OVERVIEW

We have travelled to China a number of times visiting Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Suzhou at different times either on a cruise shore excursion or on an extended visit. The land mass of China is very large, and as the map reveals, our previous excursions have not ventured too far from the east coast. However, the Land Tour (9 days) for this visit to China takes us to Beijing, The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, The Great Wall and the Beijing Zoo which are new experiences that have been waiting patiently in the 'bucket'. There will also be a high-speed train experience to Zhengzhou and the Henan Museum, on to Suzhou, the 'Venice of the East', and to Hangzhou, the tea capital of China.

Finally, there will be a two hour coach drive to Shanghai where our cruise ship, the Majestic Princess awaits to return us to Sydney, via Busan, Nha Trang, Singapore, Darwin, and Brisbane (21 days). Again, we have previously called in to all of these ports; This cruise experience will be all about being on the ship with lots of sea days to recover from a busy land tour in China!

China has a remarkable history dating back thousands upon thousands of years. Recent archaeological evidence is mounting that our earliest ancestors were hunting and gathering in the northern parts of China more than two million years ago. https://www.history.com/news/oldest-stone-tools-discovery-china So, as a background to this brief visit to China, I have scheduled a little of the more interesting history of this amazing country of 1.376 billion people in eight posts that will publish over the following week among our personal reflections:

• A Brief History of Shanghai
• Who was Confucius?
• The First Emperor's Terracotta Warriors
• China's Great Canal; Lifeline of an Empire
• The Great Voyages of Admiral Zheng He
• China's Bound Feet
• The Great Wall of China
• The Long March to Beijing