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From $9,950
OVERVIEW
In collaboration with Jewish Heritage Travel we are excited to offer this tour of China
Explore both China’s celebrated landmarks and its lesser-known corners on this four-city tour seen through the lens of the country’s fascinating modern Jewish history. From the cosmopolitan energy of Shanghai to the historic streets of Harbin and Tianjin, we trace the story of Jewish communities that found refuge, opportunity, and resilience in unexpected places across China.
We begin in Shanghai, where Jewish heritage and contemporary city life intersect in compelling ways. We explore the historic Hongkou district, including the carefully restored Ohel Moishe Synagogue, and also experience the rhythm of one of the world’s most dynamic cities, enjoying a Shabbat afternoon strolling the iconic waterfront and taking time to discover the blend of tradition and innovation that defines the city today.
Our next stop is Harbin, where we encounter one of the most surprising chapters of Jewish life in Asia. In the early 1900s, Harbin became a thriving refuge for Jews fleeing upheaval in the Russian empire. While most have emigrated to other countries, the city still preserves traces of its synagogues, cemeteries, and communal institutions, offering an opportunity to reflect not only on the community’s history, but also on the ways China presents and preserves this past today.
We continue our journey in Tianjin. Here we will uncover an even lesser-known chapter of Jewish life in China and a stunning city with European-style concessions: riverfront promenades, elegant colonial architecture, and lively food streets that reflect its distinctive cultural blend.
Our last stop is Beijing, where we celebrate Shabbat with China’s contemporary Progressive Jewish community and explore some of the country’s most iconic sites, including the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
Accompanied by a veteran tour leader and a leading scholar on Jewish Shanghai, both of whom have lived and worked extensively in China, this thoughtfully designed educational journey combines deep historical insight, meaningful cultural encounters, and access to places and perspectives rarely included on traditional tours.
Departures
Duration
Highlights
Notes
Activity Level
Tailor Made
Itinerary
Program Cost: $9,950* includes:
13 nights’ accommodations at deluxe hotels
Full breakfast daily; 9 lunches; 6 dinners
All group transportation via deluxe air-conditioned coach
All lectures, guided tours, museums and site entrance fees
Group air and rail fare during the trip
*Per-person, double occupancy; single supplement: $2,450.
Fees not Included: gratuities: $325; museum membership for nonmembers.
Travel note: Plan to arrive in Shanghai on Wednesday, May 5, 2027 and depart from Beijing on Tuesday, May 18, 2027.
A visa is required for U.S. citizens traveling to China. Travelers are responsible for obtaining their own visa, which is not included in the trip cost. We recommend using a service to secure your visa.
Please note that transfers to and from the airport are not included.
Each of our scholars are outstanding experts in their fields and play an active role in helping us design our journeys as well as accompanying us as we travel.
Dvir Bar-Gal is a Shanghai Jewish history expert, speaker, guide, television producer, and photojournalist. A graduate of Tel Aviv University in Film Studies, Mass Communications, and the Arts, he began his career in Israeli television, progressing from news cameraman to director of short documentary films covering cultural, travel, and current affairs stories. In 2001 Dvir relocated to Shanghai, where his research into the city’s overlooked Jewish history led him to document and preserve Jewish burial sites and recover gravestones, work widely featured in international media. Since 2003 he has led the Shanghai Jewish Heritage Tour, regarded as a leading authority-led experience on the subject. Dvir has lectured at universities across the United States, Australia, and China, including Columbia University, NYU Shanghai, San José State University, and Hebrew Union College. From 2004 to 2009, he owned ARTSEA Photography Gallery in Shanghai’s M50 Art District. Since 2022 he resides in San Antonio, Texas.
Brian Calvert, trip leader, is a Chicago native and holds a degree in political science from the University of Iowa. He is a veteran traveler who has lived and worked in China, New Zealand and Ireland. A former employee of Stanford University’s renowned Travel/Study program, Brian has personally managed group tours across Europe, Cuba, Africa, and through a vast part of Asia — Japan, Mongolia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Brian works closely with select local partners to craft refined, immersive journeys that balance authenticity, comfort, and cultural depth. He lives with his wife and child in Chicago and Thailand.
Arrive at the Shanghai airport and transfer to our hotel in the city. As flights arrive overnight, we take a day to settle in and relax. A welcome desk will be set up at the hotel to greet travelers and answer any questions.
Accommodations: Pudong Shangri-la
After breakfast, we begin the day with a welcome orientation with our tour leader and our scholar.
We head out first to the Bund River waterfront where our scholar leads us on an orientation tour to introduce the city’s history and the Baghdadi Jewish legacy still visible in the area. The city’s Jewish history began in the mid-1800s, when wealthy Jewish merchant families from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East established thriving trading businesses in the city. In the early 1900s, Russian Jewish refugees settled there as well, and during World War II, around 18,000 European Jews escaped Nazi persecution and found refuge in Shanghai. We end our tour in the Old Town, where we enjoy lunch together.
After lunch, we continue our tour of Shanghai’s Jewish sites by bus.
We stop first at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue, built in 1920, and the city’s grandest and oldest surviving synagogue. We then visit the Children’s Palace, once the private home of the Kadoorie family. Originally from Baghdad, the Kadoorie family became one of the wealthiest families in Asia in the 19th century, with a base in Shanghai until the communist takeover of China in 1949.
We return to our hotel with ample time to freshen up before a welcome dinner together at one of the well-known hotel restaurants.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Pudong Shangri-la
Today we focus on the unique role of Shanghai for Jewish refugees during World War II. After breakfast, we take a walking tour of the Jewish ghetto of Hongkou, where the Jewish refugees from World War II escaped to, one of the few places in the world that accepted Jews without visas at that time. Then, we enjoy a tour of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Located in the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue, the museum preserves the stories of the thousands of Jewish refugees who found shelter in Shanghai during World War II through photographs, personal artifacts, and historical exhibits.
We board the bus to enjoy lunch and an afternoon visit to the trendy neighborhoods of the French Concession that feature tree-lined boulevards, elegant colonial architecture, and a blend of European and Chinese charm. Once administered by France from the mid-19th century until World War II, the district became one of Shanghai’s most cosmopolitan neighborhoods.
We return to the hotel with some free time before a Shabbat dinner together.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Pudong Shangri-la
For those who wish to attend, we take the bus to the Shanghai Jewish Center (Chabad) for services. Or spend the morning at the hotel, perhaps taking advantage of the pool and spa.
The remainder of the day is yours to relax or explore more of the city. Dinner is on your own.
Meals Included: Breakfast
Accommodations: Pudong Shangri-la
This morning, we take a flight to the city of Harbin, northeast of Shanghai. Lunch is on your own at the airport.
Once we arrive in Harbin, we have some time to settle in, with an orientation walk in the afternoon. In the early decades of the 20th century, Harbin emerged as a center of Jewish life built by émigrés from the Russian Empire. In recent years, the Chinese government has invested in preserving sites like the city’s New Synagogue. Our visit here will explore both the city’s fascinating Jewish history as well as the politics around its preservation and contemporary interpretation as a site for heritage tourism.
This evening, we dine on Northeastern Chinese specialties at our hotel’s upscale restaurant.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Shangri-La Harbin
Our day begins with a presentation by our scholar, with the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion. We then deport on a city tour, starting at the Harbin Jewish New Synagogue (now the Harbin Jewish History Museum) on Tongjiang Street. Housed in a beautifully restored 1909 synagogue, the museum presents a compelling exhibition on Harbin’s 20th-century Jewish community, once the largest in East Asia, while preserving the building’s historic architectural character.
We continue to the Old Synagogue of Harbin, one of the city’s most historically and architecturally significant Jewish sites. This onion-domed landmark, built in the early 20th century for the city’s growing Jewish community, now serves as a concert hall and cultural venue, reflecting its ongoing role in Harbin’s civic life.
We have lunch together at a restaurant boasting Russian-Harbin cuisine (think borscht, pirozhki, stroganoff) in a historic building.
We then stroll along Central Street, Harbin’s European-style pedestrian boulevard lined with Art Nouveau and Baroque façades. We’ll also stop at the St. Sophia Cathedral, Harbin’s iconic church, which features a wonderful photo gallery of old Harbin.
Dinner and the evening are at leisure.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Shangri-La Harbin
This morning we then visit the Harbin Jewish Cemetery, established in the early 1900s and one of the most significant and well-preserved Jewish burial grounds in East Asia.
After lunch together, we head to Harbin’s Sun Island Scenic Park to visit the Sun Island Art Museum for a taste of present-day Harbin. The museum focuses on contemporary Chinese and Russian-inspired art, sculpture, and seasonal exhibitions often themed around nature, snow, and Harbin’s unique blend of cultures. The wider Sun Island Scenic Area is also one of the main venues for Harbin’s International Snow Sculpture Art Expo each winter, when large-scale ice and snow works are installed throughout the park.
We reconvene at the hotel this evening for another presentation about China’s Jewish history.
Enjoy dinner and the evening on your own.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Shangri-La Harbin
This morning, we board a high-speed train to Tianjin, a smaller city with a lesser-known Jewish history. Through the train windows, we take in China’s vast scale and witness the transition from rural Northeast to dense northern urban corridor. Lunch is available to purchase on board the train.
On arrival, we check into our riverfront hotel and enjoy some time to settle in and walk along the waterfront before a group dinner together at or near the hotel.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Shangri-La Tianjin
Today, we tour Tianjin. We start at the Nanjing Road/Heping District. This is where 2,000 Russian Jewish immigrants lived in the 1920s and 1930s. Most were Russian and Eastern European Jews who arrived via Harbin and other northern entry points, drawn by Tianjin’s status as an open treaty port with established foreign concessions and trade links. The synagogue here still stands, though it no longer functions.
While in the area, we also tour the Porcelain House (China House), one of China’s most unusual buildings, covered in millions of porcelain shards, and visit the Five Great Avenues. This premier area of the city features more than 2,000 preserved 1920s and 1930s European-style villas.
After lunch, we take a walking tour of Ancient Culture Street, a scenic area showcasing restored Qing dynasty-style architecture, traditional arts, and local food. Then, we visit the former Italian concession before taking in the stunning views from the Tianjin Eye ferris wheel to cap the afternoon.
Dinner is on your own.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Shangri-La Tianjin
Today we head for China’s capital city, Beijing, around a two-hour drive via private coach. When we arrive, we pay an immediate visit to the Temple of Heaven, a vast imperial complex renowned for its striking circular architecture and its role in ceremonial rituals where emperors once prayed for good harvests, symbolizing the traditional harmony between heaven and earth.
We enjoy a banquet-style lunch in the city, then check into our hotel, located in one of the most central areas of sprawling Beijing.
This evening, we meet with the local Jewish community of Kehillat Beijing. Founded in 1979, the Kehillat Beijing Foundation supports religious, cultural, and educational life for residents, visitors, and international families, serving as the center of organized Jewish life in modern Beijing. We attend Shabbat services with the community, followed by dinner.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Beijing
Those who wish can attend morning Shabbat services followed by lunch at Chabad Beijing.
The rest of the day is at leisure and dinner is on your own. Relax and the hotel and take advantage of the spa. Explore nearby Wangfujing Street, Beijing’s famous shopping and food pedestrian street or a weekend market
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Beijing
This morning, we tour the iconic sites of Beijing, including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasty emperors. Together, these landmarks form the ceremonial and political heart of historic and modern China, offering a powerful overview of the nation’s imperial legacy and 20th-century transformation.
After a banquet-style lunch together, you can choose to return to the hotel or continue out into the city for independent exploration.
This evening, dinner is on your own.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Beijing
Today, we set off to experience one of the Seven Wonders of the World: the Great Wall of China. We will visit the Mutianyu section, considered the best balance between accessibility, beauty, and visitor comfort. Originally constructed in the 500s and rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty in the 1300–1500s, this stretch is known for its well-preserved stone battlements, watchtowers, and sweeping views over forested hills and ridgelines.
We have a scenic lunch outdoors at a boutique hotel/restaurant repurposed from an old tile factory, just outside the Wall.
This afternoon includes a few hours of free time for rest and packing.
In the evening, we have a farewell dinner together at our hotel.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Beijing
After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to the airport for flights home.
Meals Included: Breakfast.
Please Note: Daily schedule may be modified, subject to weather or unanticipated changes.
Payment Reserve your space with a nonrefundable deposit of $1,000 per person. Final balance is due 120 days prior to departure.
Membership Participation on these tours is a benefit for active members of JHT museum partners. During the registration process, you will be asked about your membership status with your affiliated museum. If you are not a current member, you will have a chance to activate your membership.
Participation Tour sizes are limited to 28 participants unless otherwise noted. Trips entail considerable walking including over uneven terrain. Participants need to be in good health, be able to keep up with the group, be able to experience group and cultural differences with grace. Please let us know if you have any physical conditions that may require special attention while on tour.
Cancellations All cancellations must be received by Gil Travel in writing. Cancellations received 120 days or more prior to departure: full refund less nonrefundable deposits, per person; 119–90 days prior to departure: 50% refund per person after nonrefundable deposits. 89–0 days before departure: no refund.
Trip Cancellation Insurance Gil Travel Travel strongly urges all participants to purchase travel insurance for coverage of losses necessitated by having to cancel due to illness or accident. For your convenience, we are providing a link to RoamRight, which many past participants have used. When purchasing insurance, please consider the plans carefully to familiarize yourself with what is covered. In this context, do take note that most insurance companies generally will waive exclusion for preexisting conditions only if your application is received by them within 14 days from the date of your program registration. If you have a preexisting medical condition and are interested in taking trip insurance, you should do so either with Roamright or through your own insurance agent within 14 days of registration.
Changes All rights are reserved by Gil Travel and Jewish Heritage Travel to make scholar substitutions and/or to modify the itinerary (including hotels) as needed. Every reasonable effort will be made to operate the program as planned; however, should unforeseen world events and conditions require the itinerary to be altered, Jewish Heritage Travel reserves the right to do so for the safety and best interest of the group. Any extra expenses incurred in this situation are the responsibility of the participant.
Disclaimer of Responsibility By registering for this program, participant specifically waives any and all claims of action against Gil Travel or the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Heritage Travel office and their respective staffs for damages, loss, injury, accident, or death incurred by any person in connection with this tour. Gil Travel, The Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Heritage Travel office and their respective staffs assume no responsibility or liability in connection with the service of any train, vessel, carriage, aircraft, or other conveyance that may be used wholly or in part in the performance of their duty to the passengers. Neither will Gil Travel, the Museum of Jewish Heritage or the Jewish Heritage Travel office or their staffs be responsible for any injury, death, loss, accident, delay, or irregularity through neglect or default of any company or person engaged in carrying out the purposes for which tickets, vouchers, or coupons are issued. No responsibility is accepted for losses or expenses due to sickness, viruses, weather, strikes, wars, and other causes. In the event it becomes necessary or advisable for any reason whatsoever to alter the itinerary or arrangements, including hotels or scholars, such alterations may be made without penalty. All rights reserved to require any participant to withdraw from the tour at his/her own expense when such an action is determined by the tour staff to be in the best interest of the participant’s health and safety and that of the group in general. Prices subject to change. Cost in effect at time of registration will be honored.
Are Kosher meals available?
While we do not offer Kosher food, we offer fish and/or vegetarian options at every meal included in the trip.
How many people will be on the trip?
On average about 24 people.
What is the age group?
55+
What is the makeup of the participants?
A good mix of singles and couples.
How fit do I need to be? How much walking is there?
You should be able to walk about two miles in a day, though not all at once. Please see the itinerary of the trip(s) you are interested in to get a sense of the schedule for each day. When there is free time, some choose to stay active, others to rest.
If you prefer more activity, many of the hotels we stay in have pools and fitness facilities, and some of our trips do offer the opportunity for more physical activity.
Are the trips accessible for people with canes, walkers, or wheelchairs?
People who use a cane to aid their walking have found our trips accessible. You still need to be able to walk about two miles in a day, though not all at once. Unfortunately, accessibility can be limited in the places we travel, making it too difficult for people in wheelchairs or walkers to participate in our trips.
Is the trip Shabbat Observant?
We normally have a Shabbat dinner together be it at a hotel or restaurant and sometimes at a synagogue. We do not have programming on Saturday other than perhaps a meeting with the scholar. In some destinations we offer walking tours on Saturday. You can refer to the itinerary of your chosen trip for specifics.
When does the program actually begin?
The Itinerary and Program Details section of the trip you are interested in will indicate when to plan to arrive and depart, as well as when the program begins and ends. Every trip includes a welcome session to get oriented and meet each other, the guides, and scholars and a farewell event to celebrate, reflect, and say good-bye to our fellow travelers.
Are airport transfers included?
Airport transfers are not included. Taxis, and often other transportation options, are available from all airports.
Are meals included?
The Itinerary of the trip you are interested in will indicate which meals are included on each day. For meals on your own, suggestions are available from the concierge at the hotels we are staying in. We encourage you to explore the diversity of local and international cuisines in the places we visit.
Are the trips only for Jewish people?
While the majority of our travelers are Jewish, our trips are for anyone interested in exploring the Jewish heritage of the destinations we take you to.
I’d like to explore my genealogy at one of the places you are going to. Is that possible?
Our trips are not designed for genealogical research. If you want to undertake genealogical work, it is necessary to do this on your own and would be best to plan for an extra few days before or after one of our trips.
How much free time will I have?
Please see the itinerary of the trip(s) you are interested in for information on when free time is scheduled for exploring on your own, resting in your room, engaging in conversation with new friends, etc.
Is there Wi-Fi everywhere?
While WiFi is available in most of the world, there are regions or locations where it is not as accessible. Most of the hotels we stay at offer free WiFi.
What Museum Memberships Qualify?
Museum of Jewish Heritage New York: $54
Holocaust Museum LA: $100
Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center – Nassau County: $54
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History: $54
*Membership # will need to be provided upon registration
Accommodation
*Star rating standards vary from country to country.
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