In terms of my Xi'an portion of the trip I am going to take the evening train from Beijing to Xi'an where I get in around 10pm something. I will stay in a hotel and then the next day visit the terracotta warriors. Logistically speaking what time should I look for my flight out to Guilin? I had wanted to make it from Guilin to accommodations in Yangshuo. There is a 510pm flight geting me in at 7:15pm, Would that be too tight of a fit given the time it takes to make it out to the museum and then to the airport? There is a later flight of 8:05pm which would get me to Guilin at 10pm. The last bus to Yangshuo leaves shortly thereafter and with a flight delay I would miss it and be forced into a taxi.

I suppose I could take the late flight to give me as full of a day as possible in Xi'an and then stay in Guilin upon my arrival (it would be dark anyway). That would let me take the boat early the next morning to Yangshuo. On my final night it makes sense to stay in Guilin (instead of Yangshuo) if I am going to take an 810am flight?

I called BA back about the specific flight on 7/8 from Guilin to HKG. He was able to pull up the flight and said all the award availability is gone and there are only four to five seats left on the plane for sale and because there are soo few seats left he doesn't think dragonair will release them to BA for awards. This makes me think that maybe I should book my 7/9 flight now from Guilin to Szx to be on the safe side.

Are the delays that severe? The flight Guilin to Shenzen would be 8:10-9:10am or something. My flight out of hong kong would be 6:45pm. Is there a risk here where I should just buy the flight back to hong kong the day before and spend the night there, which seems to be the only other viable option given that trains are starting to sell out.

If you want the CZ 08:10 flight, book it now. I think the risk of potential weather delays is always there when traveling in this region at this time of year. But I don't think you need to fly back to HK the day before and if you have weather delays for something like a typhoon or a tropical storm, it could just as easily affect the 8th as the 9th. You can still buy bullet train tickets on the 9th for the 08:00 Guilin North to Guangzhou South, then bus over to HK arriving mid-afternoon. Or taxi to Guangzhou East station then take train from there to HK Hung Hom station---it is possible to buy tickets for those trains online---also arriving mid-afternoon. Either would be pretty weatherproof, reliable, and get you to HK in time for you to get to HKIA for your flight home.

You could also buy both the flight and the train tickets now, and if there's no issue with weather, refund the train tickets. The Guilin-Guangzhou ticket can be refunded the day before or on your way to the airport (penalty is 5-20%), and I'm not sure about Guangzhou-Hong Kong ticket refund policy....but it's only RMB 165.

The flight is absolutely ok, you should have enough time.

Don´t worry about that. ;)

3 weeks ago I was in Guilin and just wanted to leave for Huangyao (an ordinary 2 hours drive by bus).
Finally I needed 5 hours due to the bad weather condition.
The city was totally flooded and the streets out of town nearly impossible to pass.
As the airport is a little bit outside I would go to the airport early in time if the weather is really bad.
That´s why I told you to check the weather forecast. ;)
But don´t worry about that you must have really bad luck to have this weather again in july.

And in case you have any problems to get air or train tickets, there are still overnight busses from Guilin or Yangshuo to Shenzhen (about 10h drive).

Based on my schedule are there any attractions that I would need to book a reservation for or buy tickets early to? First time in China and just trying to figure out what type of reservations I need to make. Bought all domestic plane tickets, all hotels reserved, haven't bought train tickets yet since there are plenty of seats available for trains I am looking at (should I buy them in advance or just get them there? If I buy them there I can't use a credit card correct? Would the train tickets be cheaper or same price [minus the service charge]?

Also, are there any shows I should see. I have read about chinese opera etc. I'm wondering if there is some show or event that should not be missed.

I can't think of any attractions where it's even possible to buy tickets in advance.

As for shows, the touristy stuff (e.g acrobatics, opera) rarely sells out. You can check out city weekend, time out, beijinger, etc for other events (which usually don't sell out either).

For trains, you probably can wait until you're in China for most of them, but ctrip isn't a bad option for high demand trains, and they accept credit cards.

http://www.china-diy-travel.com/en

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/

You can pay with paypal.

If you buy at the train station you can´t use your foreign credit card and you have to pay cash.
If you buy tickets at a ticket office outside of the train station, there´s a 5Yuan fee.

In general, you don't need to buy sightseeing-type tickets in advance. However, there are some sights in China that have recently instituted capacity controls, real-name ticketing, and facility for online booking in advance. On your itinerary, the Forbidden City in Beijing is one of these. Unfortunately the website is Chinese language only: http://gugong.228.com.cn/
It will still be possible to buy a ticket as a walkup if they are still available for that day, but you must now take your passport along and expect the queueing to take longer since information must be entered into the computers for each walk-up patron. You might try to contact your Beijing hotel concierge and see if they can make the advance ticket purchase for you (they will need your passport info) and add it to your room bill.

The Capital Museum prefers advance reservation, tickets are free, and their website allows for English-language booking:
http://www.capitalmuseum.org.cn/en/02.htm
The National Museum requires a passport but ticketing is free and on a walkup basis. Can't think of any other tourist attraction on your itinerary or in other cities that require advance booking or passport/ID. For shows, if you know the date you want to go, most can be booked ahead either through your concierge or online either from the venue or through third party agents. A lot of the long-running shows won't sell out.

What sort of transportation travel passes should I be on the lookout for and where can I pick them up? For example, I have been reading about the octopus card for Hong Kong and it fits exactly in with my needs for getting to and from the airport and mass transit. Is there something I should be on the lookout for in Shanghai (2 nights/three days) or probably more importantly Beijing (4 nights/five days)? As a point of reference I will be flying into Shanghai and leaving it via train to Beijing. In Beijing I will arrive & depart via train so will have no need to go to the airport there.

In Beijing you can get the Beijing Transportion Smart Card

It´s available at the subway ticket offices.

The card is for free but you have to pay a deposit of 20Yuan.

You can use the card in the subway, for the bus, at some supermarkets and at long distance bus lines.

For the city bus you´ll get a 50% discount using the card (don´t know how many times you´ll use the bus).

For the subway you´ll get a 20% discount for expense between 100-150 kuai and a 50% discount for expense between 150 and 400 kuai.
But I don´t know if you really will have a expense of over 100 kuai in 4/5 days ( although the prices went up from 2 kuai for every ride to 3-6 kuai last year).

I need to buy some train tickets. I know I can't use credit card at station. Is the cheapest way to pay with credit card the websites like ctrip etc? How much am I saving by paying in cash? Just the commission?

So China southern airlines has decided to move my flight from Guilin to shenzen to 7/10 when it was originally scheduled for 7/9. This is a problem since my flight to my is early evening on 7/9. The only viable option I am seeing at this point is flying dragon air to Hong Kong from Guilin midday on 7/8. It sucks and I will have to cancel and rebook hotels but that seems like the best bet? Train and bus to Hong Kong seems like it will take several hours and God forbid it delays me from making it to airport in time. This way if I get there 7/8 I can just chill and leisurely head to airport next day. Thoughts?

Why not fly to shenzhen on 7/8?

You still have the option to take the night train K 930 at 07/08, 9.33 pm from Guilin to Shenzhen to arrive at 10.10 am the other day.