1. After receiving your tour inquiry, our professional travel consultant will work on it efficiently and offer you one-on-one dedicated services. She will answer all of your questions and provide expert suggestions and travel plans until you are satisfied. As soon as we receive your confirmation and deposit we will make the reservations for your tour.
2. Our tour price is calculated in Chinese currency (CNY). For the convenience of clients, we covert it to US Dollars based on the updated exchange rate between them. Thus we provide clients both CNY and USD prices along with the itinerary. We will provide prices in other currencies upon request.
3. Ten percent (10%) of the tour total price is required as a deposit to confirm your tour. A reservation for your tour will not be considered firm until the deposit is received. By sending the deposit, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
4. The final or full payment is required 30 days prior to the start of the tour.
5. Payment methods: We accept payment by Wire/Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Western Union, Wechat and Alipay.

Cancellation and Refund

It would be disappointing if you had to cancel the tour booking, but we understand it is sometimes necessary. TravelChinaGuide has a favorable refund policy to minimize your losses.

1. The cancellation fee will be a percentage of the tour total price as follows.

   --For a Small Group Tour:

   a. 30 or more days before the start date: There is no cancellation fee except for the actual losses caused by air/hotel/cruise cancellation.

   b. 29 to 15 days before: 30% of the total price.

   c. 14 to 3 days before: 50% of the total price.

   d. Cancellation within 2 days of the start: 100% of the total price.

   --For a Private Tailor-made Tour:

   a. 15 or more days before the start date: There is no cancellation fee except for the actual losses caused by air/hotel/cruise cancellation.

   b. 14 to 3 days before: 20% of the total price.

   c. Cancellation within 2 days of the start: 50% of the total price.

   d. Cancellation on the arrival day: 100% of the total price.

   e. If your tour involves a Yangtze River Cruise, the cancellation fee for the cruise will be in accordance with the cancellation policy of the cruise company. It is 50% of the cruise fare if you cancel 16-30 days before the cruise date and full cost if you cancel within 15 days before the cruise date.

2. If you cancel the trip, you should inform us by email. We will calculate your refund based on the day (by Beijing time) when we receive the written cancellation. All refunds will be processed within 20 days of receipt of your cancellation.

Alteration of the Itinerary

1. For any changes made prior to the beginning of the tour, there will be no charge for our services. However, if in case there are any costs due to the reservation changes, you will be responsible to pay for this part.
2. After the tour begins, any extra charges caused by clients' changes will be added to the total. Any unused portion is neither refundable nor exchangeable.

Minimum Group Size

1. Small Group Tours: A small group tour is a way for people to travel inexpensively and hassle-free while having a fantastic experience. Our groups provide travelers a perfect combination of intimacy, flexibility and low prices. We guarantee departures on tours with 2 travelers - please see individual tour pages for details.

   We reserve the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a passenger should such person's health or mental condition or physical infirmity or general deportment impede the operation of the trip or the rights, welfare or enjoyment of other passengers.

2. Private Tours: The private guided tour is tailored for you, your family or your friends exclusively. No other participants will be in your group and you will not take part into any tours with others during our land services except for the excursion parts of the Yangtze River Cruise or any other cruises. For the whole of your tour, we will provide you with a private guide and driver. You will have flexibility within reason to agree with your guide on your daily departure time, sightseeing time and even mealtimes.

Passports and Visas

1. Please make sure you have a valid passport and visa before leaving for China. After we receive your deposit, we will send you a free official invitation to assist you in obtaining your visa. For those who may be qualified for a 144-hour visa free stay in Beijing or Shanghai, we suggest you confirm this with your local embassy or consulate.
2. If your tour arranged by us includes other Asian countries, please check at the nearest embassy or consulate for those countries and follow the visa policy of each country you are going to visit.

Dietary Requirements

1. Please inform us if you have food allergies of any type.
2. Vegetarian, vegan or gluten free meals can be arranged. If you are a vegetarian, please confirm if you eat egg, cheese, yoghurt, fish.
3. Tell us your food dislikes eg no peppers/onions/mushrooms/coriander or no pork/chicken/fish/lamb/beef or other foods.

Additional Information

1. We suggest that you purchase travel insurance that covers a wide range of unforeseen losses and damages, including baggage damage, flight delays and cancellations.
2. Please be sure to check carefully your international and domestic air tickets you purchased so that you are fully aware of the policies of the airline companies.
3. Upon checking in at hotels, guests are expected to offer a valid credit card authorization to guarantee payment of any possible personal expense (e.g. laundry) during your stay.
4. The majority of 4 to 5-star hotels in China are equipped with the central air conditioning. It will be turned on in winter and summer days, however, during the transition seasons in spring and autumn, the hotel will decide whether to turn on the air conditioner according to the actual weather conditions on that day, which is out of our control. Some hotels can provide the air fan on request.
5. On a non-shopping tour, we arrange no stop at the commission based tourist shops or factory stores, but some attractions may have a shop at their entry or exit so we cannot avoid passing through them. For travelers who want to shop for gifts or souvenirs, the marketplace is a good choice.

Responsibility

1. The responsibility of our company, parent company and affiliated companies is strictly limited. As a tour operator, we organize, promote, and sell tour programs consisting of certain travel services, including guide service, surface transportation, air transportation, water transportation, excursions and accommodations that we purchase or reserve from various suppliers. The suppliers providing services for our tour programs are independent contractors and they are not agents or employees of ours.
2. To the extent that we are involved in booking air and/or cruise transportation for you, we act as your agent and not as an agent for the airline and/or cruise companies. However, we promise that we are responsible for the willful or negligent acts of our partner travel agents for the land services.
3. We reserve the right to choose trains and flights we have arranged for you in the itinerary, and we guarantee that your tour will go smoothly unless the flights or trains are delayed or cancelled.
4. We will take benefits and losses of any fluctuations, lower or higher in airfares, cruise fares, currency devaluation, park fee increases, taxes, or fuel surcharges after we have received the full payment. And we reserve the right to correct promotional or pricing errors or to increase the tour price in the event of cost increases due to changes in airfares, cruise fares, currency devaluation, park fee increases, taxes, or fuel surcharges before we receive your reservation deposit.
5. To help customers have a better understanding on levels of the hotels arranged in our tour itineraries, we dispaly stars to some hotels depending on their accommodation facilities, services and average review scores on platforms. Please be aware that the actual star ranking might be different from that of local regulations, independent third parties or accommodation providers themselves.
6. We are not responsible for acts of terrorism, political unrest, war, earthquake, landslide, delay or cancellation of the trains, flights or cruises. But we will try our best to assist you in these situations.
7. We are not responsible for any unauthorized extra services that the client arranges with the local agent, local guide or the driver beyond the confirmed itinerary. In this case, we do not accept any responsibility for extra expenses on shopping, attractions, destinations etc, but we will help our clients deal with the problems if any damages or losses occur. Our mission is to provide an exceptional travel experience to every person who travels with us.

Complaints and Claims

1. Whenever and wherever you are not satisfied with any service of our tours, please let your travel consultant know immediately by email, phone or through your local tour guide, so that we can solve the problem as soon as possible and prevent it from happening again. Alternatively, you can send emails to our customer service center directly via contact@TransAsiaDiscovery.com. Our support team will ensure you have an exciting and rewarding experience. Thank you.

Six Steps to Book a Customized Private Tour to China

Step 1: Submit an Inquiry

Welcome to TransAsiaDiscovery.com via either search engine or friends’ reference. You can check some sample tour itineraries by visiting different columns, like Top 10 China Tours, Family Tours, Hiking tours or city tours. Our search engine is also convenient to look for a tour itinerary according to the cities you’re going to visit, the duration you’re planning and a travel type you prefer.

Interested in a sample itinerary: click the Inquiry button to open an inquiry form. Fill in the form with required info like name, email address and travel dates. It is suggested to offer us information as more as possible, including your former travel experience, your expectations, your worries, and whatever. All the information will help our travel consultant to offering his/her professional travel suggestions. Submit the form and we will get it soon.

Hard to decide which is the best？It’s not easy to choose an itinerary best fit you from so many tour itineraries. No worry, we will make it EASY!

• Just click the Free Inquiry button or Customized Tour button to send an either simplest or detailed form.
• Leave us a quick question, a comment or a quick contact form, which is usually at the bottom of a page.
• Pick up your phone and make a call to us. If you’re in US or Canada, toll-free number is +86-18088243690.
• Send us an email to tell us your plan. Email address：contact@TransAsiaDiscovery.com
• Leave a message on our facebook.

Step 2: Quick quotation

Upon receiving your inquiry, our travel consultant will get back to you within 24hrs via email. With the information provided in the form or email, our travel consultant will work out the quotation for the sample tour or a customized tour. At the same time, you will get our professional and constructive suggestions on the tour, which are helpful of knowing what and how we can meet your expectations. This is the beginning of planning a wonderful China trip.

Step 3: Free Alteration

Getting the first quotation and suggestions from our travel expert, you may have comments, new ideas and questions on the itinerary. Please feel free to contact your private travel consultant by any mean you prefer: email, phone call, whatsapp, wechat …. You will get our travel consultlant’s professional, patient, quick and all Free services, including replying questions, providing travel suggestions, customizing and polishing the tour itinerary, quoting our best price, etc. Yes, all these services are free of charge, until you’re satisfied with the itinerary and price.

Step 4: Confirmation

When you have agreed with the itinerary and price, it is suggested to make reservations as early as possible to secure the services and price. A deposit is required to make reservation, which is around 30% of total payment. At same time, please send necessary information and documents to make reservations. The reservation work usually takes around 3 days and you will receive a tour confirmation after all services are well booked. Please read the document carefully, sign you name and send back to us. The confirmation will be valid after we get your deposit.

■ Required information for making reservation:

1. International flight itinerary – to avoid misunderstanding, a copy of your flight itinerary is highly suggested;

2. Passport information, including full passport names, passport number, nationality, gender, date of birth, etc. It is suggested to send a copy of your passport.

3. Your preference on room arrangement, seats on flights and/or trains, food, etc.

■ Required documents for making reservation:

1. Copies of all members’ passports if you need us to book flight and/or train tickets for you.

2. Copies of China Visa if your trip includes a visit to Tibet. Usually this can be provided one month before your arrival.

Step 5: Send payment

If you book early, you might pay the trip in two or three times, but full payment is required 30 days prior to the departure date. We can accept payment by credit card, wire transfer, Paypal, western union. If you’re studying or working in China and have Wechat and/or Alipay account, you can also use them to pay. More details on making payment please see our payment guide.

During the time before the trip, your travel consultant is always at your service. You can contact him/her if there are any more questions or changes. And if there is any change to the booking, like flight schedule change, you will be informed. If any change has to be made to the itinerary, our travel consultant will work with you closely to find best solution.

Step 6: Enjoy your trip

Around two weeks before your trip, we will send you a document with final flight/train info, contacts of guides, emergency contacts and other information. Our travel consultant will double check all reservations before your arrival to make sure.

During your trip in China, our travel consultant will keep contact with you and your guide. For any questions and problem, please don’t hesitated to contact us and we will try our best to help. After the trip, your valuable comments are highly appreciated. You can either send us via email, or post your reviews on tripadvisor or our facebook.

This do’s and don’ts in China is back pocket material to keep you out of trouble on your China tour. From table manners to Chinese temple etiquette, we know you’ll want to avoid any embarrassing moments on your China tour. That’s why our outstanding local guides, working in destinations all across China share these top tips.

Good manners in China

It pays to know that although Chinese people have been greatly influenced by the modern outside world, they remain strongly steeped in tradition and reading the do’s and don’ts in China provided below will help you understand the Chinese traditions and allow you to save face and act like a local!

1. Table manners in China

To dine in China is not just to eat but to experience and share in good company. Different from western society, Chinese people practice a ‘gather dining system’. That means dishes are placed communally in the center of the dining table and everyone is encouraged to help themselves.

While the emphasis is on eating well, there are still a few do’s and don’ts to remember.

Chinese table manners – do’s

Allow for elders to be seated first. Following this, you will be instructed where to sit. when dining with elders, it is also impolite to begin eating before they do.

It is suggested to engage in each toast, saying the phrase ‘gan bei’ before finishing your drink – pronounced ‘gun bay’ – which means ‘dry cup’.

Try everything. At dinner, it is both polite and encouraged to sample every dish available and remarking aloud with ‘eating noises’ that you enjoy the food. “Mmm, Delicious!”

Feel free to drink from the bowl, as will everyone else, or using your fingers to eat things like shrimp or chicken. Just make sure that you’re not touching food that isn’t already on your own plate.

Chopsticks are the most versatile tool you’ll find on Chinese dining tables. Even if you’re not an expert. Give them a go. Your Chinese host will love it!

Chinese table manners – don’ts

Never leave chopsticks upright in your food, like incense sticks! This symbolizes death because it is similar to the ceremony that Chinese people use to pray for someone who has passed and is considered bad luck.

Avoid tapping the bowl with your chopsticks and never point them at other people when dining. This is considered to be extremely rude and best to be avoided entirely.

Do NOT use your own chopsticks to put food on your plate – this will have everybody else turning up their nose! Use the serving chopsticks or ladles provided to show proper table manners.

While tipping is not a common practice in Chinese restaurants, in Chinese culture, asking someone to dinner means you just offered to pay for the bill.

2. Gift giving and receiving gifts in China

In Chinese society, it is often the case, that people are likely to decline the offer a few times before accepting a gift, as a way of showing modesty.

When gifting in China, you’ll definitely want to avoid the following things that may cause insult and misunderstanding.

Gift giving and receiving gifts in China – do’s

Offer your gift with both hands. This is considered respectful in China, and in exchange, gifts should be received with both hands.

It is customary in Chinese culture to refuse to accept a gift once or twice before accepting it. Respectfully declining, to show one is modest before accepting the gift, is commonplace in Chinese culture and this may be done several times. So don’t be discouraged when giving gifts, but don’t be too eager upon receiving one either!

Gifting fresh produce such as fruit or other treats is very polite in Chinese culture, especially if presented neatly with a box or basket.

When giving gifts from your home country, Chinese people usually appreciate gifts along the lines of souvenirs, cigarettes, and alcohol, in lieu of this a reputable Chinese brand is also a satisfactory gift.

Gift giving and receiving gifts in China – don’ts

Avoid giving a clock as a gift. To say “sending a clock” in Chinese is the same as saying “attending a funeral”. Therefore, sending a clock to someone as a gift in China is usually regarded as cursing someone to die. This is obviously extremely impolite to give as a gift to anyone. Similarly, scissors and other sharp objects do not make proper gifts either, as they represent the severing of relationships.

Never gift white or yellow flowers, particularly chrysanthemums. These are funeral flowers in China. Do not offer them as gifts to anyone, especially to elderly people, patients, or someone who is sick.

Don’t send pears or umbrellas to your Chinese friends in a relationship! Especially newly married couples, because the Chinese pronunciation of “pear” is exactly the same as “divorce”. In the same way, saying “umbrella” in Chinese implies “separation”.  Sending these gifts to Chinese couples is strongly regarded as cursing them to be apart.

When wrapping your gift, to be on the safe side, use red wrapping paper. While other festive colors can be used, they seldom are. Never wrap in any dark color, black, dark blues, and purples, etc. Stick with red, and you can’t go wrong!

Chinese people usually think it is impolite to open the gift in front of the sender. So do not feel frustrated if they decide not to open the gift in front of you. So when you receive a gift, avoid hastily unwrapping it. Unless indicated by the person presenting you with the gift, It is advised to open the gifts after you leave.

3. Important cultural do’s and don’ts in China

Chinese cultural etiquette – do’s

Punctuality is an important virtue in China, as it shows respect for others, so always be on time. Arrive slightly before important engagements or events, as being a little earlier than the appointed time shows your character and respect of others time.

Be aware, the number four is highly regarded as ‘the unluckiest number’ in Chinese culture, as it has the same pronunciation as “death” in Chinese. So don’t be shocked to find the fourth or fourteenth floor of a building has been changed or altered when traveling around China.

Chinese cultural etiquette – don’ts

Don’t be taken aback when asked personal questions regarding age, relationships, family, what you do for work, or even income. This is considered Chinese-style small talk and is perfectly polite within Chinese society.

Avoid being too physical when meeting Chinese people for the first time. They will find this very uncomfortable from a stranger. A handshake and a smile or simple nod of the head are more than enough to demonstrate your friendliness.

Similarly, avoid public displays of affection. China is a very reserved society and generally looks down upon these. Remain mindful of this and your China tour will be an unforgettable one.

4. Exploring China’s Tibetan Temples or Monasteries? Some valuable do’s and don’ts

Cultural etiquette in Tibet – do’s

• Take off your hat as a sign of respect when entering temples.
• Always walk clockwise when inside a monastery or temple.
• Be sure to donate a couple of yuan to religious beggars. This is considered an act of good karma in Tibetan culture.

Cultural etiquette in Tibet – don’ts

• Don’t photograph people. Tibetans do not appreciate being photographed. However, if you ask permission first, this is usually acceptable.
• Don’t touch a Tibetan on the head. Tibetans believe God resides in your head and may be offended if you touch them here.
• Don’t step on a lama’s shadow or walk between a person praying to the Buddha and the statue.
• Don’t point directly. If you want to indicate a statue and have to use your hand you should gesture palm up, fingers flat and together, in that direction.