2 . From December 1st, 2023 to November 30th, 2024, visitors can stay in China for up to 15 days without a visa. Below are several easy steps for planning a first China tour.

Decide How Many Days to Stay

We suggest you take at least a week for your first trip to see the highlights in the top three cities: Beijing (3–4 days), Xi’an (2 days), and Shanghai (1–2 days).

To discover more of China, like charming Guilin and lovely Chengdu pandas, you would need a few more days.

Consider When to Travel to China

Things to do in Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai are seldom affected by the seasons.

Spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are generally the most comfortable and recommended times for a China tour. They are neither too hot nor too cold, but fall is generally drier and warmer than spring.

A more ideal travel time for you could be March and early April or September when there are smaller crowds, favorable prices, and still good weather.

China is a good summer holiday destination too.

Consider Your Budget

The biggest cost could be international airfares. The cost of airfares from the US or Europe to China varies a lot depending on when you fly and which airline you use, from around US$1,200 to US$3,000 for an economy round trip.

The biggest price difference between the off and peak seasons is in the price of hotels and airfares. Prices in peak seasons can go up by 50 to 100%.

For a private tour, the average cost per day is about US$220–350 per person, including flights/trains within China, 4- or 5-star hotels, lunches, attractions, guides, and private transport.

We Believe Private and Tailor-Made Tours Are Best

With our private tours, you would have much more personal choice in how your tour goes. You could have more hand-picked and interactive experiences, like visiting a local family with your own local guide.

With private guiding and transport, we would make full use of your time. You could focus on the sightseeing you want to do, skipping what’s not of interest and the long queues in the most crowded attractions.

3 . Administrators of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province, are striving to harmonize tourists’ exploration of the site with the need to safeguard murals and artifacts, through innovative measures such as digital presentations.

Sandstorms, rainfall and tourist visits constitute the most severe threats to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, said Wang Xiaowei, director of the Dunhuang Grottoes Monitoring Center at the Dunhuang Academy.

Since the Mogao Caves opened to the public in 1979, the number of visitors has been growing at an average annual rate of around 20 percent, reaching 2.15 million in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the site is expected to receive a record 3 million visitors.

“If you enter the caves during the peak tourism months of July, August and September, you’ll find it hard to breathe,” Wang said. The carbon dioxide and moisture exhaled by visitors accumulate inside the caves and cause damage to the murals, Wang said.

To preserve the caves, the duration of visits is limited and sometimes stopped during rain or dust storms. To try and ensure visitors aren’t disappointed when restrictions are in place, the center provides a digital exhibition, he said.

Currently, the center is being expanded to cater for an additional 3,000 visitors on top of the existing capacity of 6,000.

The Dunhuang Academy began digitally recording and storing images of murals and painted sculptures over 30 years ago. The digitization project has successfully covered over 200 caves, with a dedicated team of 110 experts currently undertaking the work.

The Mogao Caves are immovable, and transporting them is impossible, according to Su Bomin, head of the Dunhuang Academy. And he added, “However, with digitization, we can perfectly replicate Dunhuang art and showcase it worldwide, introducing Eastern culture to the world.”

In 2016, the Digital Dunhuang repository went live, sharing high-definition images and panoramic tours of the most exquisite 30 caves globally. Currently, visitors from 78 countries have accessed the repository, totaling over 16.8 million visits.

Su said Dunhuang can provide diverse cultural exchanges through its cultural relics. “By digitizing these relics, we enable people worldwide to understand Dunhuang’s culture, thereby gaining a deeper appreciation for China’s historical commitment to diverse cultural exchanges — that is, an ethos of inclusivity, mutual learning and a shared future,” he said.

At first I didn’t want to be a traffic police officer. I wanted to be a criminal police officer. When I     1     (assign) to the traffic police at the beginning, I was a little     2     (disappoint).

Later I found out that traffic police is the most commonly seen on the street, and there is indeed a lot of danger. With our help, traffic problems can be tackled, and life can run     3     (smooth).

There are the motorcycles     4     weigh more than 250 kilograms, still not quite suitable for women. In times like this, my passion for this job is what keeps me going. I first got a motorcycle rider’s License and enrolled in a gym to do     5     (strong) training. You have to be able     6     (handle) the motorcycle first before riding it.

If there’s     7     emergency, such as a pregnant woman or someone else needing to get to the hospital urgently. When we’re on duty, if a driver sees us, he or she pulls over and urges us to intervene,     8     (say) something like, “Can you help us get through? We’re     9     the way to the hospital.” We can clear the way right away.     10     time permits, we even get the person to the hospital. Moments like this make me feel very proud.

6 . The road to Mars is long and fraught with peril. One challenge is getting humans to the red planet; another is ensuring that once they’ve arrived, they’ll be able to manage life there.

To prepare astronauts for an extended stay on Mars, NASA’s latest simulated mission, CHAPEA — Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog — will isolate four people inside a mock-Mars base in Texas for 378 days — roughly the time a manned mission to Mars would spend on the surface.

Once inside they will adopt a pre-planned schedule taking part in simulated activities and science work, eating like astronauts, and dealing with maintenance and equipment failures, while undergoing strenuous psychological and physiological testing.

The first simulation will begin in June, and will be followed by two more, each with a different crew in identical conditions, with the last simulation starting in 2026.

“We’ve built a high-accuracy Mars surface mission scenario,” says Scott M. Smith, co-investigator for CHAPEA. The participants will experience a 22-minute delay in external communications, as astronauts would on Mars. Ambient noise will be played through speakers around the base, ensuring no outside sounds can be heard by participants.

Aiming for accuracy has resulted in a habitat that could be feasibly built on Mars, Smith adds. The base, called “Mars Dune Alpha”, is a custom design by Bjarke Ingels Group and 3D-printing company ICON, and resides inside a hangar at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Printed in a month from ICON’s concrete formula dubbed “Lavacrete”, on Mars, the idea is to build using Martian soil.

“NASA has evaluated a tremendous number of options for off-world habitat construction — repurposed rockets and landers, inflatables, assembled buildings, etc.,” explains ICON CEO Jason Ballard. “They’ve come to believe what we believe: that when you evaluate it from a financial, safety and flexibility standpoint, robotic construction using local materials is far and away the best option.”

Between 1405 and 1433, on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He made a total of seven voyages.     1     (load) with china, silk, tea and other treasures as gifts for foreign rulers, the fleet led by Zheng He paid friendly visits to more than 30 countries and regions. Zheng He’s seven voyages had a far-reaching impact     2     China and its neighbours. Zhen He’s efforts helped develop and strengthen harmonious relations with these countries and regions,     3     (expose) foreign people to Chinese culture, and allowing the Chinese to better understand overseas lands. Zheng He’s accomplishments are now widely acknowledged, and he is remembered as one of China’s most     4     (influence) explorers.

Today, the USS Arizona lies     1     it sank: in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its location is marked with a memorial shaped like a bridge, which crosses the ship’s sunken remains. Each year, more than two million people visit the memorial. They come to see the shadow of the ship at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, to learn about the attack, to show respect for those who had lost their lives in the attack     2     to pray for world peace. Although about eight decades has passed, the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the darkest episodes in American history, will never     3     (forget).

Tourism is the lifeblood of the communities that call popular holiday destinations their homes. It allows service industries     1     (grow) consistently. These industries, in turn, give jobs to the local population,     2     welfare depends on tourism. However, booming business is not always a bed of roses. More nature-centred tourist attractions, where man and nature live in harmony, can be greatly impacted or even destroyed by the flood of tourists. As resources are used     3     (rapidly) than they can be sustained, wildlife habitats are likely to suffer.

10 . My dear girl, this is a letter for you to read when I am getting old.

The day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to be patient please, but first, try to ________ what I’m going through. If when we talk, I ________ the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt (打断) to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago...” Just ________, please. Try to remember the times when you were ________ and I would read the same story night after night until you ________.

When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be ________ and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you, trying to get you to take a ________ when you were just a girl?

When you see how ignorant (无知的) I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way... Remember that I ________ taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed and ________ life’s problems every day.

________ I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous or impatient. Just know in your heart that the most ________ thing for me is to be with you.

And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as ________ as before, give me your hand, the same way that I offered mine to you when you first ________.

When those days come, don’t feel sad... Just be with me, and understand me while I get to the ________ of my life with love.

I’ll ________ and thank you for the time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you, my darling daughter.