Shenzhen & Chaoshan

Upon arrival in Shenzhen, your private driver will meet you and transfer you to the hotel for check-in. The first day is designed to be gentle, allowing time to settle in and begin reading the city beyond its surface.
In the late afternoon, begin with a curated city walk along Shenzhen Bay or a coastal public space, observing how this young city organizes leisure, mobility, family time, and public life. Rather than approaching Shenzhen only as a technology and business hub, this opening chapter introduces it as a city of movement, migration, and layered identities.
Dinner is arranged at a refined Cantonese or modern Lingnan restaurant, setting the tone for a journey that connects urban change with deeper southern Chinese cultural roots.
Overnight: Shenzhen

Today focuses on Shenzhen’s coastal memory and the fish lantern tradition of Shatoujiao.
Begin in Yantian, entering the maritime side of Shenzhen through coastal landscapes and the Shatoujiao area. If access is approved, visit Zhongying Street, a unique border street historically shaped by the relationship between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Continue to the Shatoujiao Fish Lantern Museum, located near the Fish Lantern Dance Square inside the Zhongying Street area, to understand the history, forms, tools, and community memory behind this national intangible cultural heritage.
The afternoon can include a guided walk through Shatoujiao’s old coastal context, linking fishery life, migration, border memory, and local ritual traditions.
In the evening, arrange a fish lantern performance or private cultural appreciation session. As fish-shaped lanterns move through the night, the performance becomes more than a show: it is a living expression of coastal livelihood, community belief, and the imagination of the sea.
Important Note: Access to Zhongying Street and the museum must be confirmed in advance according to guest nationality and current permit policy.
Overnight: Shenzhen

Depart Shenzhen and travel to Chaozhou by high-speed rail or private vehicle, depending on the final arrangement.
After arrival, enter Chaozhou’s old city through Paifang Street, old lanes, historic shopfronts, and local snack culture. The focus is not simply to taste or photograph, but to understand how Chaozhou’s urban life preserves etiquette, family identity, local business culture, and refined everyday order.
Continue to Guangji Bridge and Hanjiang riverside, where architecture, water, trade, and regional memory come together. Later, experience a gongfu tea session, learning how small cups, repeated brewing, serving order, and conversation form one of Chaoshan’s most important social rituals.
Dinner introduces Chaozhou cuisine through representative dishes that emphasize clarity, seasonality, seafood, braising, and restrained elegance.
Overnight: Chaozhou

Begin the morning with a slower exploration of Chaozhou’s temples, ancestral spaces, or traditional craft context. Through architecture, ritual, and family memory, guests begin to see how Chaoshan society is organized through lineage, locality, and inherited responsibility.
Later, continue to Shantou, a coastal port city closely connected to overseas Chinese history, trade, and regional identity. Upon arrival, explore Shantou’s old port atmosphere, small streets, markets, or seaside public space, observing how the city’s openness to the sea has shaped its culture.
Dinner is arranged around Chaoshan family-style dining. The experience may include beef hotpot, marinated goose, seafood, or local teochew dishes, depending on season and restaurant availability. The emphasis is on how food functions as social order — bringing families, friends, business networks, and memory together at the table.
Overnight: Shantou

The final day focuses on the everyday foundation of Chaoshan culture: market, kitchen, tea, and family table.
Begin with a local market visit to observe how ingredients, freshness, bargaining, and daily purchasing habits shape Chaoshan food culture. This is where the region’s celebrated cuisine begins — not in luxury dining rooms, but in family kitchens, morning markets, and long-held knowledge of season and taste.
Depending on time, visit a local food workshop, tea space, or coastal cultural site before lunch. The journey closes with a final Chaoshan meal, bringing together the themes of the route: sea, family, ritual, migration, and hospitality.
Transfer to Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, Shantou railway station, or return to Shenzhen according to travel arrangements.