May 25, 2007
As long as the Chinese yuan stays absurdly low in price, a trip to China -- in any price category -- is one of the great bargains of travel
Jim and Mary Patterson (those aren't their real names) paid an astonishing $999 per person for their visit to five Chinese cities in ten days, including round-trip air. Too frightened to sign up for a bargain-priced wonder, William and Ellen Cartwright paid some $4,000 per person for round-trip air and 14 nights in six Chinese cities.Yet once in China, both couples walked the same stretch of the Great Wall, attended the same show of Chinese acrobats in Shanghai, walked on the same ancient brick floors of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, strolled around Tiananmen Square, beamed at Chinese kindergarten children in the same sort of elementary school in Suzhou, even ate in the same mammoth restaurant with singers and orchestra, to which nearly every tour group is brought in Beijing.
To the extent that their tours differed, it was in the number of passengers (30 for the cheap tours, fifteen-or-so for the expensive ones) that formed each group, and the hotels in which they were housed. But since most hotels in China are modern and less than 15 years old, the difference between them is not in the comfort of the rooms but in the elegance of the public areas -- and thus utterly unimportant.
How little can you pay? Try the following two options for starters:
$999-$1,599 for 12 days, from China Focus: The unchallenged price leader to China is the remarkable China Focus, of San Francisco (tel. 800/868-7244; www.chinafocustravel.com), whose 12-day stay in five cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Ji'nan, Tai Shan, Qufu, and Suzhou) is so great a value for the price -- it also includes round-trip air on Air China. The only condition to these rates is that you make payment by personal check or money order, not via credit card (plastic requires an extra $200 charge). The firm's Chinese-American management is so reliable that I've never received a complaint about China Focus (but rather constant passenger compliments). When: Departures through December.
$999-$1,469 for 9 days, from Champion Holidays: The east-coast runner-up to China Focus, charging slightly more, is New York's Champion Holidays (tel. 800/868-7658; www.china-discovery.com), offering departures at the above prices from Los Angeles (and from New York for an additional $100-$120). You receive round-trip air (Air China or Japan Airlines), seven nights in China (Beijing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai) at good first class hotels. When: departures through February 2008.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
