Viking River Cruises

China's Cultural Delights

Itinerary Overview

This 15-night adventure explores China’s cradle of culture with a 9-night cruise on the Yangtze all the way from Chongqing to Nanjing. You’ll still see all the wonders of Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, but on this cruise, you uncover the roots of Chinese civilization from Jingdezhen, birthplace of porcelain, to Mt. Jiu Hua’s remote Buddhist Temple complex, to Nanjing, former capital of ancient China, and Suzhou with its famed gardens. This adventure is for those who really want to understand the origins of Chinese culture.

What's Included

• 9-night Yangtze River Cruise with balcony cabin onboard new, deluxe Viking Century Sun
• 5-star hotel accommodations: 3 nights Beijing, 1 night Xian, 2 nights Shanghai
• 19 tours with private English-speaking guides: Beijing/Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City/Summer Palace/ Great Wall/Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs/Hutongs & Silk Carpet Workshop; Xian/Terra Cotta Army; Fengdu/ Snow Jade Cave; Lesser Three Gorges; Three Gorges Dam; Viking River Cruises school; Dongting Lake/Yue Yang Tower; Wuhan Museum; Jingdezhen/Ceramic History Museum; Mt. Jiu Hua; Nanjing/Old City Wall; Suzhou/Silk Factory & Fishermen’s Garden; Shanghai/Bund/Children’s Palace
• 43 meals: 15 breakfasts, 14 lunches & 14 dinners with select meals at local Chinese restaurants
• Welcome Cocktail & Farewell Dinner
• Cultural Highlights: Peking Opera; Peking Duck Dinner; Tang Dynasty dinner show; Tibetan family visit & tea; Chinese acrobatic performance
• Fully escorted from airport arrival to departure
• All intra-China flights & appropriate hotel/airport/ship transfers
• All port charges included

Ship

Detailed Itinerary

Beijing dates back more than 1,000 years before Christ, and was a grand imperial capital from the tenth century A.D. until it became the capital of the new communist nation in 1949. In the center of the city you will find Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest public square with the capacity to accommodate more than one million people. Opposite the square, step into the Forbidden City with its acres of elegant palaces, pavilions, courtyards and gardens.



Just outside Beijing lies the magnificent Summer Palace, a 700-acre garden and complex of buildings that was used by the Imperial Court to escape the summer heat of Beijing.



Also outside the city lies the sacred burial grounds the Ming emperors chose as their final resting place. Walk along the Sacred Way, a long avenue lined with massive sculptures of elephants, lions and camels leading to the tombs.



In the nearby Badaling Hills is one of the most impressive and best-preserved sections of the fabled Great Wall of China. See breathtaking views of the Chinese countryside as you walk along the wall.

Xian - Hotel check-in; Tang Dynasty dinner show

Xian reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty rule when it was the capital of the Middle Kingdom. During this time, the city’s position as the geographical beginning of China’s fabled Silk Road established it as one of the world’s biggest and richest cities. From 618 to 907, the Tang Dynasty presided over one of China’s most glorious cultural periods, spreading its influence throughout Asia and into Europe and Africa.



While in Xian, visit China’s greatest archaeological treasure, the Qin Mausoleum. More than 2,000 years ago, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried along with more than 6,000 life-sized terra cotta warriors, archers and infantrymen, together with their horses and chariots. In the early 1970s, farmers digging a well accidentally uncovered some of these soldiers. Walkways provide a bird’s-eye view of the stunning sight of an entire army molded in incredible detail (each man and horse with his own distinct personality).

Chongqing - Board your ship

Perched on steep hills at the confluence of the Yangtze and its major tributary, the Jialing River, Chongqing is the gateway for Yangtze River cruises. This proud mountain city was the capital of China during World War II when the American Volunteer Air Group, the "Flying Tigers," was based here. Visit the Stilwell Museum dedicated to "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, commander of American forces in China, Burma and India during World War II. Today, Chongqing is China’s most important inland industrial city in China, and is particularly lively at night with its neon-lit Liberation Monument.

Called the "City of Ghosts" because of its temples filled with statues of demons, Fengdu boasts a population of 740,000 and features 70 temples, the oldest dating to the Tang dynasty, many climbing the Mingshan Hill above the city.

Three Gorges - Lesser Three Gorges excursion

Sandouping village is the site of the monumental Three Gorges Dam project, the most ambitious engineering project of its kind. Here you will learn about the immense construction project and its effects on the people and landscapes of China. This hydroelectric project is planned for completion in 2009 when the river will rise to a final 575 feet above sea level, displacing 1.25 million people, submerging 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,352 villages and flooding the narrow gorges of the Yangtze’s tributaries, creating a lake behind the dam and smoothing out the shoals and rapids in the river. China’s new dam promises to yield the equivalent power of 15 nuclear plants as well as control the centuries-old problem of devastating Yangtze floods. While the dam has changed certain aspects of this experience, the gorges remain an impressive natural phenomenon.

In parts of rural China, village life goes on much as it has for centuries. To help bring education to the more remote villages, Viking River Cruises has sponsored a much-needed school in one of these villages. Viking River Cruises passengers will have an exclusive tour of the village and school, where they’ll be warmly greeted by the children and staff.

Day 10 - Dongting Lake - Yue Yang Tower tour

Dongting Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in China, famous for its scenic beauty and tea production. On the lake is Yueyang Tower, a graceful pavilion made famous by popular poems dedicated to its beauty.

Day 11 - Wuhan - Wuhan Museum

This capital of Hubei Province is noted as the most important site of the republican revolution and as a gateway city to the Yangtze Gorges. Visit the Hubei Provincial Museum with its collection of elaborately decorated bronze bells. The city also boasts the remarkable five-tiered Yellow Crane Tower and the elegant Guiyuan Buddhist Temple.

Jingdezhen, with 1700 years of porcelain-making since the Song dynasty, has been known as the "porcelain capital of the world," a vast majority of all porcelain pieces ever produced comes from the city. Jingdezhen is the single place where all Chinese Imperial porcelain was made during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Mt. Jiu Hua, meaning "the Mountain of the Nine Lotuses," is a sacred place for Buddhist pilgrims was established as one of the four principal Buddhist Mountains and is renowned as "the most picturesque mountain in the southeast China." The area is full of "ridges and peaks, exotic-shaped stones, gushing fountains, roaring waterfalls, and clear streams." Of the temples housed on Mt. Jiuhua "Huacheng Temple" is the oldest but the Wannian Temple contains the "Corporeal Body Hall" where the mummified remains of Monk Wu Xia, wearing a "lotus-flower-shaped crown and a vermilion kasaya," is still well preserved after more than 350 years.

Nanjing has earned its fame as an ancient Chinese capital through its historical routs from 10 dynasties, changing in name and environment, it was finally named Nanjing during the Ming dynasty. It is considered one of the historical and cultural cities of the world. The city is also well known for the famous rape of Nanjing.
Suzhou - Silk Factory tour & Fisherman`s Garden; Motorcoach to Shanghai
The 2,400-year-old Grand Canal, crowded with strings of barges laden with fruits and vegetables, and graced by delicate bridges and lovely tile-roofed whitewashed houses, lends the name "Plentiful Water" to Suzhou.



This is the city of sensuous silk, lush gardens and elegant canals that inspired Marco Polo. The Italian explorer reported that so much silk was produced in Suzhou that every citizen was clothed in it and smuggling silkworms out of the city was punishable by death. At the Silk Spinning Factory, see how silk is made from mulberry-munching silkworms to thread to fine cloth. The Embroidery Institute showcases artisans who create works of art from silk thread.



Suzhou is also known for its magnificent gardens. The Zhuozheng (Humble Administrator’s) Garden, the largest and most open of Suzhou’s gardens is filled with water features dotted with lotus flowers, graceful bridges, pavilions and serene halls. The Wangshi (Master of the Fishing Net) Garden, built in 1140, is one of the most exquisite gardens in China and is best known for its peony courtyard.

Shanghai - Hotel check-in

The largest city in China and one of the world’s most important ports began as a tiny fishing village 5,000 years ago. Today, it is a modern metropolis, its skyline cluttered with twinkling skyscrapers. Travel along the famous Bund, the city’s elegant riverfront promenade containing many of Shanghai’s banks and trading houses, and tour Old Shanghai. The old section of Shanghai retains the narrow lanes, bustling street markets, sights and scents of times past. The renowned Shanghai Museum contains a wonderful collection of ancient Chinese art. Visit a silk carpet factory and the Shanghai Children’s Palace, housed in a grand, early 20th century building once known as the Marble House. Viking River Cruises passengers will be treated to a performance by China’s famous acrobats.

Cost of This Itinerary

The least expensive cabin costs:

$165 per person per night in low season and

$225 pp pn in high season

The most expensive stateroom costs:

$445 per person per night in low season and

$505 pp pn in high season