It is — a lot of planning.

And honestly, part of why I'm writing this is to make that part simpler for you.

But before the logistics, let me tell you what this trip actually was. Because it wasn't a sightseeing trip. We saw the Terracotta Warriors, yes. We did West Lake. We ticked the obvious boxes. But that's not what I think about when I think about those six weeks.

I think about the dress.

My daughter found a picture online — something runway-adjacent — and handed it to a tie-dye teacher in a village in Dali. The teacher looked at it, nodded, and spent the afternoon guiding her hands through folding, binding, and a vat of plant-based indigo dye that's been used in that region for over a thousand years. She came home with a dress she made herself. She's worn it to school and got a ton of compliments.

That's the trip. The sights were the backdrop.

The experiences were the point.

Arts and crafts workshops everywhere — affordable, accessible, and deeply skilled.

A photoshoot in traditional costume that I was convinced would be embarrassing and turned out to be one of the best $50 I've ever spent.

A spa at 7am that understood something Western wellness never has — that relaxation and fun are not opposites.

A dinner performance where we showed up in costume and became part of the show.

Ceramics fired and mailed to our hotel for $3 per bowl.

Made our own flower-filled pastry from scratch in Yunnan.

If you're looking for a list of the best photo spots in China, this isn't it. If you're looking for the kind of trip where your kid makes something real and you eat things you'll think about for years — read on.

China is big. Comparable to the US in size, but culturally closer to Europe — each region distinct, shaped by thousands of years of different kingdoms, ethnic groups, and traditions colliding and separating and colliding again. What you experience in Yunnan has almost nothing in common with what you experience in Shanghai. Plan for that.

Timing matters. Avoid peak seasons — National Day in October, Chinese New Year in January/February, and summer holidays in major cities.

Apps first. Set everything up at least a week before you fly. This is the one thing I'd tell every family planning a trip to China. Not a nice-to-have. Non-negotiable. More on this later.

Packing is the least important part. Almost anything can be delivered within 20–30 minutes. We were short a suitcase on the day of our flight — ordered one for ¥150 ($25 CAD), it arrived in 45 minutes. It's still better than my other suitcases. Bring your medications, documents, and passports.

You'll need the passport at most attractions for entry.

If your powerbank isn't CCC-certified, leave it at home — it won't be allowed on domestic flights.

Pacing beat planning. Every time I left space in the schedule, something better than what I'd planned happened. For scale: Beijing is roughly 10x the size of New York. Crossing the city is not a casual decision. Build in more time than you think you need.

Planned to minimize backtracking:

Shanghai → Chengdu → Chongqing → Xi'an → Kunming → Dali + surrounding towns → Guilin/Yangshuo → Fuzhou → Quanzhou → Hangzhou → Yiwu → Hengdian → Suzhou → Shanghai

Detailed hotel recommendations and activity lists for each city are coming in the next few emails. What follows is the shape of the journey — not a checklist, but a sense of how it moved.

The next few posts will detail our itinerary in 3 blocks - the mega-cities, Yunan and Guizhou, Along the east coast.

— Wen

For more details, click below to run the numbers for your family and cities you’d like to visit, and read more on price comparisons with other travel destinations