Thanks for the heads-up. Actually when we began to search the unrest news popped up and made us reconsider. We now will spend a few days in Beijing and then leave China for a few days, coming back to Shanghai, so we'll miss the gathering, which after all, is the main topic of this thread. We really thought we could make it work, but I think this will be better. We now have from Oct 10 to Oct 31 to make our way from Shanghai to Beijing and will try to hit as many amazing spots along the way as we can. Thanks to all for your input.