Terror-cotta Army Museum, regarded as the '8 th Wonder of the World', is located at 30km east of Xi'an City. The site was discovered by farmers in 1974. 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.

Banpo Neolithic Village Museum, located at the east of Xi'an, is one of the most important sites of the Neolithic culture that existed 6,000-7,000 years ago. Archeologists have discovered a residential area, a pottery workshop and a cemetery in an area that covers some 50,000 square meters of ancient ruins. The museum features prehistoric art, folklore and architecture.

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 Dinner that 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.

Great Wild Goose Pagoda and Shaanxi History Museum, this two are not far from each other. The former site is where the sixty-four meter high multistoried brick structure erects. The pagoda was built in the Tang Dynasty in 652AD to house and protect Buddhist scriptures collected in India by Xuan Zang, a famous Chinese monk. The Though simple, it is very much an appealing structure considering its sacredness especially to Buddhists. Besides, climbing the building rewards you with a bird-eye view of the whole city. 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.

About one hour later, the plane will touches down at Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. 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.

What you could not miss in Chengdu is the world famous Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is located about 25km 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 40km 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.

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'.

Jiuzhaigou Valley is located in the Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, covering a land of natural beauty. This land features perennially snow-capped mountain peaks, verdant and lush forest, stretches of serene lakes, and various birds and animals, all contributing to the unique view of Jiuzhaigou.

The local people of Jiuzhaigou call these lakes ‘haizi', meaning little sea in Chinese. Jiuzhaigou has a total of 108 ‘haizi' of varying sizes and shapes, but of invariant limpidity to the bottom of the lakes. Some of the lakes are hidden in the valleys, and others inlay the virgin forests. On sunny days, algae and sediments at the bottom of the lakes send out colorful lights. The lakes, thus, have gained another name call ‘Wuhua Hai', meaning ‘multicolored sea' in Chinese from the locals.

A beautiful local legend has it that a very long time ago, there lived a beautiful and kind-hearted goddess in the mountain east of the Jiuzhaigou and an industrious and chivalrous god in the mountain west of the Jiuzhaigou. As time went by, they fell in love with each other. One day the god presented a big and shiny divine mirror to the goddess as a token a love. The goddess reached out to take it, but she was too exited and nervous to hold fast the mirror. Hence, the mirror slipped from her trembling fingers and dropped to the valleys, breaking into 108 pieces. The 108 mirror pieces turned out to be 108 winkling and glittering crystal lakes of different sizes, covering the land of Jiuzhaigou.

Upon entering the resort, you will find yourself strolling in a fairyland, leaving behind nothing but earthly troubles and vexations. It is a world of water, the clearest in the world. Water brings Jiuzhaigou its most enchanting views, which is the soul of the place. Whether you are met with serene lakes or plunging waterfalls, you will enjoy yourself so much among the charming sights as to linger on with no thoughts for home.

With an elevation of 2,000-3,000 meters above the sea level, the area enjoys a favorable climate that is cool in summer while immune from the cold wind of the winter season, presenting the beautiful scenery all year around. In spring the ice and snow begin to melt, and water and stream begin to flow and mountain flowers blossom. The soft and lazy spring sun kisses the surface of the lake and the spring shoots. The sight is really refreshing and touching. In summer, Jiuzhaigou is overshadowed by green trees, and the silver waterfall express their most unrestrained feelings. Autumn is the most splendid season in Jiuzhaigou when colorful leaves and woods are reflected in the water and the fallen leaves are floating amidst the shinning waves of the lakes. The sky here is vast, clear and blue. The most beautiful scenery created by nature is right before your eyes. As winter comes, Jiuzhaigou becomes quiet, serene and poetic. The mountains and forests are covered by snow, and the waterfall and lakes are crystal clear and jade-like. The ice on the blue lake surface shows wonderful and different lines as the temperature changes between sunrise the sunset.

After the breakfast, take the flight to Chongqing, the Mountain City and the place where the Yangtze and Jialing River meet. The city is surrounded by water on three sides, and by mountain on four sides. It enjoys a moist climate with many cloudy days and less frost and snow. In spring and autumn, the city is often enveloped by heavy fog, hence the name Capital of Fog.

The 6300 kilometer-long Yangtze River is China 's longest river and the third longest in the world. It originates in Qinghai Province and cuts its way through Tibet. It passes seven other provinces before pulling itself into the East Sea just at the north of Shanghai . Between the towns of Fengjie ( Sichuan ) and Yichang ( Hubei ) lie three gorges regarded as some of the best scenic attractions in China. If you desire to choose Victoria's cruiser, the cruiser starts at 9pm, sailing downstream from Chongqing to Yichang. Tai Chi Chuan Class will be taught on board in tomorrow morning. Meal and activities times will be posted in the events schedule distributed daily, according which you can easily arrange your days on board.

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.

The cruiser comes to Fengdu, the place is believed to be the nether world of the King of Hades. Therefore, it is characterized with its ghost culture of China since ancient times. Fengdu received its reputation in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Two officials from the imperial court, Wang Fangping and Ying Changsheng, were bored with political life in the court and came to Mt. Minshan outside the Fengdu City to practice Taoist teaching. Both of them became immortals by carrying out self-cultivation. In Chinese culture the social structure in hell is similar to that of the real world with the governmental administration and functional departments. One's soul will have to go through the final judgment by those concerned units with the solution of good reward to honest ones and severe punishment to the criminals. The temples built on Mt. Minshan display punishing instruments and wild demon images, which vividly depict the Chinese people's imagination of the Hell. The whole trip about Fengdu will last about two or three hours.

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.

In the evening, the cruiser will sail through the Three Gorges Dam's shiplocks , that is the climax despite of the nature sightseeing. It could really easy to 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 five 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 five sections are about 1.5 km long and it takes us about 3.5 hours to pass. There are some other boats that pass together with our cruiser 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.

Begun in 1994, the dam was completed in 2006, and it will be fully operational by 2009. Originally proposed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1919, the structure is now being built at Sandouping, in the middle of the Xiling Gorge. With the completion of Three Gorges Dam in 2009, the water levels will rise to a level of 175m above the sea level. It will create a 600 kilometers long reservoir extending from the dam site all the way to Chongqing . Markers along the route indicate that there is only around 20m of rise to go now. The building of this huge dam is for the purpose of flood control, hydroelectricity, navigation and irrigation. Although about 1.5 million people in the process as well as countless historical and cultural sites will be placed, it is lucky that all historical and cultural cites will be reserved by rebuilding to a higher position above the required level.

Situated at the entrance to the Xiling Gorge and closest major city to the dam, Yichang is the economic and cultural center of the western Hubei Province.

The flight to Shanghai will take about three hours. 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.