Special Feature
> Officially invited by Beijing Foreign Language School
to attend their 2007 High School Student Art Festival.
> Art Festival’s main theme is competitions on Painting,
Art Craft & Calligraphy. We are participants from USA.
> Participant may choose his own theme of artwork, use their creativity and effort to complete his piece independently within a time limit.
> Winners’ Certificates and Prizes are available.

Itinerary

6/20/07
Depart from San Francisco to Beijing, China, a city which will host the 2008 Olympic Games.

6/21/07
Arrive in Beijing and be greeted by CCE’s Welcome Team. Arrive at the Beijing Radio & Television University (BRTU) Campus dorm to check in. Welcome dinner at a local restaurant.

6/22/07
CCE officials will address a welcome speech on the Camp Opening Ceremony. Top Chinese high school students are invited to meet our group.
We will visit old Beijing’s symbol---Hutong. Along with the rapid development, many Hutongs which represent the ancient view of Beijing were replaced by skyscrapers. Luckily, there are still a few Hutongs existing right now. We will visit some students’ homes.

6/23/07
We visit Tiananmen Square, the largest square on earth, which covers 123 acres. To the north of the Square, Tiananmen Gate guards the entrance to the Forbidden City, where we will visit later today. Afternoon seminar with our high school peers, discussing Art Festival competitions.

6/24/07
Visit Temple of Heaven, a sacred place built in 1420, used to pray to the heaven for good harvests. Believe it or not, the huge Hall of Prayer For Good Harvest was built 600 years ago, without the use of a single nail. Afternoon visit: world’s best preserved imperial garden---Summer Palace.

6/25/07
An exciting excursion is arranged today after breakfast to one of the seven wonders in the world, the Great Wall. The 3,750-mile-long Great Wall, stretching from east to west in North China, is the only man made structure visible by naked eyes from the moon. After lunch, we will continue our visit to the Ming Tombs, where 13 Emperors and their Empresses of the Ming Dynasty were buried between 1368 and 1644.

6/26/07
Visit Beijing Foreign Language School, exchange skills of painting, art craft, and calligraphy.

6/27/07
Visit top high school arts program along with city’s top art museums and galleries with Chinese peers and supervisors. Evening watch a famous acrobatic show.

6/28/07
Visit to private collections and studios of top artists, along with fashion designer stores that display Chinese arts and crafts.

6/29/07
One day before the Art Festival Competitions. Spend some quality time on preparation of your art work.

6/30/07
Art Festival Competitions in the morning. Afternoon ceremony to issue certificates and winner prizes.
We will board a sleeper train to Luoyang tonight.

7/1/07
We arrive in Luoyang early in the morning. We will visit the Longmen Grottoes which were started around the year 493 when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) moved the capital to Luoyang and were continuously built during the 400 years. We will also see the White Horse Pagoda and the Royal City Park that emits fragrances of Luoyang Peonies, which is what the city is famous for.

7/2/07
Excursion to the world-class attraction Shaolin Temple. Shaolin Temple is one of the most famous temple in China because of its long history and its role in Chinese Buddhism.The Shaolin Temple has many legends and mysteries surround it. The origin of martial arts, the origin of Kung Fu surround the vague mysteries of the Shaolin Temple and its monks. We will learn some Kong Fu at the International Martial Art School. Stay in a hotel near the Temple tonight.

7/3/07
Shaolin Temple was established in 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). We will continue our Kong Fu lessons here until we must return to Luoyang in late afternoon.

7/4/07
Train to Xian. Xian is one of the birthplaces of the ancient civilization in the Yellow River Basin. During Xian's 3,100 year development, 13 dynasties placed their capitals here. Xian enjoys equal fame with Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient civilization capitals.

7/5/07
We are going to visit: the Museum of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, which is praised as 'the 8th wonder of the world'; the City Wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), which is the largest and most intact Ming Dynasty castle in the world.

7/6/07
Visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) We will also visit the 3,000 year old Banpo Village Remains from the Neolithic Age (approximately from 8000 BC), and the Forest of Stone Steles that holds 3,000 stone steles from 2000 years ago. After an early dinner, we board a sleeper train to Shanghai.

7/7/07
Our train arrives in the morning in Shanghai, the largest city in Asia. We will visit the Temple of
Jade Buddha which is the most famous temple in the city. The Huxinting Tea House is said to be a very safe and clean place, because it sits in the center of a pond, human beings can cross the zig-zag bridge to take tea in the teahouse, but evil spirits cannot ------ they cannot turn those corners. We will have an exciting night tour to the famous Bund, and the sleepless Nanjing Road.

7/8/07
Excursion to Suzhou. After an early breakfast, we will go to the heavenly city Suzhou. Poets have compared Suzhou to the Heaven and called this water surrounded city the Venice of the East. We will visit Garden of Forest of Lions, the Liu Garden, the Cold Mountain Temple, and the Tiger Hills. We stay in Suzhou tonight.

7/9/07
Today we fly to San Francisco. Our home bound flight will arrive in SFO same day in the morning.