Idyllic China Southern Lakes, Gardens, & Watertowns Tour
Absorbing the Elegance of Literati Culture in China

Duration: 11 day tour • motor coach travel
Priced From:   $5,970 pp, do.
Single Sup Fee: $2,320
Visits: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xitang, Suzhou, Tongli

Over the last decade, the culinary arts of China have been rediscovered in spectacular fashion.  We can say without exaggeration that Chinese cuisine is the world’s most refined and complex cooking tradition.  Our tour itinerary features the finest restaurants in both north and south China, each one renowned for its lovely interior and distinctive culinary style.   In our view, fine touring means a feast for the palate as well as for the eyes. Below are some of the restaurants we will enjoy and their culinary specialties:

Shanghai Restaurants

Dingxiang                Shanghainese cuisine     
Lu Bo Lang              Shanghai dim sum   

Hangzhou Restaurants

Hubin 28                 Suzhou style-cuisine 

Suzhou  Restaurants
Songhelou              Suzhou style-cuisine

The key for a successful tour is to choose the best hotel locations.  In our view hotels should be located in historic districts where city life is so rich.  A few steps outside the lobby, we enter a completely new world.  We have selected hotels with this idea in mind; and below you’ll find some of the highlights you may enjoy during free time:

Ritz Carlton in Shanghai - Explore:  Huangpu River and Shanghai lovers’ lane • colonial Bund and its old cosmopolitanism  • audacious Pudong skyscrapers • city life at People’s Park

Hyatt Hotel in Hangzhou - Explore:  Picturesque views of West Lake • water fountains choreographed to music • Hangzhou people’s lakeside cultural life • elegant fashion boutiques • lively arts-and-crafts market

Sofitel Hotel in Suzhou - Explore:  Southern canal life and quaint walkways of old Suzhou • Xuanmiao Daoist Temple and temple fair • family-owned arts and antiques shops • enchanting southern teahouses • tiny off-the-beaten-track gardens

Day 1-2 • U.S. – Shanghai
Independent departure from the U.S. on a flight to Shanghai. Cross the international dateline and arrive in China the next day. Transfer to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, located in the heart of Shanghai.  This evening is a good time to adjust to Shanghai life with a stroll to the nearby Bund.

Day 3 • Shanghai 
What strikes everyone about Shanghai is its vitality.  Nothing restrains Shanghai in its immense ambition to achieve world-class status; and in only a few short years it has surpassed Hong Kong as the leading Chinese city.  Our time here will be spent absorbing this special energy, a worldly cosmopolitanism for the up-and-coming Chinese empire. 

This morning, tour the Shanghai Museum, viewing its extensive and superb collections of Chinese bronze, jade, ceramics, furniture, painting and calligraphy.

Lunch is at the rooftop restaurant Kathleen 5 in the Shanghai Art Museum with a view of People’s Park.

After lunch, go to Yuyuan Gardens, which is designed in six unique parts, making the garden seem much larger than it really is.  We find one of the best Ming rockeries here, and wending the zigzag bridge to Huxingting Teahouse is a delight.

Since there is so much to do in Shanghai, and so little time to do it, the afternoon is free for shopping and personal exploration.  There is an optional visit to #50 Moganshan Artists Compound, where many of Shanghai’s leading artists showcase their works.

This evening we enjoy our dinner at the Dingxiang Restaurant, one of the most sought-after dining experiences in the city.  Here Shanghai cuisine is the specialty.
Breakfast (b), lunch (l) and dinner (d) are included in the day’s program.

Day 4 • Shanghai 
Step into new China at the Pudong Economic Zone, with its spectacular skyscrapers reshaping the horizon.  A who’s who of multinationals have taken up residence here, turning the former marshland into a center of world commerce.

Then, enjoy a walk on the Bund, observing a contrast between the European-styled bank buildings and trading houses on one side of the river and the contemporary Pudong skyline on the other.

Lunch is at Lu Bo Lang Restaurant, famous for Shanghai dim sum.

Then, tour the Confucian Temple with its quiet gardens and ambience. 

Evening tour Xintiandi, a stylish restaurant, gallery, and shopping complex in the old French Concession. The developer Ben Wood is famous for recycling the original warren of the old apartment torn down for this new development. You may enjoy your dinner here from a wide selection of restaurants. (b,l)

Day 5 • Hangzhou 
This morning, we drive to Hangzhou and check into Hyatt Hotel located on West Lake.  Lunch is on one’s own.

We first visit the Qing Dynasty Guo Zhuang Garden.  This is an important expression of high garden art, particularly its use of architecture to hide and frame aesthetic views.  Guo Zhuang situates itself on West Lake and so focuses its attentions outward for panoramic views as well as inward for the delights of ponds and rockeries.

Next, we stroll through lovely Quyuanfenghe Park and end our walking tour on Su Causeway built by the famous Song Dynasty artist Su Dong-po.

Afterwards, enjoy a boat ride on smaller boats to the elegant Santanjingyue Isle in the middle of West Lake.

Dinner is at the Hubin 28 Restaurant, one of the best restaurants in Hangzhou. With its emphasis on the very best ingredients, the menu features uncomplicated, seasonal fare highlighted with classic dishes prepared by specialty chefs from the surrounding cities of Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and Wuxi. An example is Beggars Chicken, a dish served at the table still encased in clay and cracked open with a mallet. (b,d)

Day 6 • Xitang Day Excursion
Today we drive to Xitang.  The surrounding countryside is defined by quiet rivers and this is where Xitang developed its unique watertown life for over two thousand years. From a bird's-eye view, water sparkles in every direction and unifies the canals and local architecture into a harmonious whole.

With canals and water, there must be bridges.  And Xitang’s handsome bridges lend a substantial character to the town.  Wend your way along stone paths, across the canals, to market streets and crafts shops.   Absorb the serenity of the fishermen and boatmen as they ply their trades on the river.  The poetic touches of the white buildings along the canals are a popular subject for Chinese landscape artists today, and for good reason.

Xitang has well-preserved buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, expressions of the wenren pursuit, with high artistic intent and effect. Also, a covered corridor of 1094 yards possesses a inexhaustible confidence with its carved decorations and undulating charm. 

The canals and waterways weave southern villages into a dense network.  And number of them, like Xitang, embellish their daily life with an inherited cultural bon vivace.  This will be this day’s focus for our excursion.

We return to Hangzhou in late afternoon. Your guide can assist with recommendations and arrangements for dinner is on one’s own this evening. (b,l)

Day 7 • Hangzhou 
This morning, walk in the lovely Huagang Park, an elegant tree-lined park along West Lake.

Then, tour the National Silk Museum, the best museum in the country for the history and cultivation of silk production.

For lunch, we visit Meijiawu Tea Plantation growing the most famous Chinese longjing tea.  Meet tea farmers and learn about this ancient tradition of tea cultivation.  Enjoy lunch at a tea farmer’s home.

Then we tour the Buddhist Lingyin Temple. Built in 326 CE, this temple gained importance during the Five Dynasties (907-960 CE) and remains a significant Chan Buddhist center in south China today.

Before dinner, tour the grand mansion of the famous Qing Dynasty merchant, Hu Xueyan. There are hundreds of courtyard houses with traditional architecture and landscape. Renovation work is newly finished and the old grandeur returns to this lovely place.

Your guide can assist with recommendations and arrangements for dinner is on one’s own this evening. (b,l)

Day 8 • Suzhou 
Drive to Suzhou and check in the Sofitel Hotel.  Suzhou is called the “Venice of the Orient” for its myriad canals and delightful ambience.  It is also the heart of south China’s traditional garden culture.  The elegance and sophistication associated with Chinese design finds its realization in the many gardens here.

First, we wander Lion’s Grove Garden, once owned by the family of world-famous Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei.  The fantastic rockeries and grottos here create an aesthetic never before seen in the world.

Then, take a boat ride on the small canals circling the historic district.
    
After lunch, we visit Lingering Garden, Suzhou’s most famous garden, with its eccentric architecture and winding paths leading to unexpected views.

Later, we learn about the intricacies of Chinese embroidery at the Suzhou Embroidery Institute.

In the evening, attend a classical music show at Master of Fishing Nets, Suzhou’s smallest garden, though one that creates the illusion of a vast universe.

Your guide can assist with recommendations and arrangements for dinner is on one’s own this evening. (b,l)

Day 9 • Tongli Day Excursion 
We make another excursion to a southern watertown, this one Tongli, located not far from Suzhou. 

True to its character, Tongli has forty-nine stone bridges of countless styles and these join its seven islands together. Each bridge has a requisite name (Chinese love to name bridges) such as “peace and tranquility,”  “luck” and “lasting celebration.”

Of special note is the wonderful Retreat and Reflection Garden, built by a retired official in 1887.  The residence leads to a vast openness of ponds, pavilions, and greenery.  After passing through rather staid accommodations, the garden’s unexpected riot of form and color expresses the wenren scholar’s love of surprise.

Returning to Suzhou, the late afternoon is free for personal exploration. (b,l,d)

Day 10 • Suzhou 
Today we visit the Humble Administrator’s Garden, an immense effort at garden ingenuity, with countless pavilions offering views onto tranquil lakes and greenery.  Woodcarving and architectural forms compete with trees and shrubbery in exuberant detail.

Not to be missed is I. M. Pei’s latest creation, the new Suzhou Museum.  In this building the architect blends classical Suzhou architecture with contemporary style to create something totally new.  Later, sit back and enjoy a ride on the Grand Canal, an ancient engineering project that is still central to the life of numerous watertowns in south China.
    
A real delight is walking the lanes along canals in the historic district.  Pingjianglu Lane is especially evocative of old Suzhou as is Guantang Market with its arts-and-crafts shops.

In the evening, enjoy Suzhou cuisine at the traditional Songhelou Restaurant. (b,l,d)

Day 11 • Suzhou – U.S. 
Today transfer to the airport for your flight home.  Arrive in the US on the same day. (b)

This tour features both pre- and post-tour extensions.

Our tour extensions are based on the travel principle of focusing on distinctive regions of China to absorb their individual character.  Rather than rushing through the country, we prefer to spend an extended period in one place and get to know the nuances of its culture and natural environment.  China lends itself to this kind of touring for its regions vary immensely from each other, and so reward the traveler interested in the subtle beauties to be found there.

Pre-tour extensions include the 1-day What’s New in Beijing Day Tour & the 3-day Imperial Grandeur at the Chengde Imperial Resort.

Post-tour extensions include the 5-day Grand Mountains and Ancient Villages in Anhui & the 5-day Elegance of South China in Guilin. 

Please see promotional literature for each of these extensions.

12/09