Having been on a few Chinese tours before, (tours for Chinese tourists) all I can say is if it was easier to tour some parts of China independently, I would do it. In the cities it's usually no problem but it's not like you can just rent a car and drive off to a park as a short-term tourist/visitor in China. The tours are sometimes actually cheaper than paying for your own transportation and fees, depending on where you go. The free "lunch" is universally bad, too. I've been taken to "factories", "farms", "pharmacies" and other places which I had no interest in but I've yet to buy anything other than a package of utterly vile North Korean cigarettes which I regretted after smoking one. I felt like my lungs were collapsing as I smoked it... At first they confused me but then I realised what was going on and didn't really feel like wasting my time/money. I just hate that they interrupt your nap on a 3 hour bus ride so that you can get overcharged by people selling stuff you don't need.