China Architecture Tour

Arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport/ Beijing Daxing International Airport. Upon your arrival, our guide will meet you and transfer you to the hotel. On the way to the hotel, the guide will tell you interesting stories, and some useful travel information about this city. Then you will check in at hotel. Overnight in Beijing.

Beijing is an ancient capital with a history of more than 3,000 years. It is the capital of the People's Republic of China, the political center, the cultural center, the international communication center, and the scientific and technological innovation center. 

This morning your tour will start from Tian’anmen Square. Tian’anmen Square is located at the center of Beijing. It is in East Chang'an Street, 880 meters in the north and 500 meters in the east and west. It is about the size of 61 FIFA football fields and can accommodate around 1 million people to get together. 

Going through the Tiananmen Gate Tower and the Meridian Gate (Wu Men), you will enter the Forbidden City (Closed on each Monday). The Palace Museum, formerly known as the Forbidden City, is located at the center of Beijing's central axis. It is the imperial palace of the 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. It is one of the most preserved ancient wooden structures in the world and was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 1987. 

In the afternoon you will visit the ovoid National Centre for the Performing Arts (Closed on each Monday) by Paul Andreu which is Asia's largest theater complex. It has a novel, avant-garde and unique concept, which is a combination of tradition and modernity, romance and reality. You will see from the outside that it is like a drop of crystal-clear water. It is also the deepest building in Beijing. 

Then you will visit the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace, a royal garden of the Qing Dynasty in China, formerly known as the Qingyi Garden, is in the western suburbs of Beijing, 15 kilometers away from the urban area and adjacent to the Yuanming Garden. Centered on the Kunming Lake and Wanshou Mountain, and the model of Hangzhou West Lake, it is a large-scale landscaped garden built from the design techniques of Jiangnan Gardens. And it is the most intact imperial palace and is known as the "Royal Garden Museum". Overnight in Beijing.

This morning you will first visit Mutianyu Great Wall which is the essence of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty and the longest Great Wall in China. The construction of Mutianyu Great Wall has a unique style. There are dense watchtowers here and rugged passes. There are 3 watchtowers erected at one fortress, 6-7 meters tall, 4-5 meters wide, snakes along 5,000 km through mountains and valleys. It was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 1987. You also have a chance to experience cable car up and toboggan down.

Then you will visit Ding Tomb of the Ming Dynasty 13 Tombs. The Ding Tomb is one of the famous underground buildings in China. It is one of the thirteen Ming Dynasty tombs distributed in Beijing and it was excavated in 1957. The buildings in Ding Tomb mainly include the Ling’en Gate, Ling’en Palace, Minglou, Baocheng and the Earth Palace. It is the tomb of the Emperor Wanli and Empress of the Ming Dynasty. Overnight in Beijing. 

You will visit the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple in the morning. The Temple of Heaven, in the south of Beijing, was built in 1420. It was rebuilt in the Qianlong and Guangxu periods of the Qing Dynasty. It is a place to worship the god of heaven and pray for the abundance of grain for the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. You will see many local people doing Tai Chi for morning exercise. Lama Temple was once the palace of two emperors, so the palace is built with red wall and yellow tiles, the same specifications as the Forbidden City. In the ninth year of Qianlong (1744), the Lama Temple was changed to a lamasery, which is the highest Buddhist temple in the country. The main hall of the Lama Temple is tall and courtyards hide deeply. It contains the national features of the Han, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan.

Then you will explore the old city, walking the Hutong streets finding “Siheyuan” houses with patios. The word "Hutong" was originally transliterated in Mongolian and has a history of more than 700 years. Quadrangle Courtyard, also known as the Siheyuan, is a traditional courtyard house in China. Then you will visit the gardens of Prince Kung’s Mansion which is currently the largest and best protected in the existing mansions of princes. It has both the style of Chinese Jiangnan gardens and the features of northern gardens. Overnight in Beijing.

Today you will visit 2008 Olympic Games building complexes. First you will visit National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) by Herzog & De Meuron and National Aquatics Center (Water Cube) by Peddle Thorp. The steel structure of the National Stadium is currently one of the largest sports buildings in the world. The space structure is novel and the building and structure are integrated. Advanced energy-saving design and environmental protection measures have been adopted in the construction. Many advanced green environmental protection measures have made the National Stadium a veritable "green building". National Aquatics Center uses a creative and unique membrane structure and a colorful combination of soap bubbles, facing the National Stadium on both sides of the central axis, becoming an eternal classic in Beijing.

After that you will visit Digital Beijing by Pei-Zhu and Tennis center. Walk through Olympic Park by Qi Xiu. And the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium (Wukesong Stadium) which appears to be made of bamboo. Overnight in Beijing.

This morning you will visit Sanlitun area. The Opposite house is a cosmopolitan style hotel, conceived and built by renowned Japanese architectural designer Kengo Kuma. The strong era style and infinitely stretched space design perfectly interpret the refreshing personalized service. The CCTV Headquarters is in the central business district of Beijing. Designed by Ore Sheer, and by Rem Koolhaas OMA. The CCTV Headquarters has an avant-garde shape, and was selected by the US "Times" as the world's top ten architectural miracles in 2007. Then you will visit Jianwai Soho by Yamamoto and housing complex and financial district office at Chaoyangmen Guomao area.

After that you will have a tour of CAFA Art Musum, by Isosaki. Then visit residential and office complex Dang Dai, Moma designed by Steven Holl. The project planning concept is Beijing Linked Hybrid, which realizes the world's only in terms of architectural art, and fully explores the value of urban space. Overnight in Beijing. 

Free morning. Check out of hotel in Beijing and transfer to airport for estimated flight: MU5114 14:00-16:20 to Shanghai. Arrival in Shanghai and transfer to hotel and check in.  Overnight in Shanghai.

This morning you will walk down the Nanjing Road full of shops. Visit the old town, pier over the Huangpu River, and then visit Yu Garden (Closed on each Monday). Yu Garden is a Jiangnan classical garden. It was originally a private garden in the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 400 years.

Then you will visit Shanghai Museum (Closed on each Monday) and People’s Park. The Shanghai Museum is a combination of a rectangular base and a circular shape. It in accordance with the old idea that the Earth was square and Heaven was round in China. People's Park is in the center of Shanghai and near Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street. Blind date corner in the park is famous all over the country, you can go to feel the atmosphere of the scene.

This morning you will have a trip to Suzhou, known as the “Venice of the East”, 2 hours away by bus. First to visit Tiger Hill. There is a Leaning Tower in the area which was built in Song Dynasty. Then you will visit Master of the Nets Garden. The Master of the Nets Garden is a representative work of a medium-sized classical landscape house in Suzhou Gardens, which was founded in the Southern Song Dynasty. The Master of the Nets Garden is a typical private garden with a unified homestead. It was included in the "World Cultural Heritage List" by UNESCO in 1997.

Next you will see another garden Lingering Garden. Lingering Garden was built in the Ming Dynasty. It is well-known for its exquisite architectural layout and numerous strange stones. It is also known as the Four Famous Gardens in China with Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden, Beijing Summer Palace and Chengde Mountain Resort. Today the tour will end with a visit to the Institute of Embroidery and museum with copies of the imperial clothes from the Ming Dynasty. Overnight in Shanghai.

You will start the tour from the observatory of Shanghai Tower in the financial center, Lu Jia Zui in the Pudong district. It is designed by J. Marshall Strabala. It is a skyscraper that integrates business, office, hotel, commerce, entertainment, tourism and other functions. It is currently the tallest building in China and the second tallest building in the world. Not far from here you could see Jinmao Tower which is designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Then you will visit Shanghai Oriental Art Center by Paul Andreu in the district of Pudong which is an iconic cultural landmark in the city.

After that you will visit Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (Closed on each Monday) and Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower. Shanghai Science & Technology Museum is a first-class national museum and one of Shanghai’s landmarks. The Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower is one of Shanghai's iconic cultural landscapes. From a distance, two ruby-like glittering spheres are supported high to the sky and are harmonious in architecture which is like the description in an ancient Chinese poem as "Big and small pearls falling into a jade plate".

Today the tour will end with a visit of LJZ Plaza (Silver Crown Tower) by I.M. Pei / Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Taiping Financial Building by Nikken Sekkei. Overnight in Shanghai.

You will have a free morning. Kindly remind that there are two airports in Shanghai, Pudong Airport and Hongqiao Airport. Please confirm from which airport your flight departs. We hope you have a pleasant journey and look forward to serving you again!