14 Days in China

We're lucky enough to have 2 weeks in China. We know that this won't nearly be enough to explore much of the country, so we've decided to keep it to the following:
Beijing (including trip to Wall & Terracotta Army)

The Terracotta Warriors are in Xi'an, a lovely city that has a ton to offer. But 1000km from Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai or HongKong

Shanghai
Hangzhou
Hong Kong
How many days per town would you recommend and should we add/remove anything?

I would take out Shanghai and by extension Hangzhou. Plenty of more interesting parts of China.

But as you currently have it
Beijing 5 days
Xi'an 2 days
Shanghai 1.5 days
Hangzhou 1.5 days
Hong Kong 2-3 days

1-2 days to add Pingyao, Luoyang, Huangshan, or Suzhou to taste. They are all on the way if you are doing Beijing-Xi'an-Shanghai. Nanjing is also wonderful if you are planning are near Shanghai. You only have time for 1 though.

We're leaning towards trains versus flights but also open to recommendations.

I would still fly Shanghai/Suzhou to Shenzhen/Hong Kong. It's a long way without too much scenery. Flights to Shenzhen are usually really cheap.

I would also skip Shanghai - its not an unpleasant city, but with only 2 weeks, there are plenty of other more interesting places to visit. I would schedule 5 days for Beijing, 2 full days in X'ian (which offers much more than "only" the Terracotta Army), 3 full days in Hong Kong, which leaves you with 2 full days to add somewhere else and 2 travel days.

And definitely book an open-jaw flight home - Beijing / Hong Kong - home to avoid backtracking.

If it was me, I'd spend three days in Beijing and move on - trains are great because you have the option to travel overnight and cover more ground that way. If you're headed to Xi'an you could explore the west a bit instead because you'll be covering a lot of ground going between the cities you've chosen. From Xi'an for example I went to Chengdu and towards the TAR via places like Tagong but if you did that, you'd have your two weeks pretty much covered, and you're very much in an area that's more Tibetan culture. It's very touristy but I actually loved Yangshuo so you could head there via Guilin from Xi'an - guess you'd take the train to Guilin if that appealed - and you can escape the crowds. It's a super-sleepy, picturesque karst-limestone dream. It also places you southish if you plan to head to Hong Kong - I've never been but imagine you could skip Shanghai and free up some time to do something else and avoid doing three big cities. I love Hong Kong and I'd definitely recommend three days there. I'm assuming you're arriving in Beijing and leaving via HK? China's obviously massive but just seems like if you are flying in to one and out from the other then you could skip Shanghai and not have to go all the way out to Xia'n and then head back east, and do a more directish journey to HK. Have fun!

Dear two weeks seems not enough to explore the cities you listed, your travel may be too rush.

Hello... I would also skip Shanghai and take at least 4 days in Beijing...The city is huge and plenty to see... If you wanna visit something more real China with almost zero western tourists, then I would suggest you to visit Leshan and the Giant Buddha.. For me it was one of the highlights of my trip and easy to reach with bullettrain from Chengdu.. I also found Chengdu more interesting than Shanghai..Flights from Chengdu to Shenzhen are also pretty cheap and if you got time left, you can visit Guilin/Yangshuo for 3 days and take the train from Xingping railwaystation(1h from Yangshuo)to Shenzhen.. then cross the border from Luoha district to HK... can do it in one days easily..

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