We are first timers to China (myself, husband and 2 teens, 18 and 15). We were able to secure Business Class frequent flier seats in and out of Shanghai for late June into July. A group tour is an absolute no-no--we hate being herded like sheep from tourist trap to tourist trap! Yet, language/logistics probably necessitate some private guidance. Of course we want to hit all the usual suspects like Beijing and Shanghai, but we are unsure of what other "must sees" we need to do. One final note... we live in Atlanta where the terracotta warriors from Xian are presently on display. Having heard mixed reviews of Xian (very crowded, industrial and ugly but for the terracotta warriors)we could skip this in favor of something more rural and bucolic. Thanks for your help!

Sheri

Seeing half a dozen of the Xian warriors in a museum setting is, IMO, nothing at all like seeing thousands of them lined up row upon row in situ in Xian. The first is like looking at a bottle of sea water. The second is like seeing <i>the ocean</i>.

Xian is one of the few Chinese cities or villages left which has its entire remaining city wall (well, there are a view villages here in Hong Kong with their walls remaining, but you can’t walk on them like you can in Xian). It has a very nicely preserved old town area, an excellent museum, an interesting Muslim quarter and a charming and very historical pagoda. Of course it has pollution, as do Beijing and Shanghai (in spades) and much of the rest of the PRC, including the countryside areas. You can also find bucolic areas (many of which area actually reachable from the Xian area), but I personally would not rule out Xian if you want to see some interesting bits, and especially just because you saw five or six of the soldiers in the Atlanta museum.

I would first look into an open jaw ticket that would allow you to fly out of Beijing or even Hong Kong, which would save you some backtracking going back to Shanghai.

Other than that really, all of the PRC is open to you. Typical track would be Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Lijiang/Tiger Leaping Gorge and other parts of Yunnan Province, Sichuan for Pandas. You could consider Silk Road areas like Dunhuang, (quite hot in those months). If you want beaches you could consider a place like Hainan Island, the “Hawaii” of China (weather can be on the rainy side in those months) I personally would include Hong Kong (I live here so may not have a balanced view) as it is a vibrant city with tons to do and large countryside areas as well. Quite hot and a good bit of rain, but many parts of the PRC will have that as well. See weatherbase.com for temps and rainfall. You could not include all of these in 14 days, so do some reading and pick based on your interests. I have left out a lot, like cruising on the Yangtze (which I believe has lost much of its charm since the dams were built and lakes were created). The country is huge and varied.

Note that July 1 is National Day in the PRC (and Hong Kong). Fireworks will be everywhere, which is good. Things like Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City will be jammed, which you would want to avoid.

Thanks, Cicerone! Lots of good advice. First, regarding Xian, obviously the scope and grandeur of seeing the warriors in all of their multitudes would far exceed any experience we could have in a museum. I definitely recognize that. But if I am on a 14 day limited itinerary and I don't want to be rushed from city to city every day, I was only trying to cull the most prized highlights from from the country.

Regarding our flights... we are using mileage so we are limited as to what we can do. Believe me, you can't even imagine the headache I went through just to secure these seats. It's in and out of Shanghai for sure.

Excellent advice about July 1. We will try to avoid Beijing around that time. Thanks for your help again!

Chinese National Day is October 1, not July 1.

July 1 is a holiday in Hong Kong as that's the 7/1/97 was the day it went back to Chinese rules.

Major fireworks in Hong Kong on 10/1, not 7/1.

I got that those mixed up myself in a recent thread. Looks like I got Cicerone confused too. Hehehe..

Let's face it, in a country with a billion people everyday and every place will be crowded regardless of the date!