trip to China in Oct
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to China in Oct. We will only have 10 days there. We thought of going to Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and Yangshou and flying home from Hong Kong. Is this too ambitious?

Well, its doable if you want to spend all your time travelling.Remember, a one hour plane flight will still take up 4 to 5 hours of your time, when you add in travel from hotel,check in,flying time,deplane, get your bags, and then get to your hotel.
I used to travel in China a lot for business, and know how much all of that eats into a day.

In my opinion, go to Beijing and X'ian and fly down to Hong Kong. Less stress and you will see more of those cities.
If you had 15 days, then you could see the other cities such as Chengdu and Yangshou.

Well, I'd say you need four days for Beijing (if not five) and two for Xi'an. How long were you planning to spend in HK? It's not worth the flight to Chengdu for less than two days there, and your trip is still likely to be a blur.

Since we've been to Hong Kong twice, we were just planning to fly out from there, thinking it would save time.

If you have been to Hong Kong before, then don't fly out there. Fly out from Beijing or Shanghai (that way, you get to visit another Chinese city) instead. Flights between China and Hong Kong are more expensive to start with, so no reason to fly out from HKG.

Is it easiest to arrange flights between cities while in China or do it from here? Also, use a travel agency to make arrangements?

You could download the STAR ALLIANCE PC TravelDesk from http://www.staralliance.com/en/

Then, you could actually look up flights to the cities you are planning to visit. For example, Beijing (PEK) to X'ian (XIY), has 9 flights today on Air China. You can then link to the airlines web site.
Xian to Chengdu has only one flight today ( very late)
This way, you can plan a trip and see how much time is spent in actual travel.

Over to you whether you wish to make bookings direct with the airline or try through a travel agent.

Link to download page
http://www.staralliance.com/en/servi...ds/timetables/

It is easy (and less expensive) to buy your tickets once you get to China. The only downside is that your first choice flight on a particular day might be sold out. Many here have made their reservations through www.ctrip.com and have found the prices to be more reasonable than elsewhere on the web.

Beijing is a place you should stay for the most days, 3 days is enough I thought. Then fly to xi'an also stayed about 2-3 days, then to Chengdou with 2 days. If you still want to Yangzhou, (in fact, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou are all fit to visit and my city Amoy is also a nice place to visit). 10 days is a little tight for visiting those big cities here. Any questions, u can send me a message if this site has this function.

Another possibility is night trains between the cities, but if you don't sleep well, it'll ruin your next day's sightseeing.

You should be aware when planning your trip that the first week of October is a holiday break in China which includes National Day.

HappyTrvlr is right - you definitely want to avoid that week.

Book your internal flights online on any of the three major online travel agents in China: ctrip.com, travelzen.com or elong.net
Do not book too farvin advance on popular routes. Prices vary all the time and are likely cheaper 1-2 weeks prior to the travel date. HK is an internal flight from China and is not cheap.
Do not try to do too much in 10 days. Fly to Beijing, spend 4 days there. Fly yo Yangshuo for 2-3 full days then finish in Shanghai for 2 days and fly home from there.
I suggest Yangshuo over Xi'An as it will give you a "different experience". In a way Xi'An is a similar experience to Beijing.
Beijing will give you culture and history; Yanshuo will give you amazing landscape and life in the countryside, and Shanghai is modern China.
Definitely avoid week of October 1.