiful!
                         _________________________________________________________

Day 6

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of "The heaven is round and the earth is square".

Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)

Located in Haidian District, some 12 kilometers northwest of the downtown, the Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden in the world. It is a veritable museum of classical Chinese garden architecture.

The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750, commissioned by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday. The construction took 15 years to complete. It had the name "Qingyi Yuan" (Garden of Clear Ripples) at that time. The plundering of foreign troops in 1860 destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi, who was said to have embezzled the funds of the Imperial Navy to build the garden. After China's liberation, the garden became a park and got the name Yiheyuan (Summer Palace).
_________________________________________________________

Day 8

Changyu Winery

The Time-honoured Changyu Winery Making Fine Grape Wine Yantai City was named the "International Vine and Wine City" by the Inter-national Office of Vine and Wine in 1987. This has a great deal to do with Changyu Winery's Contributions to the wine-making industry. Ever since its establishment in 1892, Yantai Changyu Winery, as a forerunner of China's modern national industries, has aroused the world's attention. Three kinds of wines--brandy, red wine and Vermouth--produced by Changyu Winery were awarded gold medals and Grand Prize at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Since 1990's, Changyu Winery has speeded up its paces in developing new products to meet new market needs, with its products rapidly approximating the quality standards of the modern international famous-brand wines.

Yantai Beach 

Yantai Moon Bay
_________________________________________________________

Day 9

Qingdao (Tsingtao) Beaches

Zhanqiao, Qingdao (Tsingtao)

Qingdao (Tsingtao) beach

Though Qingdao (Tsingtao) weather does not permit ocean swimmimg all year round, the warmer months are perfect for sunning and splashing at any of half a dozen excellent city beaches, located along the southeastern coast. All the beaches have golden sand, refreshment outlets and changing facilities.

Badaguan

With its colonial, predominantly German, history Qingdao (Tsingtao) 
contains the architecture of many different European styles. Outside 
of the old German Concession, north of the railway station, most of 
this history is displayed in Badaguan, also known as the Huiquan area. 

Badaguan, literally the Eight Passes, is so named because eight 
of the roads here are named after China's most famous passes. 
The area features Russian, English, French, German, and Danish 
constructions which are now mostly either large scale guesthouses 
or sanitariums. 

Badaguan is a great area to stroll through, not only interesting 
for its tree lined avenues and proximity to the Number One Beach, 
but also for budding botanists; the roads here are also known 
after the flowers or trees that line them, for example,  Shaoguan 
Lu is also called Green Peach Road, Ningwuguan Lu is called 
Crabapple Road, Zhengyangguan Lu is called Crab Myrtle Lu. 

In recent years, a peach forest, flowering in spring, has been 
planted at the northeast corner of the area. While in the southwest 
corner lies the "the lovers' paradise", a place favored by lovers 
where the cypresses line both sides of the road. 
_________________________________________________________

Day 11 

Jiugong Mountain, Hubei Province 

Mount Jiugong is located in the middle of the Mo Fu Mountain Range 
which runs across Tongshan County, Hubei Province. It has a total area 
of 210 square kilometers and it is a scenic sports and historical sites of 
national level in our country which are ratified by the state Council It looks 
grand and dangerously steep the scenery is very beautiful and attractive. 
It's main peaks is 1657 meters above sea level. The temperature averages 
21 in the summer. The waterfall of the Gliff is one of the tallest in our country 
with a drop of 420 meters. The Lake in the Cloud with an elevation of 1230 
meters. It is one of the mountain lakes which have the most distinguishing 
features; The Forest Garden has an area of 60,000 mu, there are 17 kinds 
of rare animals and 34 kinds of rare plants in it, including yew trees. 
_________________________________________________________

Day 12

Jiugong Mountain, Hubei Province 

Mount Jiugong has a long history. Artificial scenery scatter all over 
like stars in the sky or men on a chess-board. It is recorded in history 
that king Jin'an,Chen Bo-gong and his eight brothers came here and 
built nine palaces in order to keep away from chaos caused by war, 
and from then on the Mt Jiugong became famous. In the Southern Song 
Dynasty, a famous Taoist priest, named Zhang Dao-qing, came here 
and began to preach Taoism to the people, Taoism is spreading so 
quickly that it soon becomes one of the five famous Taoism -preaching 
center all over the country; In 1645 LiZhicheng, the famous leader of 
the preasant uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty, was Killed at the top 
Niuji, where the famous Chuang wang Tomb was built. The Tomb 
is the only one of the leaders of the peasant uprising that is kept up 
to now, and belong to one of the most important units where historical 
relics should be taken special care of. 

It lies at the centre of the three tourism lines. They are the 
lines of Shanxia; Historic three countrise and Wuhan-Yueyang-Mount 
Lu, To the north of it, it's about 178 kilometers away from Wuhan, National 
Road 106,passes by at the foot of it,The round -the -mountain roads join 
all the scenic sports and historical sites into an entirety. More than 70 
sanatoriums. Further more there are cinemas, bookstores, great markets 
and shops, hospitals, amusement place, atc. They can all supply tourist 
with the first-class service. On Dec 5,1984,the party secretary of the 
central committee, Comrade Hu Yao-bang came here and wrote the 
strong, large words in his own handwriting: MOUNT JIUGONG

_________________________________________________________

Day 13

Wuhan, Capital City of Hubei Province

Yellow Crane Tower 

The Yellow Crane Tower , located on Snake Hill in Wuchang, is 
one of the "Three Famous Towers South of Yangtze River  (the other 
two: Yueyang Tower  in Hunan and Tengwang Tower  in Jiangxi). 

Legend has it that in Wuchang, there used to be a wine shop opened 
by a young man named Xin. One day, a Taoist priest, in gratitude 
for free wine, drew a magic crane on the wall of the shop and instructed 
it to dance whenever it heard clapping. Thousands of people came to 
see the spectacle and the wine shop was always full of guests. After 
10 years, the Taoist priest revisited the wine shop. He played the flute 
and then rode on the crane to the sky. 

In memory of the supernatural encounter and the priest, the Xins built 
a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower. According to records, the 
tower was first built in 223 A.D during the Three Kingdoms period 
(220-280). 

After completion, the tower served as a gathering place for 
celebrities and poets to party and compose poetry. It was 
estimated that up to the Tongzhi Reign of the Qing dynasty, as 
many as 300 poems about the tower had been found in historical 
literature. Cui Hao, a famous poet during the Tang dynasty  
(618-907), made the tower well known throughout China with his 
poem "Yellow Crane Tower". 

Destroyed many times in successive dynasties, the tower was rebuilt 
time and again until 100 years ago when it was, for the last time, 
reduced to ashes. The present tower is a complete reconstruction 
and is the result of four years of work beginning in 1981. Where the 
old tower was only 15 meters wide, the ground floor of the new 
structure was increased to 20 meters wide. The tower, 51.4 meters 
high, is five-storied with yellow tiles and red pillars, overlapping 
ridges and interlocking eaves, more magnificent than the old one. 

Guiyuan Temple 

Guiyuan Temple , situated on Cuiwei 
Street, is one of the four largest Buddhist 
meditation temples in Hubei as well as an 
important Buddhist temple in China. 

The temple was first built in the early Qing dynasty  
(1644-1911) by two monks named Baiguang and 
Zhufeng on the base of Sunflower Garden which was 
owned by a poet. The temple got its name from the 
Buddhist chant: "When guided by purity, one can 
go anywhere." Guiyuan Temple has survived through 
more than 300 hundred years of repeated cycles of 
prosperity and decline. Above all others, it has 
always led the other temples in Wuhan with 
prosperous public worship, flourishing Buddhist 
ceremony, and welcoming many pilgrims. 

The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times 
in its history and the present temple dates from the 
early Republic of China (1912-1949). Covering an 
area of 46,900 square meters with a floor space of 
20,000 square meters, the temple mainly consists 
of Daxiongbaodian Hall, Arhat Hall, and the Sutra 
Collection Pavilion.
_________________________________________________________

Day 14

Kunming, capital city of Yunnan province

Kunming is situated in central Yunnan and north of the Dianchi Basin,is skirted on three sides by mountains, with one side opening onto the Dianchi Lake. The city is nicknamed City of Spring due to the fact that it is covered all the year round with the rich verdure of trees and plants. Endowed with a pleasant climate, the city 15000 square kilometers of land is adorned with more than 400 kinds of flowers. Kunming is world-famous for its abundance of camellias, orchids, azaleas and Primula malacoides.

Flower and Birds Market (left) . Dianchi Lake, Kunming City
_________________________________________________________

Day 15 - 16

Dali, Yunnan Province

 
Foreigner Street

Dali nestling in the arms of the Diancang Mountain 400 kilometers west of Kunming, is linked to the outside world by airlines and express ways. The weather there is mild and it is spring all the year round. Dali is known all over the world for its graceful scenes and sights. The green mountains are encircled by rivers, and the city is encircled by mountains, as one line goes. The mountains aree perpetually green in all four seasons says another, The Cangshan Mountain and the Erhai Lake are perhaps the most fascinating of all the sceneries in the city.

Stone Forest

The Stone Forest, which is found in the Lunan Yi Autonomous County some 100 kilometers from Kunming, is composed of the greater stone Forest, the lesser Stone Forest, the Outer Stone Forest, and the Stone Forest lake. Looking in the distance like a vast expanse of forests, it is actually a world of stone peaks, stalacto-stalagmites, stalagmites, substerranean rivers and underground limestone caves. For this top graphical turmoil the place is dubbed Number One Wonder in the World. the Stone Forest is home to the Sani people, a branch of the industrious and brave Yi minority. As born singers and dancers, the sani people are also skilled in embroidery. On the 24th of the sixth lunar month, the Stone Forest attracts large crowds of visitors from at home and abroad who come to join the Sani people in celebrating the Torch Festival.

Old Town of Dali

Nestling in the arm s of the statuesque Cangshan Mountain, and skirted 
by a wall eight meters in height and 3.5 kilometers in circumference, the 
600-year-old city of Dali was first built in 1683, the 15th year of Hongwu 
reign of the Ming Dynasty, Featuring stone walls, grey-tiled roofs, doors 
and windows carved with dragon and phoenix parterns, and gardens of 
varying sizes, the dwellings of Dali evince an air of classic scanctity. 
The entire city is covered by a maze of streams, fed by runoffs from the 
cangshan Mountain. Hence the saying the gurgling of water can be heard 
in every house, and flowers are planted in every family.
                        

Three Pagodas

At the foot of the Zhonghe peak of the Cangshan Mountain just one kilometer to the northwest of the ancient city of Dali stand three pagodas, which are an emblem of the city's venerated history. The tallest of the trio, which is 69.13 meters tall, was built in 836AD, and the two smaller ones were built during a late period . No visit to Dali is complete with a call at these three pagodas.

Cangshan Mountain

Also called "diancang", the Cangshan Mountain thrusts up in the fasion of a huge screen wall in the west part of Dali. Malong, the main peak, soars 4122 meters into the sky under a snow mantle that never throws. Down the vales, streams flow with a rich susurrus, up the slopes, the blue sky is obscured by the dense foliage of clumps of ancient trees, at top the peaks, lakes sparkle like so many mirrors. With its vast collection of plants and trees, the Cangshan Mountain is also a veritable botanical garden.

Erhai Lake

In the shape of an er, meaning ear in Chinese, the Erhai Lake in the east of Dali covers 250 square kilometers at an elevation of 1980 meters with water a storage capacity of 300,000 cubic meters. Its vast pool of water, shining under the sun like a sheet of vivid green, and the snow mantles of the Cangshan Mountain reflected quiveringly in it, combine to form a breath-taking sight known poetically as " Silver Cangshan and Jade like Erhai." _________________________________________________________

Day 17

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

The ancient city of Lijiang is found in Dayan Town, a largely Naxi settlement first built during the Southern Song Dynasty some eight centuries ago. In December 1986 , the State Council designated the place as a famous ancient UNESCO put Lijiang on a list of the world major cultural heritages. With square Street at the core, the entire city spreads out in all direction, and is crisscrossed by labyrinth of flagged streets and alleyways. Most of the dwellings, scattered at the foot of a mountain or by the rivers which flow through every nook and corner of the city, are brick-and title structures with carved doors and painted windows. Traffic across the rivers is facilitated by a large number of ting stone bridges. The entire city is evocative of a town south of the Yangtza River.

Culture is the soul of Lijiang ancient town. Dongba culture is an integral part of Naxi culture, referred to as the ancient culture of the ethnic Naxi. It is called so because it is mostly found in the Dongba religion, which is believed to be one thousand years old. It chiefly consists of scriptures, paintings, music, dances, ritual implements and religious services.

Situated in the northwest plateau in Yunnan, Lijiang(the Beautiful River) got its name from its position at the middle reaches of the beautiful Jinsha River. The Naxi Autonomous County is the seat of the administrative commission of Lijiang Prefecture. Scattered on an area of 7,648 square kilometers, the population of 320,000 is made up of the Naxi, Bai, Lisu, Pumi, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Hui, Han and other ethnic groups. Among them, the Naxi people constitute 57% of the total. Affected by the plateau wind from South Asia, Lijiang has two distinctive seasons, the dry and the wet. The temperature range of the four seasons is narrow. The annual mean temperature ranges from12.6 C to 9.9 C. The Dongba religion, a primitive religion, is the common belief of the Naxi people.In addition, some of them believe in Lamaism. These two religions have greatly influenced the ideology of the Naxi people and their social activities and life.
_________________________________________________________

Day 18

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong xue shan)

The formidable Jade Dragon Snow Mountain dominate the Lijiang Plain, defining its western edge with their towering mass. The mountains western flanks drop steeply to the Upper yangzi River ( Jinsha Jiang ), helping to form magnificent, deep gorges, and the highest peak is shanzidou, at 5596 . Storms frequently rage around the glaciers, rocks and perpetual snowfields of the five primary summits, however , the alpine meadows on the lower slope , where herders sing to their goats and cattle and collectors of wild medicinal herbs go happily about their business , are excellent hiking country.

_________________________________________________________

And Also:
Guizhou Tongren & Mt. Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve

Mt. Fanjingshan, the forever Pure Land, is located in an area comprising parts of the three counties of Jiangkou, Yinjiang and Songtao in the northeast section of Guizhou Province. With its highest peak with an altitude of 2572 meters, Mt. Fanjingshan is not only the highest mountain in Guizhou but also is the highest peak in all of the Wuling Mountain Range.