From Beijing to Shanxi with rich cultural relics and ancient architecture

Day01/Day02 Your homeland – Beijing

Airport pick-up & airport-hotel transfer.

Day03 Beijing

Tiananmen Square:  the center of Beijing, where you can visit Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People’s Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony.
Forbidden City: also known as the Palace Museum, and Gu Gong in Chinese, lies at the city center of Beijing, and once served as the imperial palace for 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 – 1911).
A la carte lunch: special and local food of Beijing.
Temple of Heaven:  It is the largest existing one in Beijing among several royal altars to Heaven, Earth, the Sun, the Moon and other deities or symbolic forces of Nature.
Acrobatic show : Action packed with outstanding feats, beautiful choreography, color and excitement — the show is one of the favorite nightlife venues in the wondrous “City of Peking”.

Day04 Beijing

Badaling Great Wall: the most visited section of the Great Wall, Many world leaders have made a trip to the site including Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan,  Mikhail Gorbachev and Richard Nixon.
Hutong visit: the real culture of Beijing is the culture of the Hutong and Courtyards. The representatives of local culture, thus it is the first choice for people who would like to learn about the local history
Bird’s Nest (drive by): The main stadium to hold on Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Day05 Beijing – Pingyao

Summer Palace: Summer Palace is China existing largest and best preserved imperial garden, also is one of the four famous gardens in China.
Take a train to Pingyao.
Train station to hotel transfer.

Day06 Pingyao

Ming-Qing Street：These shops were all built with bricks and stones completely in the style of Ming and Qing architecture, which are all the prototypes of the aged buildings and quite different from the imitation works now.
Temple of City God： In 1859 the Temple burned down during a temple fair and was rebuilt in 1864. The current buildings are Qing-style. Unlike most city god temples, Pingyao City God Temple includes buildings dedicated to the city god, the god of wealth and the kitchen god.
Ri Sheng Chang Financial House：considered the first draft bank in China’s history. It was founded during the Qing Dynasty (1823).

Tongxinggong ancient bank.

Day07 Pingyao

Qiao’s Compound: is a courtyard house located in Qi County, Jinzhong Prefecture, Shanxi Province, China, approximately 30 kilometers (20 mi) northeast of Pingyao. It is the residential compound of well-known financier Qiao Zhiyong , who was the most famous member of the Qiao family.
Shuanglin Monastery:  is reputed to be the ‘ancient painted sculptures museum’. It houses more than 2,000 colorful sculptures reflecting the exquisite skills of the artisans of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
learn to cut window decorations: Paper-cut on windows is one of the traditional decorations during Chinese Spring Festival, along with spring couplets and lucky characters.
practice Chinese calligraphy: It is not easy to write a Chinese character, not to mention draw one with a bamboo brush. The artist will teach you the basic ways to hold a bamboo brush and some simple characters.

Day08 Pingyao – Datong

Hanging Monastery：Constructed in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386 – 557), about 1,500 years ago, the Hanging Monastery is the only temple that merges Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. As the name suggests, the monastery hangs on the cliff of Hengshan Mountain, about 65 km from Datong City. All the 40 halls in the temple seem to be supported by some wooden columns, but some of columns do not bear any stress. It is said that there was no column when the temple was finished, and people added some for fear of it collapsing.

Day09 Datong – Beijing

Yungang Grottoes：one of the four most famous grottoes in China. The other three are Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, and Maiji Mountain Grottoes in Gansu. The construction of Yungang Grottoes started in the Northern Wei Dynasty and took 64 years to complete.
Take a train back to Beijing.

Day10 Beijing – Your homeland

Hotel-airport transfer is on your own arrangement. A pleasant onward trip!