We're forty people. Do we all get into the Terracotta Warriors on the same slot?

That is exactly why the day is planned around one site. Our ground team books the timed group entry through the group channel and locks it before your order is confirmed. We also check the group quota against your actual party size first: if the quota will not take everyone, we re-plan that day before confirmation rather than splitting the party at the gate.

Our term dates land in the first week of October. Can you take them?

No, and it is better that you hear it now. October 1 to 7 is the annual peak at the Terracotta Warriors, and a party of forty spending a full day there in that week gets queues instead of pits. Any other week from October to December is open, and the plan runs identically.

How much climbing is the Great Wall day?

The climb is done by cable car or open chairlift, so nobody walks up. On the wall itself, the steps between watchtowers are uneven and some sections are steep; each group of students turns back at the tower it chooses, and the guide sets a meeting point rather than a finish line.

Four of the ten days are museums. Will the students switch off?

They are spaced on purpose, and none of them is a full day. Each museum sits next to something physical: the national collection before the sites it came from, the provincial collection after a morning of assembling a crossbow model, the Shanghai collection after a morning at a printing bench. The guide works one thread per visit instead of walking the whole floor.

When can we hold dates?

When four things are in writing for your order: the seat class of the train and the cabin class of the flight; the hotel tier and room allocation; the meal standard for the two included lunches; the group reservation deadlines for the four museums. We put them in your quote, and we do not take a deposit before they are there.

What a Country Keeps

Overview

A country keeps its own record in whatever material is to hand: bronze poured for a ritual, brick laid along a ridge, clay fired into an army, ink pressed off a carved block. This plan follows that record through three cities, in the order it was made: Beijing for the empire's own account of itself, Xi'an for the century that standardized everything, Shanghai for the record still being written on the waterfront. Museum mornings alternate with long days outdoors, and two afternoons are spent moving, one by train, one by air. Ten days in, your students stop asking how old a thing is and start asking who kept it, and why.

— LyrikTrip travel designers

Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your term dates, the size of the party and the flights you are holding, and we shape the ten days around all three. First reply within four hours; a clear price for your dates within one business day. Institutional bookings run on a long lead time, so your school's written requirements are answered one by one before any date is held.

Why you'll love this trip

The record, in four materials. The national collection, the Great Wall at Mutianyu, the Terracotta Warriors and a woodblock press, with English-speaking guides throughout.
10 days from bronze vessels to a printed page. See the whole record.

Open the record in order: one building in Beijing holds the objects your students meet again in the ground at Xi'an and in a case in Shanghai.
Give the Great Wall a whole day, with the lift doing the climbing: one ridge, no second site to rush back for.
Spend a full day with the Terracotta Warriors rather than half of one: enough time for a group of forty to stop counting the figures and start telling them apart.
Put a Qin crossbow together with your own hands, and the reason that army worked stops being a sentence in a textbook.
Take an impression off a carved block in Shanghai, then walk out to the waterfront where the record is still being written.

Things to do

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Itinerary

Arrivals

Beijing · Day 1 - Day 4

Day 1 · Landing day

Nothing scheduled but arrival. The country starts tomorrow.

Arrival in Beijing The group vehicle and driver meet the flight and take the whole party into the city in one move, luggage included. Your hotel and the room allocation for your order are set out in your written confirmation.

The first evening Kept clear on purpose, for the time difference and for a walk near the hotel with your teachers.

Day 2 · The record, opened in order

One building holds what the next nine days dig up. Start where the country tells its own story.

National Museum of China Your group reservation is booked ahead, so forty people walk in on one slot. Inside: bronzes, ceramics, sculpture and calligraphy, laid out in sequence. The guide works one thread rather than the whole floor, so the students meet the objects they will see again in the pits at Xi'an and in a case in Shanghai.

Temple of Heaven The afternoon is one axis: the Hall of Prayer, the Imperial Vault, the Circular Mound. Stand a student at the center of the Circular Mound and have them look up: a round of sky fitted to a round of stone, and every shape on the site explained by one rule.

Day 3 · South to north, along the line

The city was drawn before it was built. Walk the axis the drawing left behind.

Tian'anmen Square The party enters through security screening arranged by your guide, and stands at the ceremonial center of the capital: the modern half of the axis, before the imperial half.

Forbidden City Your reservation is booked ahead. The walk follows the palace's own order: ceremonial halls, then the quarters people actually lived in, then the garden, then out through the north gate. It is a long morning, so the guide holds one line and builds in places to sit. Somewhere past the second courtyard, forty people go quiet without being asked to.

Day 4 · A whole day on one ridge

The wall gets the day it needs. Stand where the empire drew its northern line.

Mutianyu Great Wall The cable car or the open chairlift lifts the party to the ridge, whichever is running that day, so nobody climbs to get there. On the wall you go tower to tower while the guide reads the system aloud: beacon towers, passes, sightlines. The steps between towers are uneven, and each group of students turns back at the tower it chooses.

farmhouse lunch A sit-down meal at a farmhouse near the foot of the wall, northern home-style dishes with local ingredients, included and timed after the walk rather than squeezed before it.

The road back The drive each way is long, which is exactly why nothing else is on this day.

High-speed rail

Xi'an · Day 5 - Day 7

Day 5 · Street level, then west

One morning at the height of a doorway. Then the train takes the party to the first emperor.

hutong and lakeside walk Courtyard lanes and lakeside streets, gray brick and doorway stones on both sides, old Beijing running its morning errands. Your guide keeps to the lanes where daily life still sets the pace, and the walk stretches or shortens with the train time.

high-speed train to Xi'an The party travels west together on one booked block of seats, luggage on board, teachers and students in the same carriage area. The station transfer at both ends is by group vehicle.

Day 6 · Eight thousand faces

One site, one day, no second stop. Meet the army that waited more than two thousand years.

Terracotta Warriors Your timed group entry is locked before the trip, so forty people go in together. You look down into the pits at an estimated eight thousand figures ranked for the first emperor of a unified China, and learn to read rank off armor and hairstyle: generals, crossbowmen, infantry. In the newer excavation areas, traces of the original paint are still on the clay. By the third pit, your students slow down and start comparing faces instead of counting them.

Shaanxi noodle lunch A sit-down Shaanxi noodle lunch, the wheat-flour cooking this province is known for, taken after the morning in the pits and included in the price.

Day 7 · Make one, then put it back

Yesterday's question gets answered with your hands. One state, one standard, one afternoon of context.

Qin crossbow workshop About 90 minutes at a bench, each student assembling a small model based on an ancient Qin crossbow under an instructor's guidance, and hearing how standardized weapons supported the Qin army. The parts fit any other student's model: that is the point of the session, and it is the point of the pits.

Shaanxi History Museum The afternoon goes indoors to the provincial collection, where the pits of the day before sit back inside the longer sequence. The guide keeps the visit to one thread, because it lands after a hands-on morning.

Flight

Shanghai · Day 8 - Day 10

Day 8 · A slow morning, then east

The only unscheduled morning of the ten. Use it on packing, breakfast and the street outside the hotel.

Xi'an morning Kept light on purpose, because the afternoon is a travel afternoon. Bags stay down at the hotel · breakfast is unhurried · there is time on the streets around the hotel with your teachers.

flight to Shanghai A one-way domestic flight, with the standard checked baggage allowance of the operating airline, group vehicle to the airport in Xi'an and group vehicle from the airport in Shanghai.

Day 9 · Ink, paper, river

The day the record goes onto paper. Print one page, then go and see the newest page of all.

Yu Garden A classical garden in the old town: pavilions, rockeries, ponds and winding paths, built to be taken a few meters at a time. Time in the old-town lanes follows, at the party's own pace.

woodblock printing About 90 minutes at the bench, in the printing tradition Shanghai's art and publishing houses have kept for generations. Each student inks a block, lays the paper, rubs the back and lifts an impression to take home.

the Bund After dark, the historic waterfront on one bank and the Pudong towers on the other, with your guide walking the whole stretch with the party and staying with the group all evening.

Day 10 · Same metal, two cities

The loop closes on the departure morning. Then the airport.

Shanghai Museum Your group reservation is booked ahead. The collection on People's Square runs from bronzes to ceramics, painting and calligraphy. The guide walks the party to the bronzes first. In front of the cases, you hear a student say they have seen this one's cousin, two cities and nine days ago.

departure transfer The group vehicle takes the whole party to the airport, timed to the flight with room to spare.

Departures

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Hotels

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Included / Excluded

What's Included

GroupPrivate, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
TransfersAirport arrival in Beijing · station transfers at both ends of the train day · airport transfers in Xi'an and Shanghai · the departure transfer on day ten
Intercity travelBeijing to Xi'an by high-speed train and Xi'an to Shanghai by one-way domestic flight, with the standard checked baggage allowance; the seat class and the cabin class for your order are stated in writing with your quote
Hotels9 nights: 4 in Beijing, 3 in Xi'an, 2 in Shanghai, named in your written confirmation
Breakfasts9 hotel breakfasts, one on each of days two through ten
Two lunchesThe farmhouse lunch below the Great Wall on day four and the Shaanxi noodle lunch on day six; the per-head meal standard for your party is stated in writing with your quote
GuideA licensed English-speaking guide on every scheduled touring day in all three cities, including the evening on the Bund
Tickets and workshopsBeijing: National Museum of China · Temple of Heaven · Tian'anmen Square · Forbidden City · Mutianyu Great Wall with the lift up · hutong and lakeside walk. Xi'an: Terracotta Warriors · Qin crossbow workshop · Shaanxi History Museum. Shanghai: Yu Garden · woodblock printing · the Bund evening · Shanghai Museum. The four museum group reservations are booked by us
WaterBottled water on scheduled touring days
InsuranceTravel accident insurance for the duration of the journey

Not Included

International flightsFlights into Beijing and out of Shanghai
VisasVisa fees and personal travel document costs for anyone who needs a Chinese visa, including all United States travelers on this route
MealsAll lunches and dinners other than the two included lunches; dinners are recommended and booked by your guide, on the group's account
RoomsSingle-room supplement and any extra-room difference for teachers or chaperones, priced per hotel in your written quote
PersonalGratuities · shopping · laundry · beverages · any in-venue spending beyond the listed tickets
Disruption costsAdditional costs arising from severe weather, transport delays, traffic control, attraction closures or schedule changes

Special Notes

A few things on this route follow the calendar or our partners rather than our preferences. Here they are, told straight.

No departures in the first week of October — October 1 to 7 is the annual peak at the Terracotta Warriors, and day six is a full day there for a party of forty. We do not sell departures in that window; any other week in the season is open.
Monday and the Forbidden City — the Forbidden City closes on Mondays, including Mondays created by holiday adjustment. Departure dates are set so that day three never lands on one; where a requested date would, days two and three swap and the swap is written into your confirmation.
Museum reservations for forty — the National Museum of China, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors and the Shanghai Museum are reserved by our ground team through the group channel. The reservation deadline goes into your confirmation, and the group quota is checked against your actual party size before the order is confirmed; where the quota will not take the whole party, that day is re-planned before confirmation, not on the day.
December departures — the winter operation of the Mutianyu lift is verified with the site before your quote is issued, because the whole design of day four rests on riding up rather than climbing.
Two additions still being confirmed — a museum of stone tablets in Xi'an and a city-planning hall in Shanghai are being confirmed with partners for the day eight morning and the day ten afternoon. Neither is in the price and neither is counted in the plan above; the ten days stand as written without them, and we will say so here if that changes.
Hotels — named in your written confirmation; "or similar" always means the same class and comparable location, never a quiet downgrade.

Is Ten Days Your Length?

Nine days instead of ten?

The plan is built in city blocks, so we cut a block rather than thinning every day: tell us your term dates and the flights, and we shape backward from them.

Good to Know

Group: Private, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
Ports: Into Beijing, out of Shanghai; the arrival transfer on day one and the departure transfer on day ten are included
Visas: The UK, most of Europe and Canada enter visa-free for days; so do Australia and New Zealand. We check the ten days plus any other days in China against that window, per order, before payment. United States passports need a valid Chinese visa for this route, confirmed before anything is charged
Language: Licensed English-speaking guides in all three cities
Payment: From 1 guest. A 10% deposit (minimum $399) locks your dates. The balance is due 14 days before departure. "Or similar" never means a quiet downgrade
Confirmation: Each quote lists in writing its confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions for your dates; no order is taken without them in writing
Season: October to December, with no departures October 1 to 7; departures from December 23 onward are quoted once the visa-free policy renewal is announced
Fitness: Moderate: museum mornings, one full day at the Great Wall with the lift up, and uneven steps between the wall's towers

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What a Country Keeps

Overview

Why you'll love this trip