Tours to China
Explore China- the North-east and North Korea, September 2020
NZCFS are pleased to offer this special tour, going far into the North of China, with a four day
excursion into North Korea. Is this a glimpse at how China may have been in earlier decades? We will
have opportunity to find out for ourselves. Further information and itinerary is here in a revised
presentation.
NZCFS Tours are QUALITY TOURS, providing REAL experiences, with enthusiastic companions in a
cohesive small group, escorted by knowledgeable people who provide an in depth understanding of
China. Have a quick look at the SE Tour report.
Tour report: Explore China- the South-east, October 10 to 30 2019
We met in Guangzhou on a very warm Thursday morning. Joining us from their arrival the day
before were two members coming from USA, who managed to get through their stay in Hong Kong
without incident. Wendy, an American citizen, readily became an honorary Kiwi with her NZ
husband!!! A very close knit group of 12, we all enjoyed the travels together.
The itinerary took us from Guangzhou, through Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang Provinces to Shanghai. It
is hard to pick a highlight. The activities incorporated sight seeing with a little history, scenic
splendour, social and cultural understandings. An example was the visit to Dingwuling village, which
not only provided some beautiful country side scenery and an ancient wooden village, but also a
living Gung Ho cooperative still producing woven hats and baskets. A disappointment was to see the
Gung Ho Office in Rewi Alleys ‘one of two most beautiful towns in China’, Changting, lost to a newly
opened small shop. ( Last year our tour visited his other ‘most beautiful town’ of Fenghuang on the
NZCFS Center Tour).
Hakka Round houses; drifting ‘nine bend river’ on bamboo rafts at Wuyi shan; the soft beauty of
Lushan, and the night lights in ancient villages, reflected in the water below round stone bridges;
world class porcelain that has come from ancient times in Jingdezhen are all memories that come to
mind. Travelling by ferry on the southern end of the Grand Canal made for a pleasant and
meaningful alternative to sitting in our (always comfortable) coach in traffic to reach our next
aactivity, the Grand Canal museum.
History was delivered in very light packages. The opium war and Sun Yatsen in Guangzhou; the CCP
meeting in Lushan that set the course of China in the mid 20 th century; Deng Xiao Ping featured in his
time as a worker in Nanchang that collected his thoughts for his return to open China to the world
from 1978…
And of course the food. We did our best to seek a range that rarely repeated, with a focus on local
cuisines, and REAL food. Not the food that travel companies seem to think foreigners would prefer.
All enjoyed the diversity and most were adventurous in receiving this, the most regular of all cultural
experiences.
As a group we all were very open to the Chinese we met, both on the street in passing and those
who we spent a little more time with. We collectively left a small contribution to friendly relations
between our two countries! We were privileged to dine with Jiangxi Provincial Foreign Affairs Office.
To our pleasure, Wang Fang joined us for the last two weeks. I think it is this relationship we have
that makes us all aware that what NZCFS tours have to offer is quite unique, through the way we can
deliver a quality experience with Wang Fang.
