Some interesting ideas for starters -- I should add that my company is opening an office in Shanghai which I will have plenty of business reasons to visit in the future, so I am disinclined to go to the Shanghai area on this vacation.
I am worried that if I hire a guide for our smallish group, there is a good chance I won't get a good one. I am an experienced traveler and would quickly replace any guide who kept touting us into his friends' places, but we don't have that much time and it would be a waste to go through the selection process multiple times. Should I be worried about that? Is a guide even a good idea?