6-day FAM Trip of Guizhou, China

Day 1 – Oct. 25, 2019 (Friday)

Schedule

Morning transfer from Marriott Hotel to Haikou Airport for flight to Guiyang.

12:10am: Arrival at Guiyang’s Longdongbao International Airport and transfer to host hotel for check-in and lunch

Note: Guizhou FAM trip does not cover domestic flight from Haikou to Guiyang, FAM attendees shall book flight by themselves. Please pay attention to the flight schedule when booking flight.

Reference flight from Haikou to Guiyang - JD5571 (Capital Airlines): departure 10:25am/arrival 12:10am.

Guiyang is the Capital of Guizhou Province and situated on the Yunan-Guizhou Plateau and the Nanming River. Guiyang is home to a large Miao and Bouyei ethnic minority population and the area is surrounded by mountains and forest. The region is similar to California's Silicon Valley as the home to China's big data centers and thus has emerged as a local innovation hub.

3:00pm: Transfer to People's Square
People's square is heart of Guiyang, featuring a statue of Chairman Mao on the square with the modern skyline behind. The Nanming River runs silently through the park and under the Chaoyang Bridge. From the bridge and throughout the park, you will have a chance to experience the true essence of Guiyang and Guizhou Province- from the local youth and adults activities to the scenic vistas.

4:00pm: Transfer to the Jiaxiu Pavilion
Sitting on a huge rock in the Nanming River in the southern part of Guiyang, Jiaxiu Pavilion was built during the Ming Dynasty (1598).

Jiaxiu Pavilion is a magnificent three-storied, twenty-meter high building 20-meter-high with three eaves and a pointed top, containing carved windows and red lattices and upturned eaves on all sides. The lower level is the Floating Jade Bridge which spans both north and south banks. Under the bridge, the clear blue swirling water forms a pool named Hanbi. When night falls with all the lights on, the outline of the pavilion and the bridge are reflected in the river as if it were a fairyland.

In Jiaxiu Pavilion, you will enjoy the rich collection of stone engravings, calligraphy works, paintings by ancient artists. Among them, there is a long antithetical couplet with 206 characters written by a member of the Imperial Academy from Guiyang, which has 26 more characters which claims to be the longest one in the world.

5:30pm: Welcome Banquet with local Government and Tourism Board Officials

Day 2 – Oct. 26, 2019 (Saturday)

Schedule

7:30am: Breakfast at hotel

8:30am: Departure for Maotai Town
Maotai Town is a magical place where the Chinese national spirit, a distilled Baijiu is produced. You will smell the fragrance of this fine wine becoming stronger as we drew nearer. You will even notice wine jars and large wine containers in front of every house on both sides of the road in this region. If a family can produce two tons of wine, they'll have more than enough money to support themselves for the rest of their lives.

The world renowned Maotai Wine Company takes up around two thirds of the town's area and over one sixth of the town's population to work for the company. It is believed that Maotai possesses a unique climate and vegetation that contributes to the unparalleled taste of the drink. For the American market, one relates Maotai Town to Hershey, Pennsylvania- the home of the great American chocolate bar.

In the 1970s, the local government attempted to establish another Maotai producing region in nearby Zunyi in order to increase the drink's production. They employed the exact same materials that the Maotai wine is made from, such as sorghum and water from the Chishui river. Unfortunately, the factories failed to make wine of the same quality, proving the sheer power of Maotai Town.

In addition to the Maotai Wine Company, the town also boasts over 100 private wine factories. Most of them developed from workshops. Since Maotai wine is higher in price and limited in quantity, only a small number of people in China have the chance to drink it. However, private wine factories in Maotai can produce wine close to the same quality as Maotai Wine Company enjoys, and at a much more reasonable price.

Numerous small wine shops line the streets of Maotai Town. With white walls and black-tiled roofs, the shops are made in the traditional Hui style. Their wine, home-made or bought from small family wine workshops, is contained in jars and sold at prices ranging from 20 to 200 yuan per kilogram.

11:00am: Arrive in Maotai Town and tour Maotai Museum

1:00pm: Lunch with local Tourism Board Officials

2:00pm: Visit Maotai Factory and participate in "The true Moutai Experience" to learn more about the culture and process of making Chinese Baijiu- followed by a tasting.

4:30pm: Transfer to Guiyang

7:00pm: Dinner at local restaurant

9:00pm: Transfer to hotel

Day 3 – Oct. 27, 2019 (Sunday)

Schedule

8:00am: Breakfast at hotel and check-out

9:00am: Departure for 24-Zigs (Stilwell Road)
December 1942 saw the beginning of one of the most herculean tasks accomplished by the U.S. Army during the Second World War—the building of the Stilwell Road. In the Spring of 1942, the main supply road into China, known as the Burma Road, was cut off. Attempts to supply China from then on were limited to “The Hump,” a dangerous air route across the eastern Himalayas. In order to reopen the land route to China, General Joseph Stilwell, the commander of the China-Burma-India Theater, called for the construction of a new road that connected the railhead at Ledo in Assam, India to the old Burma Road at the Mong-Yu junction near Wanting, Yunnan in China.

More than 15,000 American soldiers and 35,000 local workers labored to construct this road that passed through extremely difficult terrain. The road traversed high mountains and deep gorges. Steep gradients, hairpin curves and sheer drops were commonplace. As the road was built in conjunction with the Allied offensive to retake Burma, builders occasionally came under fire from enemy forces. By the time the road was completed, $150 million had been spent and 1,100 American lives were lost.

On January 12, 1945, the first convoy of 113 vehicles departed from Ledo. It arrived in Kunming on February 4, 1945. In the months that followed, 26,000 trucks carried 129,000 tons of supplies from India to China through this pass.

12:00pm: Arrival at 24 Zigs

1:00pm: Lunch

2:00pm: Transfer to the viewing platform to watch the 24 Zigs

3:00pm: Transfer to Xingyi City in Qianxinan
With the very typical Karst landform, Qianxinan is an ideal tourist destination with charming waters and mountains. Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is located at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces.

5:00pm: Arrival in Xingyi and check in hotel

6:00pm: Dinner at hotel with local government officials

Day 4 – Oct. 28, 2019 (Monday)

Schedule

8:00am: Breakfast at hotel

9:00am: Participating in the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) opening ceremony event
Established upon the initiative of the International Mountain Tourism Development Center in China's Guizhou Province, the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) has its permanent Secretariat in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, and a liaison office in Beijing.

The IMTA, a non-government and non-profit international organization, works with UNWTO and other international organizations to establish cooperative relations in mountain tourism development, and jointly promote the realization of sustainable tourism development goals.

The International Mountain Tourism Conference to be held in Xingyi, Guizhou Province, emphasizes a friendly mountain eco-system for sustainable development of the economy, society and environment in mountainous countries and regions around the world.  The IMTA encompasses 126 groups and individuals from 29 countries and regions of all five continents, including 60 overseas institutions and 57 institutions of China.

Noon: IMTA Luncheon Buffet

1:00pm Depart for Guiyang City and hotel check-in

5:30pm Dinner and Colorful Guizhou Style Impression Show
Colorful Guizhou Style is grand showcase of dancing and singing performances that happens every night at the Guiyang City Impression theater- featuring a wide variety of local, unique folk culture.

Day 5 – Oct. 29, 2019 (Monday)

Schedule

7:30am: Breakfast at hotel

8:30am: Transfer to Huangguoshu Waterfall
Huangguoshu Waterfall is Guizhou's most spectacular attraction. The scenic area can be found 128 kilometers away from Guiyang.

The waterfall, the largest waterfall in China and one of the most famous in the world, is the only waterfall on the planet that can be viewed from above, below, front, behind, left and right. It is 77.8 meters high and 101 meters wide. The main waterfall is 67 meters high and 83.3 meters wide. Water Curtain Cave, a 134-meter natural corridor behind the waterfall, allows visitors to watch, hear and touch the thundering water streaming down. A colorful rainbow arching across the waterfall from time to time turns the splendid waterscape into a real feast for the eyes.

The waterfall, along with 18 smaller, yet equally beautiful waterfalls, such as Luositan Waterfall, Silver-Chain Waterfall and Dishuitan Waterfall, is also known as the Huangguoshu Waterfalls Cluster. It was included into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999 as the world's largest waterfall cluster.

11:00am: Arrival at Huangguoshu Waterfalls - Top of the Falls

11:30am: Lunch at Huangguoshu International Conference Center

12:30pm: Visit Huangguoshu Waterfalls, from below via escalator

2:30pm: Transfer to Yunfeng Tunpu Village
Several centuries-old villages, known as "tunbao" or "tunpu" villages, can be found scattered throughout Guizhou province.

Tunbao means "fortress" in Chinese, referencing the fact that each village was built inside a stone wall with a watchtower in order to guard against enemy attacks in ancient times. The Tunbao villages were built by soldiers during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Yunfeng tunpu is a collection of eight of these villages, including Yunshantun, Benzhai, Leitun, and Xiaoshanzhai.

Yunfeng tunpu was built when the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, stationed thousands of soldiers in Southwest China in order to develop his dominion over the region and defeat the last of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) military. The troops stayed in the tunpu, maintaining regional peace and cultivating the unique tunbao culture, which has lasted 600 hundred years. The culture and traditions are kept intact and are manifested in local clothes, rituals and festivals, such as the traditional drama "dixi", which is performed on important occasions.

3:30pm: Arrival in Yunfeng Tunpu for village tour

5:00pm: Transfer to Guiyang City

7:00pm: Dinner at local restaurant

8:30pm: Transfer to hotel

Day 6 – Oct. 30, 2019 (Monday)

Schedule

8:00am: Breakfast at hotel

9:00am: Departure for Qianling Mountain Park and Hongfu Temple

The Qianling Mountain Park, a national AAAA scenic spot, is located in the northwest of Guiyang city and is dubbed the "No.1 Mountain in Guizhou". Founded in 1957, the park is a comprehensive tourist park famous for bright mountains, beautiful rivers, serene forests, ancient temples, holy spring and clever monkeys, so it has been honored as "rich in the city, beauty in the nature".

A zoo is built in the quiet valley of the park with clear springs and strange rocks, creating a good habitat for monkeys and birds. Qianling Mountain Park is not only a national famous scenic spot but also a good base for teaching and practice for its complicated geological structure and various plants. In addition, the mountain also maintains the Quaternary Ice Age relics. In April 1944, after the investigation by Li Siguang, a famous geologist, the site of Hong Fu Temple in Qianling Mountain was certified as an ice kiln of the Quaternary Ice Age relics.

Qianling Mountain has more than 1,500 trees and flowers and over 1,000 rare medicinal herbs. Qianling Lake sits at the base, blue and sparkling, smooth like a mirror with boats like twinkling stars. A monument to a revolutionary martyr stands near the Lake, sheltered by pines and cypresses. The park also has various scenic spots such as Hong Fu Temple, Qianling Lake, Qiling Cave, Monkey Park and Nine Winding Path. You can climb along Nine Winding Path to Hong Fu Temple.

The temple, built at the joint of the end of the Ming and the start of the Qing Dynasties, is a famous Buddhist temple in Guizhou. Nine winding path, formed in the 27th year of Emperor Kangxi (1688), is named for the nine steep "zigzag" turnings in front of the gate of Hong Fu Temple. The monkeys beg for food on the roadside from time to time. During the Anti-Japanese War, the patriotic generals Xueliang Zhang and Hucheng Yang were under house arrest in Qiling Cave.

Qianling Lake is an artificial lake with pleasant scenery, a good place for swimming and a popular choice for summer travel. During the holiday, the park is overcrowded. It is recommended to travel during a drizzle or after rain.

9:30am:  Arrive Qianling Mountain Park and Hongfu Temple

Noon: Farewell Lunch

2:00pm: Afternoon departures for airport