It's important to realise that however 'easy' you may feel a tour to China would be, the tour companies have their hands so deeply in your pocket that they are also untying your shoelaces. Even respectable familiar companies that are not China specialists are simply using the same very limited number of Chinese ground handlers and adding costs and a profit margin on top, either not knowing or not caring just how much their clients (who are often also oblivious through lack of familiarity with China) are being taken for a ride in two senses at once.

The lower end (often thinly-disguised Chinese companies, e.g. China Focus) offers prices that seem incredible, but that's because they are. Costs are added in all sorts of ways beginning with ludicrous and non-optional tipping (since there's no tipping in China outside this sort of con, simply add the sum quoted to the published tour price when thinking about costs) and going on to kick-backs galore from hotels, restaurants, sites, and, worst of all, shopping. These tours will take you to numerous highly avoidable and massively overpriced shopping opportunities, and indeed your itinerary will typically be driven by which hotels, restaurants, etc. offer the best kick-backs, and not by any consideration of what's best for you.

Bespoke tours at least enable you to specify where your time will be spent, but will cost you several multiples of what it would cost just to make the bookings yourself.

If you want it easy, consider instead just booking key foreign-run hotels (from their own websites which usually guarantee the lowest price) in a few cities. Set up your domestic flights on arrival (you can let the hotel do that, if you really want it easy, although some will very significantly overcharge you), or use one of the Chinese on-line booking agencies before leaving home if you must (Ctrip, eLong, etc., but expect some hiccups, and even then expect not to be able to get the best prices until a couple of weeks before travel). In town simply get around by jumping in cabs and showing the driver the characters for where you want to go. This really is very easy.

Peter N-H
China