An Adventure by High Speed Rail to Sacred Mountains, the Grand Canal & Ancient Cities CHINA by Rail June 6-20, 2017 with Optional Yangtze River Ext. to June 25 “An excellent look at Chinese history and culture. High Speed Rail was great!” — past travelers Including Seven World Heritage Sites! China’s high speed rail network offers an completed in the 6th Century, was built to link innovative, engaging new way to explore the fertile farmlands in the o south t urban centers in Middle Kingdom. the north. Hangzhou, at the southern end, was So many fascinating places in the Chinese celebrated by Marco Polo as Asia’s most beautiful heartland are too far-flung to visit by bus, and city. Tai Shan, the Eastern Sacred Mountain, rises cumbersome to reach by plane. Consequently, near Qufu, where the sage Confucius was born they see few international visitors even though in the 6th Century BC. they are profoundly important to the Chinese From Tai Shan, we will trace the Yellow River heritage and amazing to behold. Valley to Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of China’s new high speed trains link such places Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Here, masters of martial with journeys that are convenient, comfortable arts teach students in the traditional way, as and seldom longer than 2-3 hours. Sacred moun- they have for centuries. tain ranges are accessible by train, as are ancient Song Shan, China’s Middle Mountain, is an towns, and temples that honor quintessential enclave for many ancient temples. Beyond their Chinese institutions like Confucianism, Daoist sacred import ance to the Taoists, the eroded philosophy, and the martial arts. granite spires of Song Shan are geologically We will travel from Hangzhou to Tai Shan significant. Next, we visit Luoyang, one of along the old Grand Canal which has just China’s ancient capital cities, and the Longmen been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Grottos, unparalleled for their ancient Buddhist The Grand Canal, a thousand mile waterway iconography with a hundred thousand carved images, most from the First Millennium AD, EADERSHIP some among the oldest in China. L En route to Xi’an, we will visit Hua Shan, Leading this expe- the Western Sacred Mountain, with its great di tion will be Dr. precipices, arching ridgelines, and narrow Chris Carpenter and David Huang. paths carved into the solid, sculpted granite. We then visit the Famen Temple, Scenic Chris has been a Cultural Area, and underground palace with popular leader of extraordinary gold artifacts. We will continue China Expeditions to Xi’an, where we will visit the renowned for Betchart Terra Cotta Army from the 3rd Century BC Expeditions since and other important sites. 1994 as well as trips to Tibet, Xinjiang From Xi’an, passengers can choose an & Hunza, Indonesia, optional extension to sail through the Three and Vietnam. He has Gorges of the Yangtze River from Chongqing a Ph.D. from UC Davis to Yichang, before returning to Shanghai. in California, and has been leading expeditions throughout China for Please join us on this delightful adventure! AAAS since1994. Best Regards, Chris has a strong background in the cultural heritage of China, and speaks Chinese as well as several other Asian languages. Chris lives in Margaret M. Betchart Chiang Mai, Thailand with his Chinese wife, President, Betchart Expeditions Inc. for and also leads study abroad research trips for AAAS, Sigma Xi, ACS & The Planetary Society the Wildlands Studies Program at UC Monterey to India, Nepal, Thailand, and China. David has been leading China expeditions for Betchart Expeditions since 1994. David graduated from Nankai University in TianJin with a degreen i Tourism and English Language and then worked promoting tourism in Yunnan Province. He speaks excellent English. He has led Betchart groups throughout China and Tibet, including the Silk Road, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Sichuan Provinces, and Hunza in northern Pakistan. Chris and David look forward to sharing the heritage of China with you. ITINERARY Days 1/2 USA to Shanghai Day 4 Tangxi Old Town Individual flight departures from the USA to Shanghai, This morning, we will enjoy a two hour boat arriving by mid-afternoon on Day 2. Meet your guide excursion on the Grand Canal from Hangzhou to the and check into the Shanghai Hotel. Welcome dinner. ancient town of Tangxi. We will see very old wooden Day 3 Hangzhou & Grand Canal buildings alongside the waterways. The Guangji stone World Heritage Sites arch bridge reflects perfect circles into the still water Depart this morning on the High Speed Train from of the canal. Tangxi was a prosperous merchant Shanghai to the historic city Hangzhou, just an hour town in ancient times, and the local people here are away. Hangzhou has been known for a thousand years extremely proud of their traditional heritage. We will as one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities in enjoy lunch in Tangxi, explore the back streets, and China, and it was once the largest in the world. Marco then return to Hangzhou in the afternoon. Polo, who stayed in Hangzhou during Mongolian rule Day 5 Train to Qufu in the late 13th Century, considered it the “finest and World Heritage Site noblest city in the world.” Today, we will continue by High Speed Train to Our activities in Hangzhou include West Lake, an Qufu, home of Confucius, the sage whose ideas have ethereal Chinese landscape of water and tree-covered defined Chinese society for more than 2,000 years. hills, Liuhe Pagoda with its view of the river that flows The Confucius Temple in Qufu was established in into Hangzhou Bay, and Gongchen Bridge. It crosses the 5th Century BC and is one of the largest and the Grand Canal, which was recently declared a World most important temple complexes in China. Queli Heritage Site. Also visit the Grand Canal Museum which Hotel (2 nights). Enjoy a stroll through old town in shares the heritage of this 1,500 year old canal. Bai Rui Qufu this evening. Hotel (2 nights) Day 6 Tai Shan World HeritageBeijing Site— religious importance, Shaolin is famous for a 1,500 year China’s East Sacred Mountain tradition of martial arts—the kung fu demonstrations Today we will visit the densely forested, sacred are breathtaking. The surrounding mountains, clean l mountain complex of Tai Shan.a We will ride a cable spires of weathered granite, are a fitting backdrop and n car and walk on ancient pathsa cut into the mountain’s comprise one of China’s national geological parks. C d granite flank. Located near Qn ufu, Tai Shan is the easterly a Day 9 Songyue Pagoda & Luoyang of the “Five Great Mountains”r in China, revered in G Mt. Taishan the Taoist tradition. Since the east is auspicious, This morning we will visit Songyue Pagoda built 1,100 years ago, a palace for the emperor in the 6th withMt. sunrise andYellow connotations ofQufu renewal, Tai Shan River Yellow Sea and 7th centuries. isHuashan held in special regard. For millennia emperors have come here to honor theZhengzhou earth and sky. Today Tai Shan In the afternoon, we will drive to Luoyang, one Zhongyue Songshan (whichXi’an is 5,000Temple feet in elevation) is recognized as a of the four ancient capitals and the old geographic cultural and natural landscape of global importance. center of classical China. It is located on the south Yangzhou bank of the Yellow River, one of the most important Day 7 Qufu to Zhengzhou to Dengfeng waterways in China. Luoyang was at times the largest Zhenjiang This morning, we will continue by high speed train city in the world. It has served as the capital for many to ZhengzhouYangtz and coach to Dengfeng World Heritage e R Shanghai iv dynasties since the early days of Chinese civilization Site. En route,e rstop at the beautiful Han Tombs which more than 3,000 years ago. Aviation Hotel (2 nights). are 1,800 years old. Shaolin International Hotel Hangzhou East (2CHINA nights). China Day 10 Longmen Grottos Dayby 8 High Song Speed Shan, China’s Rail Middle MountainSea World Heritage Site Morning drive to Song Shan, China’s ‘Central Great Today, we will visit the ancient city of Luoyang Mountain. This region, along the middle reaches of and the famous Buddhist Grottoes at Longmen. the Yellow River, appears in Chinese literature as the Strategically located along the Yellow River, in ‘spiritual center of heaven and earth because so many the heartland of ancient China, Luoyang received important religious institutions have their foundations China’s first Buddhist temple in the first century AD. here. Today we will visit Shaolin Monastery, of the In the following centuries, this region was a ancient Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism. Beyond its center of Buddhist knowledge. Influential figures commissioned magnificent art works in order to Beijing gain merit. One result of this effort is Longmen, the Dragon’s Gate, a scenic river gorge where one of the world’s best collections of Buddhist art has been l a n carved into the surrounding limestone cliffs. More a C than a thousand caves, arrayed over a half mile on d n both sides of the river, hold images that depict the a r G Mt. Taishan Chinese Buddhist cosmology, and date back to the Fifth Century. Mt. Yellow Qufu River Yellow Sea Day 11 Huashan World Heritage Site— Huashan Zhengzhou China’s West Famous Mountain Zhongyue This morning, we will take the High Speed Rail to Xi’an Songshan Temple Huashan. We will then explore Hua Shan, China’s Yangzhou “Western Great Mountain” (7,000 feet in elevation).