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China: From First Emperor to Modern State - Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai
14
days
from
US$11,980
Book today with a deposit from
US$1,797
18th - 31st October 2027
Tour highlights
- Follow China’s history from its first emperor to its most revolutionary century.
- Kerry Brown, historian of Chinese power and author of a new biography of Mao Zedong, accompanies the tour throughout.
- Walk a lesser-visited stretch of the Great Wall at Jinshanling.
- See the terracotta army at Xi’an, still only partially excavated since its discovery in 1974.
- Encounter the Buddhist caves at Longmen, near Luoyang: over 100,000 figures carved into a riverside cliff.
- Travel on to Hangzhou’s West Lake, birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party.
China resists a single story because it has never really had one. Xi’an held the title of capital first, and held it for centuries: it is where Qin Shi Huangdi, having unified seven warring states into one empire, built an afterlife army large enough to govern the underworld as he had governed the living – an army whose full extent is still unknown, since much of his tomb complex remains unexcavated. Beijing inherited the idea of a Chinese capital from the Mongols, then refined it under the Ming and Qing into a city built to a cosmological plan, one still legible in its walls, gates and axial streets eight centuries later. Shanghai broke with this inheritance altogether: a minor fishing settlement transformed by nineteenth-century treaty ports into a byword for commerce, and, within a few decades, into the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party – the same waterfront now lined with the Art Deco confidence of the 1920s.
This tour moves between the three, with time to look past the obvious set-pieces: a stretch of the Great Wall at Jinshanling walked rather than photographed from a car park, the cave temples at Longmen where a Buddhist devotional project on an almost unimaginable scale was carved into a riverbank over four centuries, and the tea terraces above Hangzhou’s West Lake, subject of poetry and painting long before it became a place tourists visit.
Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies at King’s College London and a former diplomat in Beijing, has spent three decades asking what continuities run beneath China’s changes of capital, dynasty and system. His recent biography of Mao Zedong sits at the far end of the same journey this tour makes at its start: from the first emperor who invented the idea of a unified China, to the revolutionary who claimed to remake it entirely.
Itinerary
The tour begins with lunch at the hotel. Afterwards, the Temple of Heaven complex – a walled precinct of altars and halls used for imperial sacrifice – offers an easy introduction to Chinese sacred architecture. First of four nights in Beijing.
The Forbidden City: courtyards, terraced pavilions and the imperial way, marked in marble and finely carved balustrade, leading to the three ceremonial halls and the emperor’s private quarters beyond. In the afternoon, the Lama Temple, an imperial residence converted to Buddhist use in the 17th century, and a Confucian temple founded under the Yuan.
The Ming Tombs, resting place of 13 of the dynasty’s 16 emperors. The tomb of the Yongle Emperor (1402–24) is approached along a 7km Sacred Way lined with stone animals and courtiers, its ceremonial gateways leading to a man-made hill concealing the burial chamber. Lunch near the Summer Palace, expanded across successive dynasties and rebuilt on a lavish scale by the Empress Dowager Cixi after its destruction in 1860.
A morning at a little-visited stretch of the Great Wall, climbing and dropping over genuinely hilly terrain with far fewer visitors than the more accessible sections nearer Beijing. Free time in Beijing in the afternoon.
The National Museum in Tiananmen Square: Zhou bronzes, early Chinese artefacts and porcelain spanning the Tang to Qing dynasties. Fly to Xi’an in the afternoon. First of four nights in Xi’an.
A full day east and north of the city. The tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, remains unexcavated, but in 1974 farmers digging a well uncovered his terracotta army – infantry, cavalry and officials, some over 1.5 metres tall, of which only a fraction has so far been brought to light. At the later tomb of the Han emperor Liu Qi, smaller pottery figures include eunuchs, the earliest known evidence of the practice in China.
The Shaanxi History Museum sets the region’s role at the heart of early Chinese civilisation. The Beilin Museum holds stone stelae engraved with classic texts and calligraphy, alongside Buddhist statuary. The day ends on foot through the Muslim Quarter, home to the Great Mosque – founded in ad 742, though the surviving buildings date from the Qing.
A day trip by high-speed train to the Longmen Caves, over 100,000 Buddhist figures carved into the cliffs above the Yi River. Begun under the Northern Wei in the 5th century and extended through the Sui and Tang.
The Great Goose Pagoda, built in ad 652 to house the sutras brought back from India by the monk Xuanzang. Fly in the afternoon to Huangshan. On arrival, visit Chengkan, an 1,800-year-old village whose maze of narrow lanes and Ming-dynasty ancestral halls reflect the wealth of the Huizhou merchants who built it. First of two nights in the nearby village of Xidi.
A full day on the Yellow Mountains themselves. Morning drive up to Mount Huangshan, followed by an afternoon’s walk among its celebrated granite peaks, wind-sculpted pines and — cloud cover permitting — the sea of mist for which the mountain is famous in Chinese painting and poetry. Overnight on the mountain.
An early start for sunrise over the peaks, before walking back down to the cable car. In the afternoon, visit one or two further Huizhou villages in the area, whose well-preserved traditional architecture has made this corner of Anhui province a particular draw for artists and photographers. Return to Xidi for the night.
Morning train to Shanghai. For its density, vibrancy and extent, Shanghai is the city of cities. Despite frenetic building activity, enclaves of low-rise structures remain in the centre, though there is little here that is more than a hundred years old. Visit the Shanghai Museum, whose collection of ancient bronzes, jade and calligraphy includes some of the finest examples of early Chinese art anywhere in the country. First of two nights in Shanghai.
The Long Museum is a striking private museum of Chinese and international art. In the afternoon, we visit the city’s finest traditional Yu Garden, before walking along the Bund, Shanghai’s iconic riverside stretch of Art Deco and Neoclassical buildings.
The tour ends after breakfast, with a transfer to the airport in time for the suggested flight to London.
Please note that closures at museums and sites are often not announced at the time of putting the tour on sale. Should any of the above visits not be possible, we will provide a suitable alternative.
Practicalities
Two sharing: US$11,980. Single occupancy: US$14,720.
Domestic flights (economy class) Beijing to Xi’an (day 5), Xi’an to Huangshan; return rail travel between Xi’an and Luoyang; high-speed rail Huangshan to Shanghai; transport by air-conditioned coach; accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 11 lunches and 8 dinners with wine or beer or soft drinks, water, coffee, tea; all admission charges to museums; all tips for waiters, drivers and guides; the services of the lecturer, tour manager and local guides.
International flights are not included in the price of the tour. We will send recommended flight options from London with your booking confirmation.
We provide airport transfers to meet the recommended return flights from London. For those not taking the recommended flights, airport transfers can be arranged for an additional cost.
Peninsula Hotel, Beijing: a 5-star hotel in the historic Wangfujing district. Sofitel Legend People’s Grand Hotel, Xi’an: a 5-star former state guesthouse set in extensive gardens within the old city walls. Passing-Cloud Resort, Xidi: a comfortable resort hotel in the village of Xidi, in the foothills of the Yellow Mountains. Huangshan Xihai Hotel: a simple but comfortable hotel on the mountain itself. Yangtze Boutique Hotel, Shanghai: a 5-star Art Deco hotel dating from the 1930s, centrally located near People’s Square..
Single occupancy rooms are doubles for sole use.
Additional nights: It is possible to arrange additional nights at the hotels before or after the tour. Please contact us if you are interested.
For stays of up to (and including) 30 days, citizens of the UK and Australia do not require a visa. Please note this exemption currently runs until 31 December 2026 only; we will confirm closer to departure whether it has been extended to cover 2027.
US citizens must apply in advance for an L (tourist) visa. Applications are made online through the Chinese government’s COVA system, followed by an in-person appointment at a Chinese Visa Application Service Centre or Consulate to submit the passport and biometric details.
Citizens of other countries should check their requirements with the relevant authorities.
A good level of fitness is essential. The tour involves a lot of walking, including in town centres where coach access is restricted, and a lot of standing in museums and at sites; uneven ground, irregular paving and frequent stairs are standard. You should be able to manage everyday walking and stair-climbing without difficulty and be reliably sure-footed. The section on Mount Huangshan can be a bit more demanding than the rest of the tour. There are also some long coach journeys.
Typically between 10 and 24 participants.
Before booking, please refer to Travel.State.Gov to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting. As a British company we follow the advice of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
Dates & prices
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2027
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
18th - 31st October 2027
Speaker:
Professor Kerry Brown
Price:
from US$11,980
(Based on two sharing)Testimonials
“Excellent knowledge and very accessible presentation of a great deal of interesting material.
”
“Professor Kerry Brown was a fount of knowledge! I have long been intrigued by China - so important but equally mysterious. Thanks to Professor Brown I now understand much more about this huge and important global power.
”
“This was an exciting and eye-opening tour.
”
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