Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Xian is a long way from Beijing and Shanghai, and a week is a very short time in which to see China. Even for Beijing you really need two weeks, not to mention extra time for the small towns and rural areas nearby. Best to leave Xian until you have more time.

And I hope that your train tickets between Beijing and Shanghai will be arranged in advance, otherwise you will lose precious hours hunting tickets and might not have time for even one journey.

2

Is this a short-term memory test or were the 15 replies you got when you asked this question the first time not helpful enough?

3

IF you are worried about missing them, cut the time in Shanghai by a day and fly rather than the train.

If there is no food, isn't that food for thought?
And if you are bored and want to know more about our Chinese teaching experience, there is our website to read.

4

Second #2! But if you need to know again, then I think it would be a mistake to miss Xi'an.

5

I don't think OP is doing a 'Dori', maybe she just fishing for opinions she likes to hear.

So, what is it really?

OK, really, China is huge!
Really, 7 days is a very short time in China.

Options:
1. Spend all 7 days in Beijing if this is your first trip.
OR
2. (If you are an older traveller) join a local 4 day tour to see Beijing (and see mainly souvenir shops) and fly to Xian for a 2 day trip.
OR
3. Spend 4 days in Shanghai and 2 days in Xian.
OR
4. Spend 3 days in Shanghai, fly to Beijing spend 3 days there.

Travelling between cities takes up to a day, China is geographically huge, remember.

"It don't matter to me."

6

Personally I didn't go to see the Terracotta but spoke with some Polish tourist who told me she was disappointed from the whole thing since her expectations were a bit higher and the entrance fee was not justified for the cause. Also read that some traveler told that Huangshan is more appealing than the Terracotta. Probably, you will still get mixed responses from travelers and there is not a definite answer to your debate. Xian, as a city, is not very interesting (just another city with modern progress coming on and on).
Why not going to Pingyao city which is relatively closer to Beijing (I hope I'm not mistaken) and has more traditional appeal than many other cities in China? It's ambience is so 'Chinese' and the western influence has not yet reached there. Besides, you have only one week..........
Don't think too much about the whole matter and whatever you decide is O.K !

7

i live in xi'an and i've been to the army for 2 time,my opinion on this is you should first spend some time on the culture and history.if you just want to see it then you can see them online,if you want to know more i can tell you the more you dig in the more you find it inreresing and amazing.how they make the pottery figure,the bronze charoit,the history of Qin took a very imprtant position in china's history, the fisrt emperor of Qin dynasty adopted a serial set of mearsures for the consolidation of the newly founded empire,such as building and extending the worldly renowned great wall for warding off the encroachment of the nomadic tribes from the north,unifying the language spoken,currency and measures,and even the width of a chariot axle.how he get over other 6 countried at that time and set up the first feudual kingdom of china,why it disappeared in a very short time and left this to us?also the army is not the only spot to see in xi'an.2 days is enough,you can rent a taxi to the terracota army and huaqing pool at a time,around 200 rmb for a whole day.then leave for beijing.
the train from shanghai to xi'an takes about 16 hours and train from xi'an to beijing is about the same,you will spend night on the train so can save a lot of time.

i'm from one of the oldet cities in china which is famous by The Terracotta Army in Qin dynasty.i like travel and communicate with people and know more about different culture.

8

Just to add yet another thought: if this is your only trip to China then you would do yourself a huge disfavour by missing Xi'an. IMO one of the more atmospheric and interesting, not to mention historical cities in China. I have been there 50-60 times, going another 10-15 times this year, and it is always one of the highlights when I travel.

9

Well, I am going to give it a miss! Seems a lot of work for a sight that gets mixed reviews.

But then, I just spent about 5 weeks in India, and never got to the Taj Mahal!! :-)))