Mainland China has six main holidays every year in addition to New Years on January 1st which it celebrates in tandem with the rest of the world. The majority of China’s festivals follow the Lunar calendar and are based upon the monthly cycles of the Moon’s phases. Of the six holidays, two are labeled “Golden Week” holidays because they last seven consecutive days.  The others comprise of one day holiday.  In practice, a unique feature of mainland Chinese holidays that differs from other countries is that weekends are usually substituted with weekdays next to the actual holiday so as to create a longer 7-day “holiday” period when in actual fact workers only get three days off.  » Read more »

“How large is China?  I have 7 days in China and would like a luxury tour to Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Shanghai and Hong Kong.  Is this possible?” As an Itinerary Designer at Imperial Tours, I have been asked this question (or a similar variation) countless times. My initial response is that technically it is possible if one wishes is to zip from city to city with very little time in each destination. But I then continue to explain that China is a large country;  » Read more »

Last year I received an unexpected call from the son of clients I took around China over 10 years ago, when I started working with Imperial Tours as a China Host. Their son Josh had just got married and was transiting via Shanghai with his fiancée on en-roue to their honeymoon in Thailand. Back then, I had spent 14 days traveling with their family as a personal concierge, coordinating all activities and logistics, acting as a cultural bridge and making sure it all went smoothly.  » Read more »

Before my husband Greg Yu started composing the original music score for a documentary on the Titanic last year, I never knew there were Chinese survivors. I had seen plenty of movies, documentaries retracing the tragic destiny of the luxury ship when it sank on 14 April 1912 but don´t remember ever hearing about Chinese among the survivors. And yet, eight Chinese men originally from Guangdong province boarded the Titanic four days earlier, in Southampton,  » Read more »

One of the most received comments from clients who are on their second or third trip to China goes something like “…I can’t believe this is China, I barely recognize it.” This will of course be true for those who first ventured out to the Middle Kingdom in the 80’s and 90’s but is even the case for those who have been as recently as 2008 for the Beijing Olympics. There’s a variety of changes that people are impressed by.  » Read more »