China & the Yangtze River 2017 21-Day Grand Circle Cruise Tour{TRIPOperatedBy} EXTEND YOUR TRIP PRE-TRIP Tokyo, Japan POST-TRIP Bangkok, Thailand Your Day-to-Day Itinerary GRAND CIRCLE TRAVEL Grand Circle Travel, founded in 1958 to serve the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), is the leader in international travel and discovery for Americans over age 50. Grand Circle vacations have been recommended by The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, The Los Angeles Times, Travel + Leisure, The Wall Street Journal, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, and oth- ers. But our most impressive reviews come from our travelers. More than one million people have traveled with us, and 96% say they’d gladly do so again. INCLUDED IN YOUR PRICE » Choose to purchase Grand Circle’s » Personal headset for all included and airfare, and your airport transfers, optional tours on your main trip government taxes, fees, and airline fuel » Baggage handling for 1 piece of luggage surcharges are included. Or, make your per person, including tips own air arrangements » 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward » All flights within China your next Grand Circle trip—an average » Accommodations for 19 nights, including of $261 4 nights aboard a Victoria Cruises river ship » 45 meals: 19 breakfasts, 15 lunches, and 11 dinners (including 2 Home-Hosted Lunches) » 20 included features: 16 guided tours and 4 exclusive Discovery Series events: Shanghai market & Cao Yang New Village senior center visits • Shanghai Home- Hosted Lunch • Fengdu home visit with relocated family • Xian Home-Hosted Lunch » Exclusive services of a local Grand Circle Program Director (assigned to no more than 42 travelers) » Gratuities on your main trip for local guides, ship crew, and motorcoach drivers Itinerary subject to change. For information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-221-2610. WHAT THIS TRIP IS LIKE PACING » Onboard meals feature both local » 20 days, with 5 hotel stays and a 4-night specialties and American standards cruise » 4 internal flights of 1-2 hours each PHYSICAL ReQUIREMENTS » Walk 2 miles unassisted and participate in 2-4 hours of physical activities each day, including stairs » Not accessible for travelers using wheelchairs or scooters » Travelers using walkers, crutches, or other mobility aids must travel with a companion who can assist them » We reserve the right for Program Directors to restrict participation, or in some circumstances send travelers home, if their limitations impact the group’s experience TeRRAIN & TRANSPORTATION » Uneven walking surfaces, including unpaved paths, hills, stairs, and cobblestones » Travel by 45-seat motorcoach, train, 30-seat boat, 100-seat river boat, and 208- to 218-passenger cruise ship CLIMATE » Daytime temperatures range from 51-91°F during cruising season » June-August are the warmest months AccOMMODATIONS & CUISINE » Asian-style toilets (squat-style, rather than with seats) may be the only available facilities Itinerary subject to change. For information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-221-2610. China & the Yangtze River 2017 EXTEND YOUR TRIP PRE-TRIP Tokyo, Japan POST-TRIP Bangkok, Thailand Discover ancient and modern Chinese civilization through a blend of land exploration and river cruising, encompassing Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Guilin, Hong Kong, and more. The centerpiece of your trip is a cruise along the mighty Yangtze River, home to spectacular landscapes and some of China’s greatest cultural treasures, which lie along its narrow, cliff-bound passages. Itinerary subject to change. For information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-221-2610. DETAILED ITINERARY Your Grand Circle Program Director During your exclusive Grand Circle vacation, you’ll have reliable assistance available at all times from an on-site Grand Circle Travel Program Director. Your Program Director is fluent in English and can give you an inside perspective on your destinations. He or she is supported along the way by local tour guides, who guide you expertly through particular sites and cities. Many Grand Circle Program Directors are graduates of professional education programs for travel guides. In addition, they receive specialized training directly from Grand Circle, training that is based on what we’ve learned from thousands of past travelers about how to make the trip most enjoyable. Your Program Director offers both a deep knowledge of the region and a commitment to make this a very pleasant, informative, and rewarding travel experience for you. Your Program Director will provide sightseeing trips, handle all travel details, reserve optional tours you choose to take, oversee your Discovery Series events, and provide any other as- sistance you may need. You will be in the company of a Program Director throughout your vacation. DAY 1 Depart U.S. DAY 3 Beijing • Temple of Embark on your transpacific flight from your Heaven & Summer Palace choice of several U.S. gateway cities. After breakfast, get to know your Program Director and fellow travelers—including those who experienced our Tokyo, Japan pre- DAY 2 Beijing, China trip extension—at an orientation briefing, Arrive in Beijing this afternoon or evening, where you’ll go over the details of your where a Grand Circle representative will trip and have the opportunity to purchase meet you at the airport and assist you to optional tours. your hotel. Then embark on a included tour of the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 during the Ming Itinerary subject to change. For information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-221-2610. Dynasty to offer sacrifices to heaven and been the setting for mass Red Guard rallies for a successful harvest. A masterpiece of through the years and, in 1989, saw huge architecture and landscape design, a number pro-democracy demonstrations. of buildings, gardens, and pathways—whose The city of Beijing is built around Tiananmen organization symbolize the relationship Square and the Forbidden City, a UNESCO between Earth and Heaven—comprise the World Heritage Site. Beijing is not only the temple, and this layout profoundly influ- political and administrative center of China, enced Chinese architecture and planning it is also the single greatest repository of for centuries. As you explore the temple monuments and treasures from the Imperial grounds, you might find locals practicing tai era. Beijing was not laid out until the rule of chi, calligraphy, or playing music. the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In traditional Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before Chinese thought, the world was conceived continuing on to the Summer Palace, the of as square. A city, especially a capital, was former summer retreat for the imperial supposed to be square, a geometric reflection family during the late Qing Dynasty and of the cosmic order. now China’s largest and best-preserved You’ll enter the Forbidden City, so named royal garden. It has an 800-year history, because it was off limits to visitors for 500 beginning with the creation here of the years. Completed in 1420, this was the center Golden Hill Palace during the Jin Dynasty. of Imperial palaces for the emperors of the Much later, in 1750, the Garden of Clear Ming and Qing dynasties. The last dynasty Ripples was built on this site. The garden has fell in 1911, though the last Qing emperor been restored twice since then, after being lived here until 1925 when it became a damaged by foreign military forces. This museum. The city contains 800 ceremonial twelve-square-mile complex includes many buildings, containing 9,999 rooms, and a pavilions, temples, palaces, and halls in a courtyard that can hold 100,000 people. landscape of hills amidst open water. You Marvel at its acres of grandeur—elegant might find the Long Gallery an interesting palaces, pavilions, courtyards, and gardens— feature, as it measures more than 2,300 feet all walled in as a rectangular island within a long and offers paintings depicting Chinese moat wide enough for naval engagements. legend, history, and natural settings. You’ll enjoy lunch at a restaurant outside This evening, gather with your fellow the Forbidden City. Then join us for a tour travelers for a Welcome Dinner featuring of Beijing’s Hidden Lanes. In the past, several traditional Chinese cuisine at the hotel. thousand lanes, alleys, and quadrangles Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner formed residential areas for ordinary people living in the capital. The word hutong refers to the narrow lanes created DAY 4 Beijing • Tiananmen Square by the walled residential compounds built & Forbidden City • Beijing’s Hidden one on top of the other in these cramped Lanes • Optional Beijing opera tour districts. Surrounding the Forbidden City, Today, enjoy an introduction to Beijing many hutongs were built during the Yuan during an included sightseeing tour. You’ll (1206-1341), Ming (1368-1628), and Qing walk around Tiananmen Square, which has (1644-1911) dynasties. In the prime of these Itinerary subject to change. For information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-221-2610. dynasties, the emperors, in order to establish BC) with sections built in scattered areas. their absolute power, planned the city and It was only following China’s unification arranged the residential areas. under the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (221-206 BC) that some 300,000 men were About half the population of Beijing lives in put to work connecting the segments into hutongs, which comprise one-third of the one rampart of brick, stone, and earth nearly sprawling city’s total area. The high walls 4,000 miles long. Intended to shield the surround the traditional siheyuan quadrangle, nation from invaders, the Great Wall is now, made up of four single-story buildings ironically, one of China’s leading tourist fronting a courtyard. Hutongs are named for attractions. the groups who live within, for instance, the Bowstring Makers’ Lane, or if populated by a Originally built in sections to protect various single family, their surname.