We thought our China tour was fantastic ,and found our tour guides and drivers both knowledgeable and friendly .We flew Singapore airlines , so no complaints there .Our first hotel needed ah bit of a refurbishment but not to the point of being unbearable . The next 3 hotels were great , and the last one was good except for the smell of cigarette smoke ......Which our guide Lulu sorted for us . On more than one occasion Lulu was always there to help when needed , and she was a delight .....(She even had us singing on the bus on the last night LOL) The add-on tours are well worth doing ,and you will need to be a bit thick skinned if you aren't used to the hard sell treatment at the organised factory tours . We found the Chinese people to be both friendly and helpful and it was a very safe environment to be in , The Govt is obviously heading down the tourist path , and making a lot of headway . One point to be aware of , is that the stated all inclusive paid tips is not always the case with the tour guides & drivers , and our first guide Steven went to some lengths to explain what he thought we should pay .......this is not obligatory and we paid what we could . Lulu our next guide made no mention of tips, and it seemed people were quite happy to give one to her .All in all a great value for money well organised holiday packed with things to do , and some time to do your own thing if you wanted to .