Being a capital of 13 dynasties, Xi’an has so much to offer. Today’s attractions are the best of the best. From your hotel, your local guide directs you to the site where local farmers drilling a series of wells in search of water found excavations of Qin Terror-cotta Army Museum by accident in 1974. It has been regarded as the '8th Wonder of the World.' It was created to guard Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb that's to protect him in his afterlife in the mind of ancient Chinese. Three excavation pits have been opened to the public with a fourth underway. During his visit to China, US former President Clinton came to visit the dig. The fine troops, horses and carriages in battle formation are ancient art treasure and complete illustration of the history of Qin Dynasty.

Then set forth to Banpo Neolithic Village Museum located east Xi'an. It is one of the most important sites of the Neolithic culture that existed 6,000-7,000 years ago. Archeologists have uncovered a residential area, a pottery workshop and a cemetery in an area that covers some 50,000 square meters of ancient ruins.

This evening you could choose Jiaozi Banquet which covers over 10 kinds of Jiaozi in China as your dinner. The shapes of Jiaozi various from one to another, such as rabbit, duck, shrimp, peanuts and so on. Or you can enjoy Tang Dynasty Show with Dinnerthat was made for emperors only in ancient China. You'll enjoy the sumptuous dinner while watching a fabulous dancing and singing performance of Tang Dynasty. This is not only a performance of Chinese traditional dancing and singing but also a recurrence of Chinese ancient society and culture.

In the ancient city like Xi 'an, the museum should be an indispensable part of your visit. Shaanxi History Museum is a showcase of the civilization from Emperor Qin Shihuang to the present day. The museum is housed in a striking Tang Dynasty-style pavilion and features an enormous collection of 113,000 historic and cultural relics. We continue the trip to the nearby Ancient City Wall. It is the most complete city wall that has survived in China as well as one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

Wonderful time always passes so quickly that we need to take a flight to Chengdu in the afternoon. In China's southwest basin, there lies one of the most leisurely and carefree cities in the country: Chengdu. The city was founded in 3rd century BC, when the Qin conquered all of China within two centuries. Chengdu flourished in the Han Dynasty and picked up its name of brocade city as it grew rich from the thriving silk brocade industry. Also known as the land of abundance, Chengdu boasts its pleasant climate and plentiful products.

Chengdu is a very cultural city and has a lot of interesting and fascinating sights to offer, in the city and also in its surrounding areas, so you star your city tour today with the main sights in the city including Du Fu Thatched Cottage, Wuhou Temple and Wangjiang Park.

Firstly visit Du Fu Thatched Cottage, which is a beautiful garden and museum to honor Du Fu, one of the greatest Chinese poets of all times. Even though you do not have a clue who Du Fu was and you couldn't read the poems since all are only in Chinese, you have a great time there. You could stroll through the huge garden area and find many awesome and picturesque places.Then you continue your trip to Wuhou Temple, which is another very beautiful spot. It also has a great garden and it is very graceful as well. It is special because it is a temple of honoring of an Emperor and his Minister. In Chinese history, there is strict grading between Emperor and Minister, who are not supposed to set together. Moreover you find a nice tea house in the temple and have a cup of tea to relaxing and watching the locals chatting, playing MaJiang and Chinese poker. The Sichuan tea houses really have a very unique atmosphere. You see many old people, who seem to spend the whole day there, some Western tourists, Chinese families and even sometimes young people meeting up with friends. It is always very nice and interesting to watch the people having a good time and enjoying themselves. Bamboo is the main food for lovely giant panda and Chengdu is a place where you find lot kinds of bamboo. The best example is your next destination-Wangjiang Park<.

The big draw of Chengdu is delicious Sichuan Cuisine and local snacks. Fortunately, you will have a chance to taste Hot Pot in Sichuan Style at night. Sichuan is famous for its spicy food, and one of its delicacies is the hot pot. It's where you have a pot of spicy broth boiling in front of you and you choose which ever food to cook. The Sichuan hot pot is a bubbling cauldron of extremely hot oil and water. Dip all kinds of food into the pot including meats, vegetables and tofu. It's a very social meal. People sit around to enjoy it and make a long evening out of it. As the saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do', your trip of Chengdu is completed with eating the traditional spicy hot pot. After dinner, an optional Sichuan Opera is waiting for you. The opera is staged in a tea house so during the show you could enjoy tea and peanuts. There are the music, opera (scene from the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms), some solo music, a bit of comedy, acrobatics, shadow puppets, and the face changing and fire spitting. It is nice to see the colorful costumes, hear the unfamiliar sounds of the music, and watch the amazing act of shadow play. The part with the mask changers is really cool. They change their masks so fast that you could hardly be sure that it really did change! They obviously are masters of 'sleight of hand'.

What you could not miss in Chengdu is the world famous Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is located about six miles out of Chengdu City. This huge institution replicates the natural habitat of the giant panda and is dedicated to preserving and increasing their population so they will not become extinct. You are able to get real close-up to some pandas and photograph them as well as the so-called lesser red pandas which really look and act like raccoons. One of the biggest attractions is the panda breeding center where you can watch the baby pandas through glass in their playpens. You are not allowed to photograph the baby pandas, as the flash can hurt their eyes. Another highlight is the video you watch about the reserve and panda reproduction and learn how a panda gives birth to a baby cub. The baby just slides out and at the first time mothers don't know what it is, so it is common for them to accidentally kill the baby as they swat it around if the researchers can not help out in time. In all, it is nice to see all in the panda breeding center.

The guide will lead you to your next destination, Sanxingdui Museum, a modern theme museum which is 40 km to the north of Chengdu. Quite different from the central culture of China, the ones showed at Sanxingdui Museum are precious cultural of mankind in south-west China existed between 2,800 to 800 BC. The museum houses some of ancient remains excavated near the present Guanghan City. Clues to this large and thriving culture were discovered by a farmer in 1929.

Located on the southwest periphery of the Sichuan Basin, Mt. Emei is one of the four most famous Buddhist mountains in China. According to the legend, this was the place where Pu Xian Buddha resided. 'Emei' means 'girl's eyebrows' in Chinese, and from far, the two mountain-tops of Emei do look like eyebrows. The mountain range looks undulating. The rocks and vegetation seem arranged in infinite layers; they look irresistibly powerful due to the immense vastness in mass and dimension. It is reputed as 'the great beauty of the world'. There are 30 temples in scenic area. You will take a cable car to one of most famous-Wannian Temple. In the center of the Wannian Temple there is a huge bronze statue of Samantabhadra mounted on a white elephant. It weighs 62-ton.

As a matter of fact, Mt. Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha belong to the Mount Emei-Leshan Giant Buddha Historic Scenic Area, situated in the Leshan Region, including in the list of 'World Natural and Cultural Heritage' by UNESCO in 1997.

Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone sculpture of Buddha in the world, lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers. According to records, the carving of this giant Buddha was begun in the in the first year of the reign of the Tang Emperor Tang Xuanzong (713 AD), and completed in the 19th year of Emperor Dezong (803 AD), a total of 90 years. It was carved out of a cliff face by an 8th-century monk in southern Sichuan province, near the city of Leshan. Leshan Giant Buddha sits impassively against the mountain, hands on his knees and looking across the river with heavy-lidded eyes. You will enjoy the whole pictures from different sides when you are take a cruise across the river.

Chongqing is located in the southeast of the Sichuan Basin, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet. Known as a city in the mountains, Chongqing is surrounded by waters on three sides, and by the mountains on four sides. It has moist climate with many cloudy days and less frost and snow. You will have a city tour starts off with visiting the Three Gorges Museum where you can learn more about the Three Gorges and the construction of Three Gorges Dam. Then your next destination is Erling Park where you can take a bird's eye view of the whole city of Chongqing.

Tonight you don't stay in hotel and wait for the next morning boarding. Instead of, you could be on board before 9:00 pm. The ship TCT recommended is luxurious 5-star ship of Victoria Cruises. The cruiser looks quite new and clean. All the stuffs are waiting along two sides to welcome you with sweet smile and fluent English. The standard two-bed sharing cabin is about 21 squarer meters with private balcony and bathroom. A good cabin is very vital for your cruise.

You depart from Chongqing at 9 o'clock in the morning. Sumptuous Western and Chinese buffet are offered as breakfast.

Today you stop for an exploration of Shibaozhai, which represents one of the gems of Chinese architecture along the Yangtze River. From afar, the protruding 220-meter pagoda abuts against the north bank appears to resemble a jade seal. In Chinese myths, it is said that the creation of the pavilion is attributed to the goddess Nvwa, who caused a rockslide while she was redecorating the sky after a fierce battle between two warring dukes. A red pavilion abuts against one side of this rock. Its tall yellow entrance gate is decorated with lions and dragons.The pavilion itself is really impressive, clinging to the side of a sheer cliff face, as well as spread across the top of the hill. It takes a bit of time to get to the top, and there are some stunning views of Yangtze River when we get there. After return to the boat in the afternoon, we enjoy our afternoon tea and share tales of today's adventure with fellow travelers.

Or Fengdu, which is known as the 'Ghost City', remains hundreds of statues of ghosts and devils in a depiction of the afterlife. Or Wanzhou is famous as the 'Gateway to Eastern Sichuan'.

This morning you could get up early to see the sunrise of Yangtze River and the first gorge- Qutang Gorge, the shortest, narrowest and the most dramatic one of the three gorges. It is quite early so that it isn't actually daylight, so we could mainly see the silhouette in the half light. It is still impressive with sloping green surfaces, ridges and valleys running down to the water. The gorges rise straight out of the water on either side of you, dwarfing the boat. Lucky enough, as you progress through the light improved, you will have a good look of it. Two mountains, Mt. Chijia Shan and Mt. Baiyan Shan, guard the entrance to this gorge like giant castle doors. Moreover, you can take a practice of Taiji offered by crew on deck.

Today you have so many highlights to share with you. After the first two gorges you will stop at Mt.Wushan and then change to a smaller boat for the visit of Lesser Three Gorges. This is definitely the favorite part of the journey and the most impressive scenery. They are the 'Dragon Gate Gorge', 'Misty Gorge' and 'Emerald Gorge'. These gorges are far sheerer. They are incredible, majestic, humbling and wonderful to behold. If chances are, you will spot a few monkeys in the trees on both sides and also a few women singing and some guys playing something that sounds a bit like the bagpipes.

A few hours later you see the second gorge -Wu Gorge, known for its beauty, forest covered mountains and sheer cliff. The middle gorge is best known for twelve unique peaks. Often hidden in swirls of mist, six lines the north side of the river and six staggered peaks stand to the south. The cliff faces rise up almost 1,000m on either side of the boat. You could stand on the deck for minutes to enjoy this pretty breathtaking scenery. Last but not the least. The third gorge- Xiling Gorge is the longest and the deepest gorge with dangerous rapids like Xietan, Qintan and Kongling, collectively known as the Three Rapids of Xiling.

Then it is time to pass through the locks of Three Gorge Dam that is the climax despite of the nature sightseeing. You could really feel the might of the dam. Since the water level after the dam is much lower than before the dam, the boats have to pass through 5 sections of locks step by step to reduce the height. By closing and opening the locks, the water goes down and the boats are floating and going down with the water. The 5 sections are about 1.5 km long and it takes you about 3.5 hours to pass. Among you, there are some other boats that pass together and this is another reason that it takes a long time. The passage is at night. With all the ship and the surrounding illuminated it is very beautiful scenery to watch and you could not go to sleep until you pass the last lock. After all, not every day do you sail through locks.

Today you get off the boat to see the great Three Gorges Dam. Scheduled for completion in 2009, the Three Gorges Dam was the vision of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and will subdue the floodwaters of Yangtze while providing hydroelectric power to the people. It is no doubt that the highlight of the cruise is not only nature made (the Three Gorges) but also man made (the Dam). The dam is so enormous and impressive. It is the largest water conservancy project ever undertaken on this planet.

Return to your boat and have a nice lunch, it is really the time for you to say goodbye to the crews. You will take a flight from Yichang airport to Shanghai. For Shanghai, you have a lot to expect. Although Shanghai is a busy city lined up by tall buildings and one of the most populated city in the country, it still has scenic ancient sites reminding the rich history of old Shanghai. Among the big cities in China, Shanghai maintains the look of a Western metropolis. It is fascinating and sophisticated. The city started out in the 4th century as a fishing village and became a town till the middle of the 13th century. After the Opium War, Shanghai was gradually opened as a 'treaty port' in the mid year of the 19th century when it had been opened to the foreign trade and led to its partition into British, French and later Japanese concessions. From that time on, foreigners began to flood into this paradise for adventurers. Covering out their own sphere of influence, England, France, the US and Japan settled here by seizing their respective concessions which was known as the territory of each country. It was considered as the colonial period with number of the featured buildings and architectures of cosmopolitan by those owners of the concessions which made Shanghai as a fascinating mixture of East and West.

Today you'll find a Buddhism shrine - Jade Buddha Temple, located in a crowd of Shanghai City. It was first built in 1882 in Jiangwan on the southern outskirts of Shanghai. In order to make it convenient for the adherents to visit , it was bodily moved to Shanghai City at the present sire in 1918. It is named for its two bejeweled white jade Buddha. It receives thousands of visitors and worshipers everyday while keeps its sanctity and charming. Carved from a whole piece of white jade, the sitting jade Buddha statue is translucent with a solemn expression, displaying the excellent skill and extraordinary art of Chinese people. Yuyuan Garden has a lot of stories for it was severely damaged in the 19 th century and was restored in 1961. This garden was first built in the 16th century by provincial governor, Pan Yunduan, in honor of his father who was the then government minister. It has many scenic courtyards decorated with baroque rockery, pools, and flora that are all connected by corridors and passageways. The delicate design and exquisite layout of the whole garden reveals a strong impression of 'garden in the garden, whole in the part.' Coming back from the nature, the shopping trip will begin in Nanjing Road which is starts at the Bund and runs westward, with People's Square in the middle. Renown for its bustling and modernization, Nanjing Road earns its reputation as the 'First Commercial Road in China', which is the good shopping heaven for your trip as the same as the Fifth Avenue in New York and Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Some of the traditional food and handicrafts of Shanghai can be found here. Then we comes to the Bund, the showcase with the old buildings of colonial-era leftover along Huangpu River. The renowned waterfront district is the city's most famous landmark. The word BUND is of Anglo-India origin meaning embankment on the waterfront. It is also the popular site to enjoy the night view of the city. Standing at Pudong New Area at the east side of Huangpu River, Oriental TV Tower was completed on October 1, 1994. The tower has a height of 468 meters. With multi-functions of sightseeing, catering, shopping, amusement and accommodations, this tower has become the symbol of the city and a popular tourist attraction in Shanghai.

Shanghai offers colorful recreations with rich contents and creative form. Your night may be filled with an interactive old form of art known as the Acrobatics. Those professional performers have been trained of as early as age six or seven so that they can play so well and excellent. It definitely will be an unforgettable night in your memory.