Having experienced previous world travel including organised group tours we found this Wendy Wu tour to be not one of the best. We knew that the group size would be up to 28 (and indeed it was 28) however although people were always on time this number of tourists inevitably resulted in slower execution of every aspect of the tour from train travel, air travel, dinning, general touring, getting from a to b etc and we would never consider joining a group of this size again. Some of our group found the tour pace to be well above the 'level one' as described in the brochure.
We liked all the hotels, the arrangements themselves dovetailed seamlessly, we were never hungry, our national guide Nancy was helpful and professional, the afterhours experiences were all worthwhile, China itself was clean, efficient , people welcoming and we always felt safe as a tourist , we enjoyed the yangtze cruise, the li river cruise and Guilin.
We didn't enjoy having a full day touring/travelling then going for dinner and/or a show without having the opportunity to shower and change. This happened several times and did impact negatively on our enjoyment. The worst example was arriving in Shanghai by flight, then being taken straight for dinner, which was very rushed before being taken to the ERA show and then taken to the hotel to book in. This distracted from the experience. The food itself although plentiful varied in quality, some restaurants served rice midway through the meal, provided soup at the end, didn't have cold beer or wine by the glass, wasted so much food (although the most popular dished ran out) and we were forced to eat extremely early (lunch at 11.30 dinner at 5.30 on some occasions). We were bussed to some restaurants when there were closer walkable alternatives. Our local guide in Bejing (Arthur) although enthusiastic was confusing, difficult to understand and annoying at times. Local Guides in Xian and Guilin were knowledgeable and professional.
We felt the tour concentrated too long a time upon 'shopping experiences' the Jade factory, the Xian art ceramics and lacquer exhibition workshop, the silk factory, Xintiandi and to a lesser extent the calligraphy and tea planation rather than the wonderful sights China has to offer. (We spent significantly more time at the Xian art workshop (excluding the unorganised buffet lunch) than at the Terracotta warriors themselves.
Overall we enjoyed our return to China however the tour would have been much better if our above mentioned critiques could have been addressed from the perspective of the traveller prior to tour departure.

Well organised, very well fed, hotels good, George our Tour Manager was excellent. My highlight was the Terracotta Warriors - superb. The Great Wall of China was a bit disappointing as I feel we saw the great steps of China instead. No wall to see really, just a lot of steep steps to climb along with several thousand other people. The group of 27 really gelled well and overall had a fantastic time!

A whirlwind tour of major sites. National Guide was very efficient and managed any problems well - he looked after us. All hotels very good but the negative was that included meals disappointing - the Chinese are proud to say they eat everything on 4 legs except tables - and some of the dishes offered upheld that.

George Pu was our guide. George was most delightful and knowledgeable. George explained how his country worked and its beliefs.
The tour was interesting, however a little more time was required at certain sites, especially "free" time for exploration.

The tour was well organized, visited many interesting places in China .
The tour was knowledgeable and helpful , he guided us everywhere and with the smile I would recommend to anyone .
Great company and good reputation.
Loved it
Silvestro and Domenico

All of Wendy Wu's staff from the initial booking through the whole tour were brilliant
the itinerary was everything we hoped for and we had a wonderful time, we will be back !

From Beijing to Shanghai and everything in between absolutely amazing holiday.
Tour size (16) was perfect & managed very well by Aaron our tour guide.
Hotel’s & restaurants chosen throughout the tour were very good, my only complaint would be that some of the hotels did not have a bar/lobby to relax & have a drink.
All additional tour guides were professional.
It was good to try different types of Chinese food as we visited different regions.
Overall China exceeded our expectations & would highly recommend this tour, well done Wendy Wu

Great tour, our National Guide Ian was great, organised, knowledgeable and a genuine good guy.
All local guides added to what Ian didn’t know in detail.
Accommodation was all of a good quality and the transport was great.
Saw everything we wanted, Pandas 🐼 were great.

Very good service, staff friendly, answered our questions and were helpful.

We had a wonderful holiday
The tour was very well organised
Cynthia our guide was absolutely excellent
She is a credit to Wendy Wu
The only thing I would change is that we were offered too much food and we wasted a lot!
Less food at lunchtime would have been enough but this is a minor quibble

Excellent communication

Matt was very professional and efficient when dealing with my booking

A guided tour depends very much on your tour guide and local guides. Our tour guide was no good, doing nothing for us other than making the necessary arrangements, which any clerk would have been able to do. Comments about food were dismissed e.g. our packed lunch for the 6 1/2 hour train ride from Chengdu to Yichang consisted of a soggy subway baguette, no drink, fruit or snack. Others were a bit better but still substandard, can't be classified as lunch.

During the cruise, I sat at a table with 2 others from another Wendy Wu tour. Their guide, Ryan, was there at the start, middle, and last day to see how they were or if they needed anything. Mine was nowhere to be seen throughout the cruise.

And on the last day, when our flight was delayed by over 3 hours, he would not change our departure from the hotel; we had to leave at 7am, with little breakfast, and hang around at the airport for 8 hours. I have submitted a formal complaint on this.

The saving grace on this tour were the two local guides - Troy who covered the Shanghai area, and Oscar who covered Guilin and Yangshuo. They were both superb guides, knowledgeable and helping us get as much as possible out of our trips. I would highly recommend them.

This tour on its own could easily score 4 stars, not 5 because we were denied entry to the palaces and the Chengdu breeding stations. With our tour guide, who offered little help and was not much good as a local guide in Xian, I would reduce it to 2 stars. But I have given 3 stars on account of the last 2 very good local guides.

Fantastic trip, flawless from start to finish. Guided through this full on experience by the best national tour guide that we have ever met, many thanks and kudos to Mr Hoffman who went out of his way to make our visit to this visually stunning and beautiful country. Nothing was to much trouble for this kind and knowledgeable man, we cannot thank him enough for his attention to details and individual guests. I may add that all of the local guides were of the same mind set and knowledgeable. We would not hesitate to recommend this tour, but a certain amount of fitness is required as this experience consists of a hectic schedule to see all that we had, but well worth the effort. Thanks again Mr Hoffman, I hope the company values your dedication to the brand and reward you accordingly, I wish you well my friend. "Yellow hat"