Explore the landmark sights of ancient and modern China with a licensed local guide. Covering the area of 90 football fields, Tiananmen Square can hold over 300,000 people and has always been the site for public proclamations and demonstrations. It has been China’s historic heart of celebration and also turbulence for almost a century. The gate at the southern end of the square marks the old city walls, not removed until 1958. See the nerve center of modern China in the adjoining People's Hall, the legislative building, where each of the 32 reception rooms is lavishly decorated in the style of a different province or city. In the main hall, 500 light bulbs illuminate the enormous red star on the ceiling. Move into ancient China in the Forbidden City, the formidable 9,000-room palace complex -- protected by a 170ft.-wide moat -- that housed China's emperors from 1421 until 1923. Think that's grand? The 700 acres of the Summer Palace, a seasonal retreat for the emperors, include a half-mile hallway painted with scenes from China's history, the most beautiful gardens in the country, and a 118ft. carved marble boat decked out with stained-glass windows so that the empress could enjoy her palace lakes in private.

Explore Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square and equivalent to the size of 90 American football fields. In the centre of the square stands the Monument to the People's Heroes (Renmin Yingxiong Jinian Bei), a 38m granite obelisk erected in 1958 and engraved with scenes from famous popular Chinese uprisings.

Discover the Forbidden City, a massive complex of red-walled buildings and pavilions topped by a sea of glazed vermilion tile. Visit the Inner Court, where only the emperor, his family, his concubines, and the palace eunuchs were allowed; the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where emperors lived after Yongzheng moved out of the Qianqing Gong and the Nine Dragon Screen, an 11½ft high wall covered in glazed tile dragons frolicking above a frothing sea, built to protect the Qianlong emperor from prying eyes and malevolent spirits.

View the sites created for the 2008 Olympic Games, including the Beijing National Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletic track and field events took place. The Stadium is a stunning landmark building located at the south of the centrepiece Olympic Green. It is considered to be the world's biggest enclosed space, and is also the world's largest steel structure.

View the Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube. The Aquatics Center was built alongside the Beijing National Stadium in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, it winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 21,196 kilometers (13,170 miles) from east to west of China. With a history of about 2,700 years, some of the Great Wall sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, the Great Wall of China is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.

Students will be given an introduction to the restoration work that has been done on the Great Wall before bricks and tools are handed out so they can get to work themselves. Upon completion, certificates will be issued by the Great Wall Administration as a thank you for the support.

In this language class, students will study conversational terms for everyday use.

A hutong is a unique form of traditional Beijing living quarters with a small street or a lane between two courtyards. There are thousands of hutongs in Beijing, most of which were built in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.

During this art class, students will participate in activities such as kite making, paper cutting, and face painting.

Tonight, enjoy the Peking Opera! Watch the actors apply the face paint you studied earlier.

In this language class, students will study conversational terms for everyday use.

It is the largest Buddhist temple of the Yellow-sect in Beijing and has been completely preserved. Built in 1694 as the residence of Count Yin Zhen, the fourth son of the Emperor Kangxi, it was called "the Palace of Count Yong." After Yin Zhen became the Emperor, he continued to use it as an imperial palace for short stays away from the capital. In 1744, it was converted into a lamasery. Yonghegong is the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple in China outside Tibet and holds treasures of both the Han and Tibetan cultures.

It was first built in 1302 and served as an altar where intellectuals from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties offered their respects to Confucius. Now it has become a museum exhibiting engraved stones, old Chinese doorbells and drums, bronze and jade utensils, paintings and calligraphic works, antique musical instruments and ancient Chinese currencies. Every September, a ritual celebrating Confucius’s birthday takes place here, in which a music and dance ceremony from the Qing dynasty is performed.

Visit the imperial college from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Visit the Temple of Heaven, where locals participate in morning exercises like Tai Chi, Martial Arts, and Ballroom Dancing.

Discover the history of the Chinese martial art, Tai Chi. Learn the moves from an experienced instructor, then practice what you've been taught.

In this language class, students will study conversational terms for everyday use.

In this language class, students will study conversational terms for everyday use.

Interact with the locals at a traditional food market. Use this opportunity to purchase some items for an afternoon cooking class.

Continue your Mandarin lessons while learning to cook the local cuisine.

In this language class, students will study conversational terms for everyday use.

Build relationships with local students while attending classes. Leave with a new pen-pal!

Learn to play China's most popular recreational sport. Students will have the opportunity to leave with a new pen-pal!

Forget Cirque de Soleil -- Shanghai's Acrobatic Troupe has been performing for more than 50 years, and their combination of superb acrobatics, juggling, magic, and more has made them the world's best acrobatic ensemble.

Shanghai combines European elegance with Asian flair, transforming its colonial history with a unique modern outlook. See the highlights with a local licensed guide. Surrounded by a busy bazaar, the Yu Yuan Garden offers an amazingly peaceful escape into a sixteenth-century garden with fountains, bridges, and tile dragons undulating along the walls. More peace reigns at the temple of the Jade Buddha, where two exquisitely carved Buddha statues, each carved from a single piece of jade, keep watch over a community of monks.

Stroll the most impressive street in Shanghai. The Bund, the center of colonial Shanghai, now offers an array of elegant embassies, banks, tea houses, and five-star hotels. Tian Zi Fang is an arts and crafts enclave that has developed from a renovated residential area in the French Concession area of Shanghai. It is known of for small craft stores, coffee shops, trendy art studios and narrow alleys. It has become a popular tourist destination in Shanghai and an example of preservation of local Shikumen architecture.