11-Day China Qigong & Wellness Tour

Upon arrival in Beijing, your guide will pick you up and assist with hotel check-in. You may rest freely, adjust your schedule, experience the local city vibe, and get well-prepared for the upcoming wellness and cultural journey.

In the early morning, head to Temple of Heaven Park for morning exercises. Boasting high green coverage, it is an ideal place in Beijing to experience traditional health preservation. You can easily spot locals practising Tai Chi, playing diabolo and doing other lively morning workouts. You will learn basic Tai Chi movements and matching breathing techniques from professional instructors, and embrace the peace and tranquility brought by Tai Chi practice. You may also visit ancient imperial prayer sites including the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

Tai Chi Learning

Afterwards, visit the Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The museum displays a wide collection of Chinese herbal medicine specimens and ancient medical tools, where you can learn about traditional Chinese health preservation culture with your guide.

In the afternoon, tour the Forbidden City. Take your time to calm your mind while wandering among ancient imperial architectures, and learn about the health preservation concepts of ancient royal families from the guide.

the Forbidden City

In the evening, you may choose to experience authentic old Beijing foot therapy. Professional foot massage and meridian relaxation will help you relieve fatigue after a full day’s trip.

Foot Therapy Experience

Your Journey’s Rewards

Practise Tai Chi and stretch your body to regulate breath in the serene Temple of Heaven Park; gain in-depth knowledge of TCM health preservation at the TCM museum; explore the wellness wisdom of ancient imperial clans while wandering around the Forbidden City.

Educational Focus

What is the core concept of Qigong health preservation? What main practices does Qigong include?

Takeaway

Qigong health preservation is a physical and mental exercise method that combines body postures, movements, breath regulation, mental focus and emotion management, aiming to strengthen the body, prevent illnesses and prolong lifespan. Its mainstream practices cover Baduanjin Qigong, Yijinjing, Tai Chi, Five-Animal Qigong and Six Healing Sounds.

Thought Challenge

In the fast-paced modern life, how can we integrate traditional Qigong wellness practices into our daily routine?

Start your morning with standing pile practice. By adjusting your breathing, standing posture and concentration, you can relax your body and boost internal vital energy. Then head to Mutianyu Great Wall for sightseeing. Take the round-trip cable car to enjoy the magnificent views of the Great Wall and rolling mountains at an easy pace, and refresh yourself amid nature.

Mutianyu Great Wall Trip in Summer

In the afternoon, experience traditional TCM massage. Professional shoulder, neck and back massage effectively relieves physical fatigue. Afterwards, join guided silent meditation. Learn basic meditation skills in a quiet environment to ease stress, regulate breathing and calm your mood.

Guided Silent Meditation

Your Journey’s Rewards

Build a solid foundation for wellness through standing pile practice; stretch your body and mind while visiting Mutianyu Great Wall; relieve tiredness and unblock meridians with professional TCM massage; regulate your mood via peaceful meditation sessions.

Educational Focus

How to choose the most suitable Qigong practice for yourself?

Takeaway

When choosing proper Qigong exercises, you should take your physical condition and daily lifestyle into consideration. Beginners are recommended to start with easy-to-learn practices such as Baduanjin Qigong and Six Healing Sounds. If you want to improve joint health and flexibility, Tai Chi and Baduanjin Qigong are ideal choices. Besides, practicing Tai Chi and Six Healing Sounds can greatly ease negative emotions and relieve anxiety.

Thought Challenge

Compared with vigorous sports, who are more suitable to keep practicing static wellness exercises for physical conditioning?

After enjoying breakfast at the hotel, check out. Your guide and driver will escort you to the airport in due time to finish your Beijing trip and fly to Chengdu. Famous for its laid-back lifestyle and leisure culture, Chengdu is also a key city of health preservation culture in southwest China.

In the evening, wander around Kuanzhai Alley to experience traditional alley and teahouse culture of Chengdu. You can try local ear cleaning service, one of the most classic traditional relaxation therapies here. Professional therapists use traditional tools for gentle ear cleaning and soothing care to bring you total comfort.

Ear‑Cleaning Experience

Your Journey’s Rewards

Stroll through Kuanzhai Alley to embrace the leisurely slow pace of Chengdu life, experience distinctive ear cleaning therapy to relieve head fatigue and enjoy traditional relaxing wellness therapy.

Educational Focus

What TCM acupoint theories enable ear cleaning to soothe body and mind?

Takeaway

The ears are covered with vital acupoints connecting meridians and internal organs all over the body. Gentle stimulation on ear acupoints can activate blood circulation in the head, ease nervous tension and achieve the wellness effect of relaxation and mental peace.

Thought Challenge

How does regional culture shape the formation of local health preservation customs?

In the morning, head to Mount Qingcheng, one of China’s famous Taoist sacred mountains. Along the way, admire ancient mountain paths, Taoist temples and serene natural scenery, and experience the Taoist philosophy of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Practicing Tai Chi or Baduanjin Qigong in the quiet and fresh environment here helps you stay focused and peaceful, and improves the effects of Qigong wellness practice.

Mount Qingcheng

In the afternoon, visit Qingcheng Longqiao Martial Arts Academy to take traditional martial arts lessons. Under professional instructors’ guidance, learn basic movements, physical coordination training and breathing skills, and explore the connection between traditional Chinese martial arts and health preservation.

Your Journey’s Rewards

Visit the sacred Taoist site Mount Qingcheng to learn about Taoist thoughts; learn authentic Qingcheng-style martial arts to strengthen the body and nourish vital energy.

Educational Focus

How are Taoist philosophies integrated into wellness exercises?

Takeaway

Taoism advocates following nature and the unity of man and nature, which is highly consistent with the core of Qigong health preservation that pursues physical and mental harmony and conforms to natural laws.

Thought Challenge

How can traditional martial arts be better inherited and passed down?

In the morning, head to Dujiangyan Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center to join the exclusive panda volunteer experience. You can get close views of giant pandas eating bamboo, climbing trees and playing around. Under professional guidance, you will learn about their living habits, dietary needs and daily care knowledge. You will also take part in practical work such as preparing bamboo and panda cakes, cleaning activity areas, and observing their feeding and daily behaviors.

Clean the Panda Enclosures

Preparing Bamboo Materials

Making Panda Buns

In the afternoon, return to downtown Chengdu and relax at a traditional local teahouse. Chengdu boasts a time-honored teahouse culture. Locals love chatting, enjoying operas, playing chess and drinking gaiwan tea here, which stands as one of the most iconic symbols of Chengdu’s laid-back lifestyle. You may also taste authentic local tea and immerse yourself in the easy and leisurely city vibe.

Tea Tasting at Local Teahouses

Your Journey’s Rewards

Get up close to national treasure giant pandas and learn about China’s efforts in wildlife protection and ecological conservation; unwind and soothe your mind and body with peaceful leisure time in a local featured teahouse.

Educational Focus

Why do Chengdu locals love drinking tea in teahouses?

Takeaway

Drinking tea calmly helps clear internal heat, soothe the spleen and stomach, relax the body and mind in a tranquil atmosphere, and achieve positive wellness effects.

Thought Challenge

What unique significance does getting close to natural ecological environments have on emotional regulation and physical and mental recuperation?

In the morning, escorted by your guide and driver, head to the airport or station to travel to Guilin, then check in at the hotel upon arrival. In the evening, enjoy a relaxing night tour in downtown Guilin. Stroll along Zhengyang Pedestrian Street with the guide, taste local snacks such as Guilin rice noodles, oil tea and water chestnut cakes, and experience the vibrant nightlife of Guilin.

Guilin rice noodle

Later, admire the night scenery of the Sun and Moon Twin Towers. The golden and silver towers reflect beautifully on the lake surface, forming one of Guilin’s most iconic night views. You will also pass by the Ancient South Gate along the way to appreciate the historical charm of the ancient Guilin city.

Sun and Moon Twin Towers at night

You may optionally experience traditional Chinese medical wellness therapies including acupuncture and moxibustion. Under the guidance of professional therapists, relieve travel fatigue and fully relax your body via authentic TCM therapies.

Your Journey’s Rewards

Roam around Guilin’s city scenery at night, taste authentic local delicacies, visit classic night-view landmarks and experience the local night lifestyle.

Educational Focus

What precautions should be taken when practicing Qigong?

Takeaway

Practice Qigong with a peaceful mind and make steady progress step by step. Choose quiet and well-ventilated places for practice. Avoid practicing right after meals, on an empty stomach, when exhausted or in extreme moods, and never overexert yourself.

Thought Challenge

What are the differences in physical conditioning effects among featured wellness therapies from different regions?

Early in the morning, head to Guilin Binjiang Road for morning exercises and practice the complete set of Baduanjin Qigong beside the Li River. As one of China’s traditional health-preserving exercises, Baduanjin Qigong features gentle and slow movements and emphasizes the harmony between breathing and physical motions. Under the guidance of professional instructors, you will finish the whole practice at a slow pace and experience the traditional Chinese wellness philosophy of combining motion and tranquility amidst beautiful mountains and rivers.

Illustrations of Baduanjin Movements – Traditional Chinese Health‑Preserving Qigong Practice

Afterwards, visit Elephant Trunk Hill, one of Guilin’s landmark attractions. You can appreciate its unique shape up close and take souvenir photos. Then proceed to Reed Flute Cave to view the gorgeous stalactite cave scenery.

In the afternoon, learn the traditional health regimen Five-Animal Qigong from professional teachers. Created by Hua Tuo, a famous physician in the Eastern Han Dynasty, this exercise imitates the gestures of tigers, deer, bears, apes and birds to stretch tendons and bones, regulate breathing and relax body and mind.

Your Journey’s Rewards

Practice the full set of Baduanjin Qigong at a soothing pace to stretch your whole body; visit Elephant Trunk Hill Park and Reed Flute Cave to appreciate magnificent karst landforms; systematically learn traditional Five-Animal Qigong with professional wellness instructors and experience the charm of traditional daoyin health preservation.

Educational Focus

What does breath regulation refer to in Qigong practice?

Takeaway

Breath regulation means consciously adjusting the rhythm, depth and length of respiration. Practitioners are required to keep breathing natural, deep, gentle and even, and coordinate breath with movements perfectly.

Thought Challenge

What unique benefits does practicing health exercises in outdoor natural environments have compared with indoor practice?

In the morning, take a Li River cruise heading to Yangshuo. Along the way, you can admire classic scenic spots such as Nine-Horse Painting Hill and enjoy karst landscapes resembling elegant Chinese ink wash paintings.

Cruising the Li River

In the afternoon, proceed to Qixian Peak Tea Plantation, a serene and scenic tea garden tucked away deep in the mountains. Wear a bamboo hat and carry a bamboo basket just like local tea farmers to pick fresh tea leaves. Learn tea-picking skills from veteran tea growers, experience the whole process of stir-frying and rolling tea by hand, and finally taste tea peacefully.

Tea Picking

Hand‑Stir‑Frying Tea Making

Your Journey’s Rewards

Cruise along the Li River to feast your eyes on karst scenery on both banks and relax body and mind amid natural landscapes. Experience the full process of tea picking and handmade tea frying at Qixian Peak Ecological Tea Farm, savour homemade tea quietly and embrace the wellness culture of tea ceremony.

Educational Focus

What is the connection between tea ceremony and health preservation?

Takeaway

Tea ceremony is more than just drinking tea. Through tea brewing, appreciation and tasting, it helps regulate emotions, relieve stress and achieve physical and mental balance, which is consistent with the concepts of traditional Chinese medicine health preservation.

Thought Challenge

How to properly choose different types of tea for wellness according to personal physical constitution?

In the morning, go cycling along the Ten-Mile Gallery. Ride through karst peaks, idyllic farmlands and countryside landscapes, and embrace the natural scenery and laid-back lifestyle of Yangshuo while doing gentle exercise.

Countryside Cycling

In the afternoon, climb Cuiping Hill, where you can overlook sprawling karst peaks, winding rivers and vast countryside. On fine days, the sunset and fiery clouds present a magnificent view. Join guided silent meditation at sunset to practice breath relaxation and concentration training. Achieve physical and mental balance in the peaceful natural surroundings while enjoying the stunning mountain and river scenery of Yangshuo bathed in sunset glow.

Your Journey’s Rewards

Cycle through pastoral scenery at Ten-Mile Gallery to stretch your body and ease your mind; climb Cuiping Hill and practice serene sunset meditation to empty your mind and calm your inner self.

Educational Focus

What are the core methods of silent meditation?

Takeaway

Focusing on your breath is the simplest and most effective way. There is no need to deliberately adjust your breathing; just naturally feel the breathing process. You can also fix your attention on the pause between breaths to calm your mind quickly.

Thought Challenge

How to properly control the duration and mental state during meditation practice?

If time permits, join a review session in the morning to recap Baduanjin Qigong and Five-Animal Qigong, going over all basic wellness movements and breathing techniques learned throughout the trip. Afterwards, head to the airport or station to conclude this 11-day journey.