Depends a lot on the time of year you are going for what to wear. My first trip to China was almost 17yrs ago and in April. The weather was cold in Beijing a bit warmer in Xian but you still needed to wear a jacket. I did a Beijing and Yangtze cruise a few years ago in July and it was sweltering and shorts or 3/4 length slacks and Tshirts (and lots of them because of the humidity) were all I needed apart from a few smart casual clothes for the evening. Didn't need a jacket at all.
The tour that included Beijing and Xian was very strenuous with not a lot of spare time but we did see pretty much all of the attractions, we had the odd couple of hours in Beijing when we wandered round and in Xian looking at the warriors for a couple of hours we were on our own. On the Yangtze there was a lot of time for just sitting and watching the world go by.
If you have tours that include all meals then your time will be more taken up with the tours, if meals are not included you will have more time on your own.
Didn't need to have any jabs as I keep my Tetanus, Polio and Diptheria up to date. I was told I didn't need anything else though I believe doctors are recommending protection against hepatitis now. If you are going in the summer months take a good sun protection with you plus any normal medications you may need.
China has changed tremendously over the last few years and is becoming very modern with lots of western influences and Beijing is beginning to feel like any other large city though it still has loads of interesting attractions.
If you have any other questions I will try and help

Hi Moss, we visited China last September. Here is a link to my trip report to whet your appetite - http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=85325

If you can do so, I would strongly recommend against an organised tour group. They are fast paced and leave you little room to breathe. (We went to shows and at both there were tour groups who had clearly been out all day, were tired and some even fell asleep during it).

We arranged our tailor made holiday through China Holidays in London - http://www.chinaholidays.co.uk/ and had a guide and driver in each city (except HK) who met us at the airport. This, in my opinion, was the perfect way to see things. It was a really personal service, we learned so much from our guides and saw stuff that you'd miss in a group. We were able to go at our own pace, we had down time when we wanted and were able to see each 'sight' for as long as we wanted.

Not sure if read about them but in Beijing it will be necessary for your guide to take you to a government shop but legally they are only supposed to take each group to one during their visit (regardlesss of how many days they are with you) so don't let them try to overwhelm you. Our guide was a sneaky about this in Beijing and tricked us into going to one under the pretence of lunch

Get to the Terracotta Army as early as you can to avoid the big groups; they usually stop somewhere on route (think it's hot springs or something) so they don't arrive until mid morning. We got there about 9.30am and it wasn't too busy.

If you go to the Great Wall at the Badaling section, at the main entrance take the path to the left, it's steeper and so less tourists go that way and so is less crowded (we got pictures of the wall with no-one else on it by doing this)

It was a great holiday and the only low was the various internal flights - it's a huge country and flying is really the best way to get around. The flights themselves were fine but at the end of the holiday I was pleased to think I was on my last flight!!

Vaccinations - make an appointment with the nurse at your local surgery and he/she check your records to see which immunisations are up to date and then tell you if you need anything additional. Here's a link with more info - http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/asia/china.shtml
Most of ours where up to date anyway and the additional ones we needed were free.

Medication - we just took the usual travelling first aid kit with paracetamol, immodium etc. You'll also need sun cream depending on the time of year.

Hope that helps, shout if you have more questions.

Hello Moss
Although I said the tour of China was strenuous at no time was I too tired to enjoy an evening show and I did feel that I saw everything I wanted and had enough time to explore and learn in great detail about the places I visited. We had a superb guide who became a friend to most of us in the group. But I believe the tour you are planning to take will be much less hectic as you are only planning to visit three destinations and on the cruise it will be much more leisurely and we did get free time in Beijing to explore or relax on our own.. I don't know if you are travelling alone or with a companion but I usually travel solo either arranging everything myself or sometimes going with a tour group. But on my first trip to China I felt happier travelling with a group knowing that I would always have someone to join for meals or to go exploring with as it can be quite daunting travelling alone in a country where tourism hadn't really taken hold and the language is so difficult and in fact I met another solo traveller on this tour with whom I have remained friends and have travelled with on occasion since.

Hi,we did a tour in 04 with T Cook,the tour was very well done and done at an easy pace,one traveller was in her 70's. The guide was excelent, the Yangzi was a dissapointment although my wife had some on board medical attention from the doctor (nothing to do with the tour)which was handy,the LI Rriver is far better picuresque coutryside,be prepared to barter and get some fantastic deals,keep walking away untill you get a good price you will be amazed what you can get.A phrase that lets the pests know you don't want anything is boo-yow im not sure what it means but it works.Oh dont take un opened drinks on internal flights ,the made me open a can of coke don't ask me why also took an opened whisky bottle off another?We enjoyed it all, if were braver and done it independantly we would have probably seen some bits we missed.Hope this is is of some help , have a great time whatever we did.