China Highlights

　　 City Packages

China Adventure Tour

Incentive Tour

Chinese Ceramics
Pottery, porcelain and ceramics are three easily confused terms to describe the earthenware production in China. 
Pottery can be any object made from porous clay and baked at a temperature ranging from hot, direct sunlight to baking, or firing, in a kiln at a temperature of about 1,000 degrees Celsius. It is usually neither hard nor stable. In order to produce ideal results, before firing, pigments or colors were supposed to be applied to pottery. After firing, it can also be painted with almost any colors.
Porcelain, on the other hand, is made from a mixture of special clays, often kaolin, which is made from decomposed crystals of granite, and fired at a very high temperature of 1,350 degree Celsius, at which kaolin becomes white. It is hard and much more durable than pottery. After firing, porcelain can be painted in a rainbow of colors and glazed, and then fired at a low temperature to seal the color and harden the glaze. Even the word “china” is often used to describe fine Chinese porcelain.

>>More...

Arrive in Beijing, the capital of China. Meet your guide upon arrival and be transferred to your comfortable hotel. (D)

Begin the day’s activity with a visit to Tian’anmen Square, the largest urban square in the world. Then, move on to visit the Imperial Palace, also known as the “Forbidden City”, the biggest palace complex in the world. There is abundant porcelain treasure collection in Forbidden City, both on quantity and quality. In the afternoon, visit the Temple of Heaven where the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for good harvest. You will have an opportunity to visit Liulichang, a small street lined with some antique stores. (B-L-D)

Today’s highlight is your visit to the Great Wall, one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” and a symbol of Chinese civilization. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across mountains. A short drive away is the statue-lined Shenlu (Spirit Road) leading to the Ming Tombs, here you can see some marvelous stone sculptures. The Ming Tombs area is for deceased emperors of the Ming Dynasty. A Peking Duck Dinner concludes your full day activities in China. (B-L-D)

Visit the enchanting Summer Palace, one of China’s largest and best-preserved royal gardens, where you can have a walk along the famous Long Corridor. In the afternoon, you will visit the Yonghe Lama Temple, the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple in Beijing, and the most renowned in China (outside Tibet itself). Then, take an evening flight to Xi’an. (B-L)

Full day’s excursion is to the unparalleled highlight Terracotta Warriors and Horses at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor in China. Added highlights are a visit to the Huaqing Hot Spring - a former resort area especially for the emperors and the royal family and a visit to Banpo Village - the remains of a Neolithic village dating back to 6,000 years. Then, visit the superb Shannxi History Museum, the best of its kind in China. If time permits, visit a factory where copies of Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses are made. With the introduction of the workman there, you may try to use clay and mould to make the copies of Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses yourself. (B-L-D)

Climb the ancient City Wall and visit Forest of Steles Museum where precious stone carvings and sculptures are kept. Then, pay a visit to Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was built in 652 A.D. It contains a large volume of Buddhist scriptures which were obtained from India by the eminent monk of Xuanzang. Take an evening flight to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province. (B-L)

After breakfast, pay a visit to Tengwang Pavilion, located on the bank of the Yangtze River, one of the three famous pavilions south of the Yangtze River (the other two are Yueyang Tower in Yueyang and Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan). Then, drive to Jingdezhen, the capital of “China Porcelain”. (B-L-D)

Day 8 Jingdezhen

Today is for your professional trip. After breakfast, pay a visit Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum, a special museum of Chinese ceramics. This museum, about 18,000 collections, showed the ceramic development history of Jingdezhen. Move on to visit Jingdezhen Ceramic History Museum, composed of historical museum and ancient kiln workshop. Here the visitors learn the history behind the city, famed for its ceramics. Then, visit Hutian Ancient Kiln Site. It represents the development of porcelain-making techniques, artistic quality and production scale, and provides important concrete materials for the research into the developing history of Chinese porcelain. Also the Gaoling Mountain Original Kaolin Mine near the village of Gaoling. In China, the name “Gaoling” or “Kaoling” has been for centuries the term for the clay of porcelains. In this busy day, you also have some opportunity to make ceramics on your own. (B-L-D)

Day 9 Jingdezhen-Shanghai

Today’s highlight is visiting the Pottery & Porcelain Sculpturing Factory, the Chinaware Trading Mansion where is the heaven for tasting, appreciating and purchasing of chinaware. Then, you will visit Longzhu Pavilion, located at the top of Mt. Pearl, known as the imperial ceramic kiln in Ming and Qing dynasties. Then, fly to Shanghai in the late afternoon. Be transferred to the hotel on arrival. (B-L-D)

Day 10 Shanghai

This morning you will visit marvelous Shanghai Museum, a leading attraction of the city since it opened in 1994, containing some priceless collections of paintings, porcelains and bronzes. After lunch, move on to check out the St. Ignatius Cathedral (Xujiahui Cathedral) built in 1846. Wander around the former French Concession represented by the leafy Fuxing Park and the architecture in the area. Then pay a visit to the Jade Buddha Temple where two rare jade statues of Sakyamuni Buddha are treasured. A fabulous Acrobatic Show concludes your full day in Shanghai. (B-L-D)

Day 11 Shanghai

Visit the Bund, at the west shore of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jin Mao Tower can be seen on the opposite side. The splendid row of early 20th century Europe buildings remains the quintessential Shanghai sight. Visit fascinating Yuyuan Garden, a well-restored Suzhou-style garden, and take a walk through the Old Town filled with antique markets and specialty stores. Enjoy some free shopping along Nanjing Road --- China’s No. 1 shopping street, Shanghai’s past and present commercial centers. (B-L-D)

Day 12 Shanghai-Hangzhou

Take a morning train to Hangzhou, one ancient capital city in southern China, and famous for its natural beauty and historical and cultural heritages. You will visit the Southern Song Dynasty Guan Kiln Museum, located at   the western foot of Tortoise Hill in Hangzhou. The Southern Song Guan Kiln, especially established by the royal government, was a royal porcelain kiln, where skilled workmen gathered to produce celadon wares for imperial use exclusively. With its dignified and graceful shape, sparkling jade like color, thin body and thick glaze, Guan ware was recognized as the best among the five famous wares in the Song Dynasty and filled its own colors in Chinese ceramics history. It includes three parts: the protective hall of the ancient kiln site, the exhibit hall of unearthed wares and the workshop of traditional manufacture. (B-L-D)

Day 13 Hangzhou-Suzhou

Today’s highlight is to appreciate the incomparably lovely West Lake with its soaring bridges and flower-bright islets. Enjoy a boat ride on West Lake. Visit the Huagang Park (Flower Harbor Park), the most attractive waterside park. Ancient Chinese people praised the West Lake area as a land of intoxicating beauty. Then, enjoy a walk along the Su Causeway that is spanned with six bridges offering different views, the willows tossing among blooming peach flowers in spring. Then, take an afternoon train to Suzhou with soft seat. Founded in 514BC, Suzhou is known as the “Venice of the East”. It was so named by early travelers because the town was built around a network of canals and 300 bridges. (B-L-D）

Day 14 Suzhou

You will begin the day with a visit to Lingering Garden and Garden of the Master of the Nets. Lingering Garden is renowned for the artistic way in which the spaces between various kinds of architectural forms are dealt with. Garden of the Master of the Nets, the smallest of the Suzhou residential gardens, is the most impressive because of its use of space which creates the illusion of an area that is much greater than its actual size. You will also visit Suzhou Silk Museum to see how the world’s most beautiful silk is produced. Enjoy a boat ride on the Grand Canal reveals the traditional way of life for the people who have lived here for generations. China’s emperors took such route many times to inspect their territory and people in the South, leaving lots of legends and stories in the history. (B-L-D)

Day 15 Suzhou-Yixing

After breakfast, visit the Arts and Crafts Shop on Jingde Road and Antique Store on Renmin Road, where Suzhou’s specialties, such as silk embroidery, redwood carving, decorating fans, little umbrellas, kits, jade ware, calligraphy and paintings, are on display. Take a bus to Yixing in the afternoon. Yixing is well-known as the “the Pottery Capital of China and the Teapot Center of the World”. (B-L-D)

Day 16 Yixing

In Yixing, local pottery production has a history of more than 3,000 years, longer than local recorded history. You will see most teapots, and other pieces, big and small, some with painting and calligraphy, but all exquisite in workmanship, in the world. Begin today’s activity with visiting the Purple Sand Pottery Factory, then pay a visit to Red Pottery Arts Factory. Traditional craft techniques were taught in these factories. There are dozens series product, such as pot, cup, bottle and oven, with flower carving, poem and picture on pottery. (B-L-D)

Day 17 Yixing-Shanghai

After breakfast, visit the Yixing Pottery Museum, Ceramic Research Institute. Yixing Pottery Museum is a type of Chinese palace with green roof tiles, wonderfully ancient in appearance. It has, in excess of, 10,000 ceramic pieces in its collection. Some of these pieces were excavated from the local area, and some of these pieces were donated by the artists. Then, drive back to Shanghai. The following time is free for you to explore Shanghai city. (B-L-D)

Day 18 Depart from Shanghai

Be transferred to the airport, and prepare for boarding on your homebound flight. (B)