There are few places in the world that have experienced the pace of change that China has endured over the last thirty years. In the drive to move its economy forwards, much of the old country has fallen under the wrecking ball. In Beijing, all but a few landmarks, like the Forbidden City have been torn down or gentrified in the name of progress. With one foot in the past, and another in the future, witness the stark contrast of ancient neighbourhoods flanked by a backdrop of gleaming super structures, to the mountains beyond where the Great Wall continues to snake a path through the clouds as it has for centuries.

Travel by the bullet train through the heart of Shanxi Province to the ancient financial centre of Pingyao, with its traditional courtyards and preserved city wall, before turning back the clock 2000 years to discover the roots of the Chinese nation in the city of Xi’an. It was here that in 221 B.C. the first emperor Qing Shi Huang unified the warring states of the Zhou into an area loosely recognisable as today’s China. Xi’an was the starting point for the Silk Route and remains a melting pot for both commercial and cultural exchange.

Continue south to Yellow Mountain, with its steep ascents and precipitous gullies made famous by poets and painters alike. Journey through a countryside of emerald-green rice paddies and tea plantations to the famed traditional Hui villages, with their distinctive architecture features, and courtyard gardens.

Visit the West Lake of Hangzhou, an ancient capital which was known for its beauty as far back as the Southern Song. (12th - 13th centuries), when Marco Polo is said to have visited. You journey concludes in a world of glistening modernity and traditional lane houses. Shanghai has risen from a walled fishing town to an economic powerhouse and the face of modern China. 

Highlights

• Enjoy a breathtaking five-hour walk away from the crowds to view one of the most beautiful sections of the Great Wall as it spirals in unrestored splendour through jagged mountain peaks. 
• Go back 600 years to a world dominated by beautifully carved courtyard houses, tucked inside a maze of narrow alleyways. These Anhui villages were designed in accordance with traditional Confucian principals to emphasise the harmony of man and nature. 
• Visit the famed Longjing (Dragon Well) tea plantations in Hangzhou, where neat rows of tea bushes, the "green queen" cling to mountain slops high in the clouds and down to majestic bamboo forests beyond. Longjing green tea has been grown around the West Lake for over 1200 years. 
   

ITINERARY

The full itinerary can be found on the Distant Horizons website.

China tour