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Investigate the World: China – The People’s Republic of China is one of the largest countries in the world, covering 3.7 million square miles and containing 20% of the world’s population. The rich diversity in such a large area extends from the culture to the language to the extremes of landscape, and yet the country as a whole retains an air of mystery that intrigues visitors.
- Departure: Relax and enjoy our scheduled flight from North America.
- Meet your tour director: Our 24-hour Tour Director will meet us at the airport and remain with us until our final airport departure.
- Breakfast:
- Beijing: 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 reform and change, embodying all the fascinating contradictions of modern China. Old Beijing continues to survive in its temples, palaces, and old alleyways, often set among sprawling avenues, towering skyscrapers, and shopping malls.
- Dinner: This evening we will enjoy a traditional Peking Duck Dinner to get a taste of the Chinese culture that we will be a part of during our stay. Peking duck is a dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era. The cooked Peking Duck is traditionally carved in front of the diners and served in three stages, allowing guests to enjoy a Chinese dining experience.
- Daily Reflection and Group Discussion: "We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey On every evening of the program, we will set time aside to update our Reflection Journal and share thoughts and impressions that have come to the fore in the course of the day.
- Breakfast:
- Beijing Hutong Tour: A hutong is a unique form of traditional Beijing living quarters with a small street or a lane between two courtyards. There are thousands of hutongs in Beijing, most of which were built in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.
- Dinner: Enjoy an authentic dumpling (Jiaozi) lunch at the home of a local family. Learn about how to prepare the dumplings, as well as about life in the Hutong, the traditional alleyway homes of Beijing. In imperial days, these low-rise courtyard style houses were often home to an extended family.
- Activity: This afternoon we will enjoy a business visit, consulat visit, or market immersion activity.
- Dinner: Tonight we will enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- Tiananmen Square: Visit the world's largest public square and 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 38m granite obelisk erected in 1958 and engraved with scenes from famous popular Chinese uprisings.
- The Forbidden City: Discover the Forbidden City, a massive complex of red-walled buildings and pavilions topped by a sea of glazed vermilion tile. Visit the Inner Court, where only the emperor, his family, his concubines, and the palace eunuchs were allowed; the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where emperors lived after Yongzheng moved out of the Qianqing Gong and the Nine Dragon Screen, an 11½ft high wall covered in glazed tile dragons frolicking above a frothing sea, built to protect the Qianlong emperor from prying eyes and malevolent spirits.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Temple of Heaven: Visit an enormous park and altar directly to the south of the Forbidden City. Each winter solstice, the Ming and Qing emperors would lead a procession here to perform rites and make sacrifices designed to promote the next year’s crops and curry favor with Heaven for the general health of the empire.
- Summer Palace: Explore the fantastic Summer Palace, an expanse of elaborate Qing-style pavilions, bridges, walkways, and gardens scattered along the shores of immense Kunming Lake. We will enjoy a tour of the park, which covers roughly 716 acres, with Kunming Lake to the south and Longevity Hill to the north.
- Dinner: Tonight we will enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- The Great Wall of China: Visit the Great Wall of China, one of the world’s most awesome and impressive sights. The series of stone and earthen fortifications snakes its way east to west for nearly 4,000 miles, and was built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century AD to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Ming Tombs: Visit the Ming Tombs, where 13 of the 16 emperors who ruled China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) are buried in a box canyon at the southern foot of Tianshou Shan. This is the most extensive burial complex of any Chinese dynasty and the tombs are constructed in conventional fashion, with memorial halls at the front and burial chambers to the rear.
- Dinner: Tonight we will enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- Market: This morning we will visit a local wet market. Traditional wet markets existed in China long before the refrigerator was invented. Wet markets have a reputation for selling the freshest produce, meat and other food products, because a majority of the goods sold are locally grown in the region.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Activity: This afternoon we will enjoy a business visit, consulat visit, or market immersion activity.
- Dinner: Tonight we will enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- Travel to Guilin: This morning we will take an internal flight from Beijing to Guilin.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Homestay Program: Our base for the next six nights will be with our homestay families in Guilin. While here daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be included.
- Guilin Overview: The unusual city of Guilin, founded in the Qin Dynasty, is noted for the many karst peaks dotting the surrounding landscape that have inspired poets since the 6th century AD. After emerging as a provincial capital in the Ming dynasty, Guilin has grown into a picturesque city surrounded by crystal-clear waters, enchanting rock formations, and fantastic caves.
- Meeting: We will participate in an orientation session, covering Health and Safety aspects of the week ahead.
- Dinner: We will enjoy a welcome dinner with our homestay families in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- Free time: This morning we will have some free time to settle in, unpack, and spend time with our homestay families.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Scavanger Hunt: We will pair up with our local buddies for the Discover Guilin Scavenger Hunt.
- Discover: Explore Guilin's famous "Two Rivers, Four Lakes" scenic area
- Breakfast:
- School Tour: Spend the morning with local peers at an international school in Guilin. On our first day we will tour the school's campus in small groups led by local students.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Taoist teah house: This afternoon enjoy tea sampling and a discussion on Eastern philosophy at a Taoist tea house.
- Hiking Activity: Hike Chuan Shan with local friends and enjoy Gulin's spectacular karst mountain scenery at sunset.
- Breakfast:
- Classes: Participate in classroom lessons and activities at an international school.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Ink painting: Learn Chinese ink painting with a local artist and our Chinese friends.
- Activity: Attend a roundtable discussion on globalism with local business owners and city officials.
- Breakfast:
- Classes: Participate in classroom lessons and activities at an international school.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Buddhist monastery: Built into the side of a karst mountain,explore its underground prayer caves, and discuss Buddhism and monastic life.
- Breakfast:
- Classes: Participate in classroom lessons and activities at an international school.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Activity: Today, we will visit a local manufacturing company and discuss China's global footprint.
- Breakfast:
- Classes: Participate in classroom lessons and activities at an international school.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Learn Taiji Quan: Learn it with a local Taiji master and our Chinese friends.
- Dinner: We will enjoy a festive farewell dinner with our local friends and homestay families.
- Flight to Shanghai: This evening we will board our internal flight for Shanghai.
- Shanghai: This is the largest and most dynamic city in China. The recent explosion of economic and industrial development in this autonomous municipality has made it one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Shanghai is an exhilarating, ever-changing city that isn’t just living China’s dream, it’s setting the pace for the rest of the world.
- Breakfast:
- Shanghai Tour: Enjoy a guided tour of Shanghai with a visit the the Colonial Bund, a financial and business district with numerous historical and financial buildings on the Huangpu River in an area that originally served as a British settlement. We will also see the People's Square, which is surrounded by the tallest buildings in Shanghai.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Activity: This afternoon we will enjoy a business visit, consulat visit, or market immersion activity.
- Dinner: We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- Yu Yuan Gardens: Explore the Yu Gardens and Bazaar, a pleasant and well-contained classical Chinese garden. Built between 1559 and 1577, the Yu Yuan (meaning Garden of Peace and Comfort) is a maze of Míng Dynasty pavilions, elaborate rockeries, arched bridges and goldfish ponds, all encircled by an undulating dragon wall.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- The Shanghai Museum: Visit one of the most important museums in China, with 11 state-of-the-art galleries and three special exhibition halls arranged on four floors, all encircling a spacious cylindrical atrium. The exhibits feature over 120,000 historic artifacts, arranged by theme rather than by dynasty.
- The Jade Buddha Temple: This temple is famous for its jade Buddha statues, which are pure white and very elegant. The construction of the pavilions and halls are in the traditional style of the Song dynasty, and it has four halls: the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Grand Hall, the Reclining Buddha Hall, and the Jade Buddha Chamber.
- Dinner: We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- The French Concession: Visit where Shanghai's idiosynctratic push-pull between new and old, development and preservation takes a special form, making it an absolutely unique urban experience. The area still holds something of the alluring mix of Shanghainese street life, shopworn European colonial charm, Art Deco edifices and hidden brick courtyards that have long defined "Shanghai" in the Western popular imagination.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Activity: This afternoon we will enjoy a business visit, consulat visit, or market immersion activity.
- Dinner: We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.
- Breakfast:
- The Jin Mao Tower: This was built in 1998 as a Sino-American joint venture; it rises to 1,379 ft and blends traditional Chinese and modern Western tower designs. Take the High-speed Elevator to the observation deck on the 88th floor, known as “The Skywalk," to enjoy magnificent views over the city.
- Huangpu River Cruise: This is one of the best ways to see both old and new Shanghai. As we sail down the river towards the East Sea, we will enjoy the full sweep of the Bund and the 21st century cityscape of Pudong, as well as the futuristic Yangpu Bridge.
- Lunch: Today, lunch is included.
- Nanjing Road Walk: Stroll on China’s premier shopping street, which starts at The Bund in the east and ends in the west at the junction of Jingan Temple and Yan’an West Street. In addition to the brand-name stores, specialty shops still provide choice silk goods, jade, embroidery, wool, and clocks.
- Dinner: We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.
- Event: Tonight we will attend either a Martial Arts Demonstration Show or an Acrobatic Show.
- Final Reflection and Discussion Session: This evening we make the final entries in our Reflection Journal and share some of the most significant observations and perspectives that have taken shape in the course of our travel experience and how these may be most relevant for us all as we return home.
- Breakfast:
- End of tour: Our rewarding and enjoyable tour comes to an end as our Tour Director accompanies us to the airport on our final day.
- Recognize Perspectives and Communicate Ideas - 3 College Preparatory Credits Through the University of California at San Diego Extension: As a result of participating on program, after the travel experience all high school students are also eligible to take an online Global Perspectives course through a learning management system, where all the grading and assessment will be undertaken by the WorldStrides Curriculum and Academics team, led by Dr. Wendy Amato PhD. The course offers 3 college preparatory credits through the University of California at San Diego Extension, where credit will be awarded upon successful completion of the online coursework with all costs associated with the course and the credits also being covered by WorldStrides.
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