Wow! I didn't realize this subject stirred up soo much emotion.

My experience with Ritz Tours were mine only. Everyone experience is different, and YMMV. I was happy with Ritz because I thought I got good value for my money. We paid $1400 for a 10-day tour included airfare to China and 2 domestic segments, stayed in 5-star hotel, ate good food (yum peking duck) and our tour guides were funny and spoke excellent English. We were a family of 6 and that was great for us because I couldn't have planned all that for our large group.

Of the 12 people in our group, everyone enjoyed the tour, we all had good memories from the trip, and to this day, I am still in contact with these people.

Sure, we were taken to "shopping". But we weren't forced to buy anything. Some of the places we went to was interesting. For example, we learned how silk was made at the silk factory. We didn't buy any overpriced jade nor we we told to buy them.

In the end, we got our money worth and thoroughly enjoyed our time in China and that's all it mattered.