can anyone please recommend a tour operator for china? looking to spend about two weeks in beijing, shanghai, and hong kong. it's for three recent college graduates. does have to be amazing but should be pretty good accommodations (equivalent to at least holiday inn in US).
thanks

As most frequent China forum visitors know, I'm generally down on "tours". However, if you happen to chance upon any newspaper/internet ads that offer air+land for a marginal premium over air only, you might want to look a little further.

However, bear in mind:

1) these deals aren't always available
2) they generally entail staying at hotels that wouldn't get much business, were it not for tours (i.e. sub-par Chinese managed hotels)
-your college grads can and should make due as long as their effective price is close to zero, but if they end up costing $50 per night or more, then it's better to scrap the tour idea
3) air+land tours generally include a few other benefits such as opera tickets and airport transfers, but I suggest you refrain from getting too drawn in by their value because prices in China are still reasonable and there's a good chance that your recent college graduates will skip out on the opera anyway
4) make sure, up front, that your friends will have the ability to opt out of any of the more structured touring activities.... unless you want them to spend their days receiving ill-informed history lessons, eating at sub-par restaurants, and hanging out in overpriced gift shops

In closing, I suggest you figure out what air fare would cost during your preferred dates (let's say $800 + $100 for the requisite PEK-SHA hop). Then, multiply their number of hotel nights by $50, divide by two, and add it to your total. Assuming 10 nights, we're now at $1150. If you see any tours that come in under this amount, then you should do a little more research; otherwise, advise them to buy their airplane tickets and a guide book.

On a simpler, probably less helpful note: avoid it.

You can probably get air and hotel for pretty cheap since its a recession (hotels in Beijing are competitively priced). The most important thing is sights. Do them on your own. A lonely planet/wikitravel summary should be enough and it will give you flexibility. The guidebook will also have the anmes of places you want to go in Chinese. The subways in all three cities are very easy to use and in English. When taking cabs make the guy use the meter. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Read more in this section for the scams to watch for and tips. I've posted a bunch, and Moondog has posted a ton of ideas.

If in doubt on how to structure things (dates/ times) shoot me a PM. I am sure others are happy to help as well. You don't need to speak Chinese to enjoy visiting the place and getting a decent experience and you most certainly don't need a guide.

While I generally agree with this sentiment, several years back a friend of jpdx showed up on a BJ-SH tour, for which she paid $1000, all-in (double occupancy, so add $250 to that figure for a fair comparison). In light of the fact that, around the same time frame, I had paid $1350 for a PDX-PEK-JAX airplane ticket (upgradable and essentially open, 6-months, so better than hers), I was forced to admit that she got a pretty good deal, in spite of the fact that she fell for a bit of organized tour stuff in the process, which surely detracted from her experience..... but, she didn't have to take that bait.

thanks
then if doing it on your own and you have two weeks
having never been to china before, how would you break it up (# days) in beijing, shanghai, and hong kong

would you add other cities in?

These are questions that only you can answer.

In terms of FT the best advice really has to be to have a good browse through this forum and get a feel for all the opinions that have been expressed previously. That way you'll not only get answers to the questions you've asked, you'll also get answers to the questions you hadn't thought of.

I'd do:

Beijing: 6 days
Shanghai: 2 days
Hong Kong: 4 days

Alternatively, 5 days each Beijing and Hong Kong. There's a lot to see/do in each, but not so much in Shanghai IMHO.

I went last month on the same trip, my first time in China, using the exact breakdown of days. It is really sufficient.

I used the good advice of the board posters and avoided the tour groups, travelling by public transportation and with a good guide book.

It is very doable and I feel that I got to see a part of the big cities that no tour group would show you.

Do it by yourself. With the internet it is easy and much more fun.

P.S. Just a note of paranoia. After each reservation on the internet, hotel, flights etc. I called the airline and hotel in China to make sure they had the reservation. They all did

Personally, I would leave things COMPLETELY open; just buy an open jaw to BJ returning from SH or HK and fill in the rest on the fly.