HRC provides 107th Canton Fair Hotel Package with FREE Night Cruise Ticket
Like Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, the Bund in Shanghai and the Seine River in Paris, the Pearl River's night view is in great attraction. Now Pearl River Night Cruise has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Guangzhou.
Enjoying a splendid night cruise on Pearl River would be a good relax way after a day's walking at the fair. HRC provides Pearl River Night Cruise ticket service during 107th Canton Fair and normal time.
Book our 107th Canton Fair Hotel Packages or Hotel Packages in Normal Time and get 1 FREE ticket per person to Pearl River Night Cruise.
Meanwhile, if you are NOT booking a package or a hotel from us, but you still want a night cruise ticket, you can also book through us. For any enquiries, please contact us by email to service@cantontradefair.com.
CTG Group – How We Design Itineraries
One of the philosophies of our Chinatourguide.com group is that we always offer elaborately designed itineraries to our customers. Therefore, we visit the attractions, hotels and dining places on our itineraries and may go there several times to update our information. Again, we went to Guilin and Yangshuo to make a filed survey on itineraries and hotels in this early November. The Li River in Guilin and Yangshuo is among the most popular destinations in China, and they are on the promotion lists for many years. How can we provide new experience to our clients beyond these beaten paths? That is the question.
We made a detailed investigation for the hotels in the downtown of Guilin and Yangshuo – learning about the hotel locations, the sizes of rooms, services and amenities. After several times' comparison, we picked out some from so many hotels in downtown Guilin, and took plenty of photos of them and even VR panoramas. ONLY 3 hotels distinguished themselves among many competitors to become our final recommendation for our customers, namely, Sheraton Hotel Guilin (5 star), Guilin Bravo Hotel (4 star) and Hotel Universal Guilin (3 star). We approved these hotels according to our strict standards – good location, satisfying service, reasonable price, comfortable rooms and fine breakfast. Any hotels once on our recommended list failed to live up to the standards above, would be replaced when we came back.
We also visited the hotels over 3-star in downtown Yangshuo and we made our recommendation on Li River Hotel, Dragon River Retreat and Yangshuo Resort Hotel. Yangshuo Resort Hotel is a newly opened 5-star deluxe hotel for vacation. We made an overall check-out for the services and amenities to make sure the hotel is qualified for our standards.
As for the attractions along the Li River, we made our focus on the Xingping River section, 27 kilometers from Yangshuo downtown. And it is among the most beautiful of Li River. Most of the travel arrangement for this section is to take a river cruise. To make a difference, we targeted this part into the photography travel and hiking route. Photography travelers are always picky for the sites of shooting, avoiding the common composition taken in "I-am-here" photos.
Guilin is world-famous for its picturesque waters and mountains. In searching for the unique site for its unparalleled beauty of waters and mountains under both sunrise and sunset, we struggled to get up at 4 a.m. and climb for 40 minutes on a mountain for the best position and timing. In the afternoon, we also tried hard looking for a perfect sunset shooting place. In one day, we climbed several mountains, up and down and up and down, only with a hope that we can offer unique angles for photography and soul-touching experience for our customers.
This is just the way we do our work – striving to check out every itinerary that we recommend to our clients, in order to ensure the quality and standard of our services!
The Sustainable Development of World Expo 2010 Shanghai
The theme of Expo 2010 is "Better City, Better Life," representing the common wish of the whole humankind for a better living in future urban environments. In order to achieve the goal, the whole city of Shanghai has been buzzing with activities dedicated to a successful and sustainable World Expo.
Expo Shanghai Online - 3D Virtual Expo
If the World Expo in the past means a spectacular yet crowed event, the 2010 session in Shanghai will make a surprising and pleasing change - such as experiencing a World Expo in the comfort of your own home - have you ever thought about that? Now this is possible. It can be achieved through the Expo Shanghai Online, the first-ever online World Expo in history.
The Expo Shanghai Online is DIFFERENT from traditional official websites of the World Expo, where previously people could only get official news and information. The main feature of Expo Shanghai Online is to bring netizens a vivid virtual edition of the physical Expo 2010 through the internet and 3D technologies. It can help netizens experience the excitement of the Expo 2010 without actually visiting the pavilions onsite.
Preview the panticipants' pavilions (And you can have a good look at them on the Expo Shanghai Online that will be launched in the mid and late November. )
China Pavilion Hong Kong Pavilion Macau Pavilion
Malaysia Pavilion Russia Pavilion UK Pavilion
With the launching of its English version not long after the Chinese one which will be launched in the middle of November, Expo Shanghai Online will create an everlasting virtual exhibition that preserves highlights from 2010 Expo for future generations. Expo Shanghai Online will be a stage where the curtain never falls.
Sustainable Development
The Expo Shanghai Online is representing the idea of the sustainable development for the World Expo. More importantly, the expo site also has a comprehensive plan for sustainable development. The permanent buildings and support facilities will form important parts of an international trade area in the near future, most of which can be used as exhibition and convention centres and office buildings for international exchanges oriented toward cultural, economic, scientific and technological activities. Many countries have designed national pavilions to present the world's new trends in urban development, and it is nice if these structures are retained.
And if you are interested in travelling around Shanghai during the period of Shanghai World Expo (May 1st - Oct. 31st, 2010), here are our hand-picked packages and travel tips for you.
3 days Shanghai Impression Tour 4 days Shanghai Family Tour
Shanghai & Zhouzhuang Water Town Tour Shanghai Tour with Extension to Huangshan
Besides the must-sees in Shanghai such as the Bund, the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Nanjing Road, and the Xin Tian Di (Xintiandi) for recreation, you can also entertain yourself at the trendy and new spots for cool hang-out -- the Cool Dock and Tian Zi Fang (Tianzifang).
The Cool Dock Tian Zi Fang (Tianzifang)
Mid-Autumn Festival--the tender & emotional reunion for Chinese people
Smell that? The cool breeze of autumn is blowing with the tempting smell of Moon Cakes. Right, it is Mid-Autumn Festival again, the second grandest festival after the Spring Festival in China. It is a day of family reunions much like a western Thanksgiving.
It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. It just paints a beautiful and emotional picture for every Chinese to get together with family, gaze at the moon, and eat mooncakes. Traditions become so agreeable when they care for people's feelings and touch people in the heart. I think this is the reason why the Mid-Autumn Festival can last thousands of years and may survive a long long time from now.
The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival derived from the tradition of worshipping the Goddess of Moon, Chang'e. The festival is also a time to celebrate a good autumn harvest. It dates back thousands of years and the modern-day festive customs were gradually formed over the years.
Chinese worship the Goddess of Moon, Chang'e all kinds of delicious moon cakes
Traditional foods for a Chinese Mid-Autumn feast are traditionally served for the Goddess of Moon with a wish of good luck for the whole family. The first and foremost is certainly the Moon Cakes. For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet pastes of lotus seed, sweet bean, jujube, or a combination of mixed nuts. Usually a salty egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. In today's modern age they come in a broad range of flavors from meat to fruit to chocolate.
People in different parts of China enjoy different customs to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Down here in Guangzhou, a huge lantern show is a big attraction for local citizens. It is an exciting carnival! And electrical or traditional lanterns are sold at the street stand. And people are fascinated with the little games like word puzzles. Children are delighted to stay up to midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns around and just have fun.
The huge lantern show exhibites varied kinds of large-sized lanterns which people oftern marvel at
Various parts of the country and all ethnic minorities have different Mid-Autumn Festival customs. In Nanjing, the festival coincides with the blooming season of sweet-scented osmanthus flowers. Local people like to pick fresh osmanthus flowers for delicious food preparing. They traditionally eat osmanthus flower ducks and drink the flower juice. In Zhejiang, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an ideal time for tide watching. Fire dragon dances are usually performed in Hong Kong on the festival and people in Anhui do a game called "pagoda building" and the Dai ethnic people pay tribute to the moon and the Gaoshan ethic people usually perform ball-holding dance. All these interesting customs are an indication of people's love of life and good wishes for a better future.
Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an, Stunning!
Though I shared my feeling about Terracotta army on Aug.22 on the blog, it is not enough to describe how amazing the wonder of the world in Xian is. When I was in childhood, I dreamed to meet the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian. Now I really faced the Terracotta Warriors and they also faces me.
It took me about 40 minutes from the downtown to the museum. When we arrived there we found that we had to walk through a large area with a lot of shops and restaurants from the parking lot to the exhibition halls. It took me about 10 minutes, alternatively, you could spend RMB10.00 for taking a storage battery car to avoid the peddles on the shopping street, but it is only one-way and you have to pass it through on the way back.
The whole Terracotta Warriors Museum consists of Pit 1, Pit 2, Pit 3 and the Hall of Bronze Chariots and Horses which are all worth seeing. I visited Bronze Chariots & Horses Hall first, then Pit 2, Pit 3 and ended with Pit 1. Finally, I found that it was a mistake because Pit 1 is really the highlight among all of them. I spent too much time on others but no enough time to finish the Pit 1. Pit 2 is almost entirely covered with a few broken terracotta warriors, Pit 3 has some lifelike figures but the pit itself is smaller than other two pits. So I suggest you may visit Pit 1 first, them visit others according to your time.
Pit 3 is the smallest and not all uncovered but the excavated figures are quite exquisite. Pit 2 is almost entirely still covered with some broken figures while pit 1 is mostly uncovered with loads of figures restored. Pit 1 is certainly the most impressive to me and that is what I saw in the videos, photos and books. You can see the legion of repaired soldiers in formation, and the scattered pieces still in place, seems to be mesmerized but might wake up at any moment.
It was a heavily cloudy day and a little bit dark in the pits. Flash lamp is useless because the distance is too long. Fortunatly, I brought tripod and a good camera to avoid dark photos. So do not forgot the tripod if you would like to take good Terracotta Warriors Photos.
Especially thanks for Mr. Bruce Bai who is our partner in Xian and guided us to the utterly fascinating site. Not only is he helpful, but he is also patient for my linger. I spent much time for shooting from morning to almost 14:00 pm without lunch. He was very being understanding.
We went to the souvenir shop as we left. Bruce showed me one person who is one of the farmers discovered the terracotta army in 1974 and his job now is to sit in the shop every day and sign his name for each book purchased.
Xian Great Mosque-One and Only Mosque with Chinese Architecture Style, A Real Oasis in Bustling City Heart of Xi'an
If you were not a Muslim, you probably miss your guess why there are 6 clocks point at different time respectively in the following photo shot in Great Mosque of Xian:
Let me tell you the truth, All the Muslim pray five times respectively including at dawn, noon, afternoon, dush and night. The times pointed on the clock are all the prayer times.
No matter what your religion is, the venerable Great Mosque is one of your best destinations for knowing more about Xian and Chinese cross-culture history. As one of the largest Mosques in China, the Great Mosque of Xian faces West towards Mecca and you will see an spirit wall designed to keep demons at bay first, then you will enter into gardens with rocks, pagodas and archways which are typical Chinese style. Arab Influences, meanwhile, extends from the Central Minaret, Turqoise roofed Prayer hall at the back of the Great Mosque. The present buildings of the Mosque are mostly Ming and Qing Dynasties (600 years ago), but the history of the mosque can be traced back to the 8th Century.
My colleague has made a detailed introducation about the the 1267-years-old Great Mosque on our Xian Tours Website, therefore, I would like to share my feeling when visiting the mosque only.
As I mentioned in the title, It is the unique Mosque in China or even in the world due to its architectural style which combines ancient Chinese traditional architectural element with the Islamic style.
The mosque itself is quite quiet though it is located in the famous Muslim community and market. The only feeling of mine was tranquillity and peacefulness. The whole atmosphere of the Great Mosque could make visitors calm down and I felt that I shuffled off the mortal coil.
I also felt a sense of harmony, not only from the fusion of cross-cultural architectural style, but also from the local people.
There are many visitors seems from all over the world but the Great Mosque still remains quiet.
When I went out of the Great Mosque, I turned into the busy mortal world again. Shops, residentail houses and peddlers are all around you.
Xian Ancient City Wall-Ride a Bicyle on it to experience the integrated Close-knit Military Defense System of Ancient China and get bird's eyes view of Xi'an
My first impression about Xi'an is the majestic Ancient City Wall surrounds the Xian city.
The City Wall can be traced back to 1400 years ago but the current remains has a history of more than 600 years and rebuilt in Ming Dynasty (1374 AD-1378 AD) as military defense system based on the city wall of Tang Dynasty structures. The Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (1st Emperor of Ming Dynasty) took the strategy of "Build High Defense Wall and Store sufficient Subsistence before taking power" and aimed on defender strategy by building the city wall in Xi'an. With this strategy, the City Wall of Xian features heavily THICK. You can see that the thickness of the ancient city wall is much thicker than the height of it, even it allows the drill of cavalvy on the wall roof.
As one of the biggest ancient integrated close-knit Military Defense System remained in current China, the City Wall of Xian boasts 12 meters in height, 18 meters in width at bottom, 15 meters in width on the top and 7.39 miles (11.9 km) in length. The whole wall system consists of moat, drawbridge, ramparts, embrasure towers, the main tower, turrets, watchtowers, parapets and crenels.
There are 4 City Gates of the wall located in the east, west, north and south of the city and each gate has a structure of Embrasure Tower for defense, Ramparts for hanging drawbridge and the Main Tower for the final entrance of the city.
Stepping on the city wall is not only the way to find out the relic. You may rent a tandem bicycle and take about 1 hour to ride around the Xian inner city along the ancient city wall. Alternatively, you could hire a traditional rickshaw for half an hour tour along the city wall.
Tang Dynasty Show - Visual Feast! Bring you to the life of Tang Dynasty (1300 years ago) by Music and Dance in Xian China
Xian itself is a scroll painting describes thousand years of China. The glory and disgrace of a period, the fall and rise of a dynasty, the peace and war of a history are all on the painting. The Tang Dynasty Show guides you the scroll painting by ancient music and dancing.
Before the Tang Dynasty Show, the guests will be invited to attend Jiaozi Banquet (Chinese Dumpling), which may follow the ancient customs of their people that the show always begins after attendee eating and drinking to repletion.
I watched the show in Sunshine Lido Grand Theatre next to the Xian Ancient City Wall. At the beginning, as usual, I degusted different kinds of Jiaozi as dinner, then rose of the curtain with a martial music by a royal drum:
The Tang Dynasty Show lasts for 1 hour and different kinds of music drama, dancing and musical instrument are presented. Some of them I recorded as below:
White Sleeve Dance:
An ancient folk dance show with 1700 years history and became very popular at the imperial palace in Tang Dynasty. Ramie was the main material to make long sleeves for dancing in ancient China. The background song of the Tang Dynasty Show, "On the white ramie" was written by Li Bai, a very famous poet in Tang Dynasty.
Monk Xuanzang:
Xuanzang, a Buddhist pilgrim in Tang Dynasty, made a 16-year historic pilgrimage to India along the Silk Road. This show describes how Xuanzang traveled about 10,000 miles on the Silk Road and climbed three of the highest mountain ranges of Asia.
Spring Outing:
Spring Outing Show pictures a ritual ceremony in Tang Dynasty. A group of young girls just return from a spring outing and express the feeling or happiness by dancing and singing.
Emperor Meeting His Army:Emperor Taizong (598-649AD, 2nd Emperor of Tang Dynasty) is one of the most famous strategists, statesmen and emperors in Chinese history. This show pictures how the Emperor trained his army and won a victory in a war.
A Beautiful Dream:This show is based on a love story about Emperor Xuanzong (685-762AD, the 6th Emperor of Tang Dynasty) and his favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan, which is the most popular show in the Tang Dynasty. One day, the emperor dreamed that he was touring the fairyland in the places under the moon. He saw many fairy ladies in rosy cloud like costumes dancing and singing in the sky. After he woke up, he composed a music drama describing his dream and asked his concubine Yang Yuhuan to arrange and rehearse the beautiful dance and light music that we are going to enjoy now.
Grand Dynasty:This is the final program of the Tang Dynasty Show and reflects the prosperous of Tang Dynasty and the wise reign of the Emperor by musice and dancing.
Shaanxi History Museum,the treasurehouse of China's civilization. Don't miss it in Xi'an!
Shaanxi History Musuem is a must-see site in Xian China. If you miss it, you will miss the whole civilization of China.
China has a history of more than 5000 years. If you would like to experience the brilliant civilization from its origin but be pressed for time, Shaanxi History Museum located in the south of Xi'an city is the best site to show you all the history over 1 million years of China, from the remained simple stone tools of long ago to the daily use until the year of 1840 AD.
Shaanxi History Museum is first-class museum in China and vividly show you the ritual hierarchy of the Western Zhou Dynasty(1046BC-771BC), the illustrious military might by warriors of the Qin Dynasty(221BC-207BC), the boundless Silk Road of the Han Dynasty(202BC-220AD), the great merger of nationalities of the Wei and Jin Periods(220AD-581AD), as well as the prosperity and power of the Tang dynasty(618AD-907AD).
Shaanxi History Museum occupies an area of 70,000 sq.meters and collects over 375,000 pieces of historical relics. Among the innumerable exquisite relics, the bronzes of the Shang & Zhou dynasties(1600 B.C.-206 B.C.), the pottery figures of successive dynasties, the gold & silver wares of Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD) and the mural paintings of the Tang Dynasty are with distinguishing features. Do not forget to Feast your eyes on 18 pieces of the National Treasures and the 1709 pieces of the first-grade relics.
A speical "White Glove Discovery Program" in the Shaanxi History Museum could be arranged as exceptional. In this program, visitors will be allowed to put on white gloves to handle and examine some of the ancient relics recently unearthed, while the archaeologists explaining the story behind them. It will bring you a breath-taking moment. Can you image the feeling that one ancient treasure having a worth of million dollars or more was in your hand?
Mural Painting Storeroom in Shaanxi History Museum of Xian city, experience the imperatorial life in Tang Dynasty (706AD)
In Tang Dynasty(618-907AD), ancient China was the most civilized country in the world. Xian, named Chang'an at that time, was not only the capital of Tang Kingdom, but also the national political, economical and cultural center as well as the famous international metropolis. It is difficult to image how people live during such a golden era. If you have a chance to visit Mural Painting Storeroom in Shaanxi History Museum, xian city and watch the mural painting excavated in the royal family's tombs, you will surely know it.
The Mural Painting Storeroom stores about 500 pieces of mural paintings which are all excavated from emperor family's tombs. All the ancient paintings were be painted by a special mineral pigment and could last for thousands of years without fade. The storeroom does not open to the public and only a few travel agencies could arrange the visit for small group or individual tourists. Lots of government leaders and distinguished visitors from all over the world like US former-president Clinton visited there.
Due to the marketing purpose, my agent arranged me to visit the storeroom and one senior archeologist (Prof. Wang) gave us a full explanation about the mural paintings. Prof. Wang kindly allowed me to take few photos, which is usually prohibited there.
The visit was very very impressive and the life in Tang Dynasty (1300 years ago) seems to be displayed vividly in front of you.
I watched the paintings from Crown Print Yide's Tomb (706 AD) and Crown Prince Zhanghuai's tomb (711 AD).
From the mural painting below, you could see how the people play the polo in 1300 years ago. People wearing long but close-fitting gown are riding on the horse, holding polo stick to play a colored ball. Prof.Wang told me a true story that some royals from Europe let themselves kneel down and sob before the painting because it remind them of what their ancestors lived in Europe.
Mrs. Madeleine Korbel Albright, the former Secretary of United State, also found her peer colleague but lived in Tang Dynasty from the mural painting below. The painting reveals that the foreign missions are waiting for the meeting with the emperor.
If you are interested in how the ancient people hunt, you could know it from the 2 paintings (actually one painting in the tomb but divided up for movement) below. The Crown Print Yide is leading a train of attendants who riding on horses and use both dromedary and Bactrian Camels to carry the goods.
Prof. Wong also showed me how the archaeologists move and protect the mural paintings from the tomb to storeroom here in 1950's:
