Religious Studies Tour to China—Exploring and Understanding China’s Religions

Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group until your final airport departure. your private coach will be waiting to transfer you to the hotel in Beijing. Your base for the next four nights will be in Beijing. While here, you’ll enjoy breakfast and dinner at the hotel.

Founded in the 13th century and home to Ming and Qing dynasty emperors, the capital city of Beijing is one of China's true ancient citadels. After a period of isolation, the modern city is undergoing significant change and embodies all the fascinating contradictions of modern China. Old Beijing continues to survive in its temples, palaces, and alleyways, set among sprawling avenues, towering skyscrapers, and shopping malls.

View the sites created for the 2008 Olympic Games, including the Beijing National Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events took place. The stadium is a stunning landmark located south of the centerpiece Olympic Green—it is both the world's biggest enclosed space and largest steel structure.

Enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.

Buddhism is accepted by many Chinese, especially common people (around 20% of the population). Xian is where Buddhism originated and is studied.

Confucianism is the doctrine most modern government officials and intellectuals believe in China. Most common people in ancient times also followed the religion. It teaches people to obey daily rules and regulations, accept the emperor's maximum power, and abide by both family and marriage rituals.

Taoism was a popular belief in Ancient China. The background of this belief system is to seek knowledge from nature and that nature can show the believer how to live a natural life. Taoism also influenced martial arts in China. While it is not as popular now as it was in Ancient China, locals still respect the religion.

The Islamic religion is not as popular as other belief systems in China and is most popular with ethnic minorities. Half of China's Muslims came from Mideast Asia when the Tang dynasty (1,000 years ago) began accepting the minority. China’s most famous mosque is in Xi'an since many Muslims lived there.

"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience." - John Dewey Every evening of the program, we’ll set time aside to update your Reflection Journal and share thoughts and impressions that have come up during the day.

Discover the Lama Temple, which is now a working Tibetan monastery with Mongolian Monks. Having been closed for many years during the Cultural Revolution it was refurbished and re-opened in 1980. Lama Temple features five large halls and five courtyards with beautifully decorative archways, upturned eaves, and carved details. It also houses a treasury of Buddhist art, including sculptured images of gods, demons, and Buddhas as well as Tibetan-style murals.

Explore Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square, equivalent to the size of 90 American football fields. In the center of the square stands the Monument to the People's Heroes (Renmin Yingxiong Jinian Bei), a 38-meter granite obelisk erected in 1958 and engraved with scenes from famous popular Chinese uprisings.

Climb Coal Hill at Jingshan Park to see the best views of the Forbidden City and Beijing. Jingshan Park was formerly a private imperial garden attached to the grounds of the Forbidden City—the focal point is the artificial hill Jingshan, literally "Prospect Hill."

Tonight, enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.

Explore Dong Yue Miao, one of Beijing’s most captivating Taoist temples. Founded in 1322 by devotees of the Zhengyi school, the temple is dedicated to the god Dong Yue. A succession of small rooms surrounds the main courtyard, each holding an ensemble of statues depicting the emissaries of one of these “departments” of the supernatural world.

Visit Niujie Mosque, the oldest mosque in Beijing. It was first built in 996, during the Liao Dynasty, and was reconstructed as well as enlarged under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The mosque is located in the Niujie area of Beijing's Xicheng District, the spiritual center for the 10,000 Muslims living in the vicinity, and it’s the biggest and oldest one in the city. Niujie Mosque reflects a mixture of Islamic and Han Chinese cultural and architectural influences.

Enjoy dinner together in a local restaurant.

Visit the Beijing Temple of Confucius, which is China’s second-largest Confucian temple, after the one in Confucius's hometown of Qufu. Built in 1302, imperial officials used it to pay their formal respects to Confucius until 1911. The compound was enlarged twice, once during the Ming dynasty and again during the Qing.

Take a group Beijing Hutong Tour—a hutong is a unique traditional Beijing living quarters with a small street or lane between two courtyards. There are thousands of hutongs in Beijing, most of which were built in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.

Enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.

Tonight, your group will attend either a martial arts demonstration or an acrobatic show.

Travel from Beijing to Xi'an via China's famous Bullet Train.

The modern capital of Shaanxi, Xi'an served as the capital to 11 dynasties over a period of 4,000 years, including the powerful Tang Dynasty, which marked its peak. With a rich history and stunning location, the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Weihe River to the north, the city is one of China’s most popular destinations. For the next three nights, your base will be in the Xi'an area. While here, You’ll enjoy breakfast at the hotel.

Tour the Xi’an City Wall. Constructed in the early Ming Dynasty, its design was based on the Tang Dynasty’s Imperial City of Chang An (Everlasting Peace). The Xi’an Wall is one of the best-preserved ancient city walls in the world and the best example of a walled Chinese city. In addition to the ramparts, the wall contains watchtowers, moats, city gates, and tower entrances.

Enjoy dinner together in a local restaurant.

This evening, attend a Tang Dynasty music and dance show, a wonderful performance of ancient music and dance that was a hallmark of Xi’an at its height.

Visit the Wild Goose Pagoda, built after the translation of the Buddhist scriptures. It’s square in shape and stands 64 m high, with a spiral staircase leading to the top and Bodhisattva images delicately carved on four sides of the lintels. The lower part of the pagoda features two-tone tablets engraved with the Preface of Holy Teachings.

Enjoy a visit to the Ba Xi’an An (Temple of the Eight Immortals), Xi'an's largest and possibly most-charming temple. Inside, it’s still an active place of worship where monks with their hair tied in traditional Taoist fashion play chess to pass the time. The folk legend of the Eight Immortals is said to have originated here during the late Tang dynasty, and the temple itself dates from the Song dynasty (960-1279).

Enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.

Explore the Great Mosque, one of China’s oldest and largest mosques. Dating from 742 AD and built in traditional Chinese architectural style, this unique place of worship is still used by Xi’an’s Muslim population.

Visit the Muslim Quarter of Xian, which is located in the city center and covers several blocks of scenic streets. More than 20,000 Muslims inhabit the area which is dotted with 10 mosques, including the Great Mosque.

In the Beilin Museum, the Stele Forest houses the largest collection of stele in China (over 1,000 pieces). On display are a group of 114 steles, engraved in 837 and known as the `Kaicheng Stone Classics,' bearing 600,000 Chinese characters on both sides. The steles are meant to serve as models to prevent errors in copying the original classics. The museum, which is housed in a former Confucian Temple, has housed a growing collection of steles since 1087.

Enjoy dinner together in a local restaurant.

Take an internal flight from Xi'an to Beijing.

Visit Wangfujing Street in the heart of Beijing, often called the “Champs Elysees of the East.” Shops, cafes, sculptures, fountains, and magnificent architecture can be enjoyed along this impressive thoroughfare.

Tonight, your group will enjoy a special farewell dinner in a local restaurant.

his evening, you’ll make the final entries in your Reflection Journal and share some of the most significant observations and perspectives that have taken shape throughout your Religious Studies Tour. We’ll also discuss how these experiences may be most relevant for us all as we return home.

Your rewarding and enjoyable Exploring and Understanding China’s Religions Tour comes to an end as your Tour Director accompanies your group to the airport on your final day.