Next year maybe a month hence, unless you speak of Chinese new year then 'next year' is 2 months hence. And next year, regardless of when it begins for you, lasts 12 months which is a large open window of time. So maybe you could be more specific as to precisely when you might travel to China. When you go could make a very large difference in what you can do or see. I recall the snow storm in G'zhou a few years back and the 800,000 cold and miserable folks waiting days outdoors for the train to return them home for the Spring Festival. Not the best time to visit south China.

It aounds like you've already decided what you want to see. You have picked the most obvious and standard tourist sights, whcih will be overrun by other tourists, both Chinese and foreign.

You can fravel by plane, train or bus. For train info see seat61.com. For other logistics info see Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

thanks for replies i will be going in june next year for 2 weeks. i know it's a while away yet but travelling to other places before. i just want to see the highlights. do you have any recommendations? is it easy to travel around on local transport? what is the easiest way and route to get the ferry to hong kong?

Use trains and buses to Guilin/Yangshuo area. Then you can fly to Chongqing for the Yantze Cruise down to Yichang. From Yichang, you can fly down to Shenzhen across the border from Hong Kong. Or you can take train or bus to Wuhan, and transfer to highspeed rail to Shenzhen.

No need and no reason to take a ferry to Hong Kong, unless you're in Macau or already near a port with ferry. From the airport or highspeed rail terminus in Shenzhen, you won't be taking a ferry.