You will make your own way to the railway station in Shanghai by yourselves, taking the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing. Upon your arrival, you will meet your local guide and driver, and transfer service to your hotel in downtown Beijing. Today in Beijing, you will visit and stroll with locals among the 6,000 ancient trees in the Temple of Heaven’s Grounds. Watch locals play chess, exercise, practice martial arts, and maybe play traditional instruments. 

The Temple of Heaven (UNESCO World Heritage) provided a place for emperors to pray to ‘the most high God in heaven’ for a good harvest. The Round Altar, Echo Wall and Imperial Vault of Heaven are rated as the key sight in China，You will cover these and more.

Today, your tour in Beijing will began with strolling on Qianmen Street, an old Beijing style commercial street right to the south of Tiananmen Square. Afterwards you will walk north to visit Tiananmen Square, the heart of China and the biggest square in the world. 

Then walk through an underground tunnel to pass Chang An Road before The Tiananmen Rostrum to get into the Forbidden City Area, visit the Forbidden City (Palace Museum & Imperial Palace, UNESCO World Heritage) - the history and meanings of it will be unlocked by your guide. Glean the history out of a place where the guidebooks leave you short. It has served as the residence to 24 emperors throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 AD - 1911 AD), but is now used as the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City has been the center of the highest authority for more than 500 years in China. With garden landscapes and an enormous architectural complex consisting of 9,000 chambers and halls containing furniture and works of art, it has become the historical landmark witnessing invaluable Chinese civilization during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

Today, you will take a full day tour to the highlight of the tour in Beijing this time, Great Wall at Badaling (UNESCO World Heritage). You’ll drive for around 40 km/2 hours to the north of Beijing into the mountains, walk and enjoy the fantastic view there. 

By the evening or early night, Transfer service from your hotel to the railway station in Beijing. Say goodbye to your local guide in Beijing and take the overnight Sleeper train to Datong city. (around 6.5 hours on the way)

Your local guide will wait for you at the exit of Datong Railway Station. A comfortable private car and experienced driver will take you to tour in Datong today. You will be transferred to your hotel to leave your baggage and take your breakfast there. 

Your tour in Datong will begin with the tour to Yungang Grottoes. Built against a mountain and extend for about 1 km from east to west, the construction of the caves was started in 453 and took 50 years to complete. Some 40,000 people, including Buddhists from what is present-day Sri Lanka, contributed to the huge endeavor. The 53 grottoes in Yungang include some 1,000 niches with about 51,000 statues - a treasure trove of grotto art that combines traditional Chinese art forms with foreign influence, particularly Greek and Indian. The Yungang Grottoes are also a treasure house of ancient Buddhist art, the largest of its kind in China. They are as famous as the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province.

The tour will then move on to yet more Chinese ancient arts milestones in the form of sculptures at Huayan Temple. There are two separate sections at the monastery, the upper one referred to as the Grand Hall housing five large Ming Dynasty Buddhas, and the lower section referred to as the Sutra Temple containing a library of some 18,000 volumes of Buddhist writings. Built during the Liao Dynasty (907 - 1125), it is the largest and best preserved monastery of the Liao Dynasty in existence in China. It was built according to the Huayan Sutra Sect of the Huayan School and is unique in that it faces east instead of south.

The wooden library containing the Buddhist scriptures is exquisitely and elaborately designed. There are thirty-one sculptures in the hall among which the Bodhisattva with a pious prayer pose is the most famous; it possesses a lifelike human likeness rather than that of a god.

Todays first destination will update your understanding of strength of buildings. You will go visit the never-fall-apart temple in the morning after 1.5 hours drive. Drive for around 100 km out from Datong and the incredible Hanging Temple will look down on you from the high cliff. 1-hour tour will engrave the temple into your mind for ever. This 1400 year old marvel doesn’t just defy gravity, but the laws of religion. Instead of an exclusive devotion to a single religion, the Hanging Monastery distinguishes itself from other temples by including homage to Taoism, Confucianism, as well as Buddhism. Inside the monastery, sculptures of Sakyamuni, Confucius and Laotzu appear together! 

Built to shield it from floods, rain, sun and snow as well as to conform to Taoist religious principles, the monastery, originally erected in 491, was rebuilt and maintained by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Standing at the foot of Heng Shan (Heng mountain) 50 meters above the ground, the Hanging Temple is a great place in Mt. Heng Shan which is endowed with a wealth of temples, historic sites and natural beauty.

Then after another 210km/3 hours drive, a sacred Buddhist Mountain - Mt. Wutai (UNESCO World Heritage) will be in the front of you.

In Mt.Wutai, Youll go directly to the essential temple compound district, Taihuai Town which is in the middle of the 5 peaks of Mt. Wutai (In Chinese, Wutai means Five Flat Peaks), and start feasting on the breathtaking art of Buddha architecture and sculpture.

Today you will drive for around 310km / 4 hours the to exceptionally well-preserved example of the traditional Han Chinese city, Pingyao. Sightseeing in Pingyao to walk on its well preserved ancient streets and visit some deserving places such as the ancient County Government Office Compound, the famous Rishengchang Exchange Shop (the ancient Bank Office Compound) and some other places in the city.

A free night in Pingyao Ancient City is full of fun. Almost all the shops are decorated in old fashion and everything that bumps into your eyes is vintage. Red lanterns, red paper cuts, opera facial makeups are so Chinese accented; sidewalk restaurants sell traditional Pingyao diet and bars playing poetic Chinese ancient music. Whats more, youre likely to meet some night watch dressed in ancient costume.  

After breakfast you would head for Qiao Family Compound by car. On the way, you will visit the traditional Chinese art of architecture and sculpture at Shuanglin Temple at the outskirt of Pingyao. The temple is what Pingyao locals feel proud of. Inside the temple there are more than 2,000 painted Buddha sculptures waiting for your exploration. 

Today you will see how gorgeous the villa of ancient local commercial tycoon can get. Qiao Family Compound, the residential complex, is a sea of Qing Dynasty architectural art. Its surely worthwhile your 1-hour visit. After that, your tour of Pingyao can draw a perfect period. Youll turn to another city Taiyuan by private car. Totally you will drive for around 110km / 1h40m from Pingyao to Taiyuan.

The Taiyuan-version Forbidden City will unfold itself to you today. To the eyes of Taiyuan folks, Jinci Temple is as comprehensive and sophisticated as the Beijing Forbidden City. It will meet your curiosity about traditional Chinese culture in every way possible--architecture, carving, landscape, painting, inscription and so forth. The ever-spouting Nanlao Spring, 42 maid sculptures shaped in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and the Divine Mother sculpture are the top three attractions inside Jinci Temple.

More about Jinci Temple at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinci_Temple

Transfer to Taiyuan Railway Station to catch the overnight Sleeper train from Taiyuan to Shanghai. It will take around 14 hours on the way and arrive at Shanghai before noon on the next day.