Nanjing

City of canals and classical gardens, half an hour from Shanghai. UNESCO-listed gardens, the cradle of Kunqu opera, and the historic centre of Chinese silk production.

Prosperous Jiangnan city on the shore of Taihu, one of China's largest freshwater lakes. Known for lake crab, the canal quarter of Nanchan Temple, Lingshan Grand Buddha, and the traditional gardens of Jichang Yuan.

Coastal city in east Jiangsu, centre of China's salt-pan heritage, and home to the Yancheng National Nature Reserve — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and critical staging post for millions of migratory birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, including endangered red-crowned cranes and Black-faced Spoonbills.

Grand Canal city in central Jiangsu. The Slender West Lake, classical gardens, and Yangzhou's signature breakfast tea-and-dumplings tradition.

7d · Xiamen's colonial island of Gulangyu, the Hakka earthen fortress villages of the tulou, Quanzhou's medieval Islamic and Confucian heritage, and the tea mountain of Wuyi — a Fujian round-trip.

12d · China's finest classical gardens in sequence: Suzhou's UNESCO garden quartet, Hangzhou's West Lake landscape, Yangzhou's slender garden tradition, and Shaoxing's canal-town context.

14d · Sichuan's endemic loop through Wolong, Balang Pass, and Xinduqiao, then the Yellow Sea coast for spoonbills and cranes.

A whole chicken stuffed with aromatics, wrapped in lotus leaves and clay, then slow-baked until the meat steams in its own juices.

A Jiangsu-province variation of clay-baked chicken with a lotus-leaf wrap and a mushroom and pork stuffing.

China's most celebrated green tea — pan-fired flat leaves from Hangzhou's West Lake district with a sweet, chestnut flavour.

Chicken steamed and marinated in Shaoxing rice wine, served chilled. A Shanghai banquet starter.