Reviving this thread to get some opinions.

Will be travelling alone to China for a couple weeks at year-end, want to go to the Harbin Snow & Ice festival along with some outdoor activities in the surrounding areas. Starting getting some quotes from tour operators, but I'm getting the feeling that the ones oriented towards foreigners are ripping me off, especially as I wouldn't need a dedicated tour guide all the time (I do understand and speak chinese). I do get that there's an inherent "premium" that tour operators will charge for being dedicated towards serving foreigners- this happens everywhere. But I also can't give them like, 200% profit.

Problem is, finding those Chinese group tours directed towards a domestic audience is kind of fruitless as I can't read any of their websites, and that's if i even find any.

Helpful hints ?