At the mention of Nanjing, ekscrunchy cannot help but recommend a very good boof, a novel based on sad historical fact:

http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Nanking-.../dp/0802117945

If you're not going to Beijing because Mrs. Panda doesn't want to fly, there's always the train. Soft sleeper is very comfortable these days - see seat61.com/China.htm#What are Chinese trains like.

It's not the flying, it's the dislocation. Thanks for the train link. I'm sure it will come in handy bopping around. Probably not in the canals.

I was reading down this thread and noticed one of Marya_'s posts. Apparently Harvard University, one of the most well known universities in the world, is now known as: "the Pandas' local university".
That was my laugh for the day.

Now back to the topic. We really enjoyed our time on Huangshan Mountain (Yellow Mountain). The scenery is stunning (not a word I use often). It is accessible by train or plane from Shanghai. There are some nice hotels high up on the mountain. A fair bit of hiking is involved, if the Pandas are up for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangshan_Mountains

Lumbering would be more like it! Or the infamous bopping!

the sewer tour is quite interesting....ask your hotel for directions...

Wanna see a bopping panda? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrtFwmunj3U

Or you could adopt a more sedate pace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htP53EwTbjg

ET: Wow, those da xiong mao's are entertaining!

Panda: Seriously, short of sounding like a broken record, try 1 more time to convince the mrs. to consider 1 week Shanghai and 1 week Beijing.

If not, Danmango's idea of Huangshan is great, there are cable cars up the mountain to the hotels but you still need to hike to the sights. Or else, to cut down on dislocation, after a week in Shanghai, take the highspeed D train 3 hours to Nanking for a couple of nights, read up on chinese history as the sights/sites in that city are mostly of historical significance. Train to Wuxi for one night stay and scenery. Then train to Hangzhou for 3-4 nights and do Shaoxing as a daytrip. Keep in mind these are 2nd tier cities, the upmarket travel infrastructure and number of english-speaking people cannot compare to Shanghai and Beijing. For the last day/night, train back to Shanghai for shopping before departure.

Suzhou and a small watertown can be done as daytrips from Shanghai in your first week.

S-I will try, but I don't like my chances.

The proposed itinerary looks pretty good. Remember, I'm a second tier sort of guy, on my best day.

Hi, Shanghainese!

Glad you enjoyed them!

Fortunately for me you wrote "panda" in romanized script instead of Chinese characters!

I second Shanghainese's suggestion to do some tactful suggestion or heavy-duty arm-twisting on Mrs Panda to persuade her to spend some time in Beijing.

Lemme see if I can draw some kind of analogy: it's as if you've decided to spend two weeks in Liverpool or Marseilles or Hamburg and other posters are trying to persuade you to spend at one of the two weeks in London, Paris or Berlin.

Otherwise, what we're doing is saying: "Hmmmm, well, in and around Hamburg, you COULD go to Hannover and maybe drive to Hamlin - charming little German town - and let's see where else can you go?...Hmmmm...."

Personally, I'm not understanding the "dislocation" part. What "dislocation"? you're going to have to "dislocate" yourself out of Shanghai to visit any of these other cities (apart from Suzhou, which, as Shanghainese has indicated, is a possible day trip). It's not possible to just visit surrounding cities of Shanghai like you bop off to Giverny from Paris. You will need to spend at least one night in that city the way Shanghainese has mapped out for you.

Just a few more thoughts to put into your panda pipe. :)

Nicely put, easytraveler. I'd also add that taking the train in China could be considered an important part of the trip on its own, rather than a "dislocation". Remember, "journey" rather than "destination"? How much luggage do you usually take? Could cutting down on that help? Could leaving some of it in your Shanghai hotel?

I did go back to Shanghai for a second time, but ONLY because I really wanted to spend more time in the Art Museum (drooling over the jade, mostly). There is just so much more to see in Beijing.

And the train ride from Shanghai is really lots of fun! I liked the overnight sleeper so much that I want to take another one on my next trip!

I will try. Your enthusiatic words may help. Maybe the train ride to Beijing will entice Mrs. P. I can wear my engineer's hat. Either that or I can scream "All aboard" just as we're ready to depart. Trust me, it's not easy being Mrs. Panda. I can't tell you how many people over the years have uttered the phrase, "Your wife must be a saint".

Ok, no more advice till we hear back from the saint's DH.

ET! Forgive me for weeping from your comparison of Shanghai to Lp, Ms and Hb, I understand not many countries have 2 exciting mega cities like China. New York vs. LA?! Vancouver vs. Montreal?! I give up.

Shanghainese: "<i>Forgive me for weeping..."</i>

Weeping???

I was trying to find a busy seaport in each country (England, France and Germany) that was a fair distance from the country's capital, the way Shanghai is from Beijing.

None of the four cities you mentioned: NY, LA, Vancouver or Montreal is the capital of a country. In the case of Canada, especially, it wouldn't make sense to urge someone to spend one week in Vancouver and the other week in Ottawa.

?????

I agree with you that both Shanghai and Beijing are two "exciting mega cities" in china - which is why I'm agreeing with you that Panda should try and spend a week in each city.

That's why I'm not understanding why you would be weeping. Sorry, you're going to have to explain it to me. This is quite a mystery to me!

We are making some progress on including Beijing. Your comments have been very helpful in this regard. I suggested that visiting only Shanghai would be like going to Provincetown, Massachusetts and not popping over to Boston. There may be something lacking in this analogy, but it has some strength

Yikes, I think Shanghainese might do more than weep at that analogy! But glad to hear that prospects for Beijing are improving. Have you tried pictures?

You really have to try and convince her about Beijing, it has so much more to see than Shanghai, you can't go to China and not go to the wall, Forbidden city & Tiananmen sq.

We visited Xitang when we were in Shanghai, we had originally planned to stay the night there but the weather wasn't good so we returned to Shanghai as it was very cold & damp. I think these places have to be visited when it's good weather so I would wait until you're in Shanghai and visit on a good day.

if i mention beijing to her she will want to go immediately....he needs to plead....what does that tell you??

WIMP