Essential China

Situated on Beijing’s northwestern outskirts, the Summer Palace was where the Qing court used to spend the hot season. Comprising an assemblage of pleasure pavilions, palaces, shrines, and pathways, it nestles at the foot of a low, wooded hill beside a lake – the perfect place to ease yourself gently into your trip. After supper, should you have the energy, consider a taking in a performance by the State Circus or Chinese National Opera.

The Forbidden City is a vast complex, but you’ll have ample time in the morning’s tour to savour its extraordinary architecture and displays of priceless ceramics, calligraphy, weapons, ceremonial robes and paintings. Beyond the north walls, the rockeries and cypress groves of the Royal Gardens provide a serene counterpoint to the vast structures and open spaces of the palace proper. After lunch and some time relaxing back at your hotel, you’ll be driven to the Temple of Heaven – one of China’s great religious and historical monuments. Intricate rituals used to be performed at an open-air marble altar here by the Chinese Emperor to ensure the success of the harvest.

Around three hours’ drive north of Beijing, the Jinshanling section is our favourite stretch of the Wall and well worth the effort to reach. Being so far from the city, it sees far fewer visitors. Spectacular views extend from the ramparts, which have been beautifully renovated by the Chinese government. Set amid an expense of rugged mountains, the scenery at Jinshanling is also magnificent. The whole area offers great potential for walkers. For a small additional cost, a specialist guide may be arranged for trekking along particularly steep and dramatic stretches of the wall. Once back in Beijing at the end of the day, head across town to the Liqun Road Restaurant for a definitive plate of Peking Duck.

Spend the afternoon visiting the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, originally built by the Tang Emperor, Gaozong in the late 7th century. Continue across town to the atmospheric Muslim (Hui) Quarter, whose Great Mosque is nearly 1,200 years old and one of the most evocative monuments surviving from the era when the capital formed the end point of the legendary Silk Road. The district’s main street, Beiyuanmen, comes to life in the evenings, when open-air kitchens serve an amazing array of traditional treats to strollers – a great place to soak up the traditional atmosphere of this distinctive neighbourhood.

Until you set eyes on the legion of 8,000 soldiers, horses and chariots, buried in three huge pits outside Xi'an in the 2nd century BC, it’s hard to comprehend the scale of the Terracotta Army. Yet the complex is only one part of a much larger ensemble that includes a colossal mound – still un-excavated – containing the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor. What most impresses about the figures themselves is how unnervingly lifelike they are. Each one has its own distinct facial expression, posture, hairstyle, clothing and weapons, preserved in amazing detail.

Once you’ve had lunch and a rest, spend the afternoon exploring the area around Jinli Street – a modern facsimile of an antique Chengdu market area, lined with pretty little shops selling traditional Sichuanese delicacies and souvenirs. Afterwards, head across town to the ‘Wide Lanes, Narrow Lanes’ pleasure district to catch a performance of Sichuanese opera, ‘face changing’ and acrobatics at one of the traditional theatres in the neighbourhood, which is also a good place to dine on spicy local dumplings!

As the bears are most active early in the day, we recommend arriving by 8am, when you’ll stand the best chance of seeing the youngsters at play. You’ll also have an opportunity to watch the pandas being fed, and to visit the wonderful nursery to see the newest arrivals.

After lunch, explore the antique heart of Chengdu with a visit to the beautiful Wenshu Temple. With its bamboo furniture and distinctively Sichuanese atmosphere, the traditional tea house behind it is a great place to relax, snack and people watch. Don’t be dismayed by the sound of the house speciality – ‘monkey head dumplings’. The tea house is 100% vegetarian!

One of the great wonders of ancient China lies hidden among the sandstone hills around Dazu, 125 miles east of Chengdu. Excavated between the 9th and 13th centuries AD, the UNESCO-listed cave sculptures here are regarded as masterpieces of ancient Chinese art by historians because of their naturalistic style, graceful poses and superb ornamentation. Around 50,000 figures survive at half a dozen different sites, many of them forming narrative panels that recount religious myths and yield vivid, and often humorous, insights into life in the Sang and Song dynastic periods.

Boarding for your cruise in Chongqing starts at 7:30pm with departure around 9:30pm.

Highlights of Day One of the Three Gorges Cruise include a shore excursion to Red Pavilion temple complex at Shibaozhai, a craggy river island crowned by a triple-storied Buddhist prayer hall erected in the 19th century during the reign of the Qing Emperor Xianfeng. You will also be offered the option of an additional shore trip to the Fengdu Ghost City in the morning. The ‘city’ comprises an assemblage of 300-year-old monasteries and temples marooned halfway up a mountain by the rising river levels following construction of the Three Gorges Dam. A cable car has been constructed to facilitate access to the site.

Although regarded as an engineering triumph by the Chinese government, ‘Three Gorges Dam’ has its detractors. Critics point to the fact 13 cities, 140 towns, 1,352 villages, more than 600 factories and around 1,200 archaeological sites had to be flooded to feed the behemoth with water to drive its massive turbines. In the process, an estimated 1.2 million people were resettled. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the scheme, the dam at its centre forms an undeniably awe-inspiring spectacle.

The city is your oyster for this penultimate day of sightseeing. Begin with a stroll along the Bund, where the great trading houses and banks erected their Art Deco offices in the 1920s and 1930s. On the opposite side of the Huangpu River, the skyscrapers of Pudong form a futuristic counterpoint. Sightseeing priorities may be discussed with your guide in advance, but popular options include trips to Nanjing Road – China’s number-one shopping street – the ascent of the 101-storey World Financial Centre building for a fabulous view over the city, and a visit to the delightfully traditional Yuyuan Gardens, with its pagoda-roofed pavilions, koi carp ponds, luohan pines, gingko trees and rockeries. Of course, Shanghai is also chock-full of top-notch galleries, bars and restaurants.

Suzhou owed its former prosperity to its position on the Grand Canal, which you’ll explore on a boat. The tour takes in a succession of postcard-pretty monuments, including the Humble Administrator’s Garden (regarded as one of the finest Classical Ming Gardens in China) and stately Pan Gate. To conclude, a local silk factory offers a fascinating insight into the art of traditional Chinese sericulture. Return to Shanghai early evening, in time to freshen up and head into town for your last supper. We recommend you make it a Cantonese one, featuring local cult dishes such as dim sum, shrimp dumplings or crispy pork belly!