China has been a land fueling creativity for thousands of years but there seems to have been a resurgence of interest from the West in Chinese creativity recently. Last year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a handful of other museums featured exhibits on Chinese art. In the previous year, The Smithsonian showcased Chinese-American food and this past November The Met documented Chinese fashion and its global impact. Both exhibits noted that Chinese culture has been influencing the West for centuries.  » Read more »

Testing the young Shaolin monk's skills at a private kungfu performance   Trips with children can be challenging both in planning and in execution. Buy they don’t have to be. When done right, they can be one of the most rewarding, memorable and influential of experiences. This June 19th-30th, Imperial Tours is offering a Family Tour of China that focuses on fun for all family members in an environment that offers a look at China’s culture,  » Read more »

The Qiao Family Courtyard in Pingyao was the setting for the movie Raise the Red Lantern One of the most composed and sublimely beautiful films to have come out of China is Raise the Red Lantern (1991), hailed by IMDb as one of the “25 movies you must see before you die”. For a quintessentially Chinese location, director Zhang Yimou picked Pingyao, a turtle-shaped,  » Read more »

Agent Cathy Dorton at the Great Wall during the Nov. 2015 FAM Imperial Tours has been running its innovative China Expert Training Program for travel agents since 2010. A number of agents have graduated as China Experts from our free webinar course run once a year. The four-part webinar series arms you with in-depth information about China covering hotels, tour sites, restaurants, shopping, seasonality, and unique experiences so that you can be confident in selling luxury China to your clients.  » Read more »

Ever wished you could capture images of local life on your travels like these? It may take years to become a professional photographer but you can snap life in the hutongs of Beijing in just an afternoon, especially if you have a great local guide…   Father and son play a game of Chinese chess   Someone like Matthew Kelly, for example,  » Read more »