This was a 27 day (25 night) tour visiting the following places:
Shanghai 3n, Suzhou 1n, Hangzhou 2n, Guilin 2n, Yangshuo 2n, Kunming 2n, Chongqing 1n, Chengdu 3n, Xian 2n, overnight train to Beijing 1n, Chengde 2n, Beijing 4n.
The itinerary has changed from the above for 2009.

I've mentioned the hotels we stayed in and I'll be doing a review for each of them.

Shanghai (Nanpu Summit Hotel)
The Museum was stunning with sections on bronze, sculpture, calligraphy, ceramics, painting and seals (chops). We had a cruise on the Huangpu River, visited Xi Tian Di in the French quarter (pedestrian mall with lots of alleyways, individual shops and café/bars with outside seating), YuYuang Garden (lovely ponds & courtyards and the 9 Zigzag bridge with Huxingting Teahouse in the middle). Jade Buddha Temple (fab Koi pond and bonsai). Nanjing Road for shopping. We'd have like to have gone up the World Financial Center Observatory but it was incredibly smoggy. In fact, Shanghai seemed to be one big building site, probably because they are hosting Expo 2010.

Suzhou (SuYuan Hotel) - (2 hour drive).
Water town with canals. Visited Master of the Nets Garden (very pretty & compact), House of Humble Administrator (10-12 acres, super bonsai), cruise on the Grand Canal.

Wuzhen - (1.5 hour drive).
We visited this on way to Hangzhou. Very picturesque water town with old building s and canals. Small museums with beds. clothes and how they make blue dye clothes (like batik).

Hangzhou (Best Western Meiyuan Hotel) - (1.5 hour drive).
Visited Tea Plantation producing Dragon-well green tea (waste of time imho, just an opportunity to try to sell stuff), cruise on West Lake and some free time around Cultural Street (read ‘lots of tourist goods') but we opted for a climb of the pagoda (Leifeng Xizhao) and a walk around the beautiful lake area.

Guilin (Guilin Bravo Hotel) - (2 hour flight).
Visited Elephant Trunk Hill, it was very busy and imho a bit ‘contrived'. We saw a few captive cormorants. Climbed Fubo Hill for good views albeit a bit misty. In the evening we strolled down a pedestrianised street with food being cooked outside and locals eating out. Visited Prince Jingjiang's ‘mini Forbidden City (14th century) then climbed Solitary Peak (640 feet high). Free time - we visited Sun and Moon pagodas and walked around part of the lake.

Yangshuo (Sovereign Hotel) - 4.5 hour cruise along the Li River from Guilin.
Stunning scenery with the limestone cliffs, water buffalo, captive cormorants. A bit strange as all the flat bottomed boats go down the river in a line. Couple of hours free time before dinner and Sanjie Liu Son et Lumiere show. This was one of the highlights, the karsts and the river were illuminated by amazing lighting, boats sailed the river and the cast must have been in the thousands (apparently the guy who choreographed the Olympics did this show too). We walked along the Yulong River, seeing local people at work and lots of bamboo rafts along the river. The Silver Cave (with stalagmites and stalactites) is vast and stunning, again with superb lighting effects.
We thought that Yangshuo was lovely, the limestone hills are actually part of the town.
Drove back to Guilin (2 hours) mid morning for flight to Kunming.

Kunming (New Era Hotel) - (1.5 hour flight).
Visited the Stone Forest (80km drive), this is 200 million years old and is lovely - unlike anything we've ever seen before. There are people performing local dancing in certain areas of the park. Walking round Kunming in the morning we saw blind masseurs, older people doing Tai Chi, walked down a local market selling all kinds of dried mushrooms and other stuff we couldn't identify! We climbed the West Hills to the DragonGate, quite strenuous but with fabulous views and some pretty good rock carvings. As we were on a later flight to Chongqing than originally planned we went to Boyitang National Art Museum. This was a strange place with ethnic minority clothing, paintings and ceramics (apparently Kunming is home to 52 of the 54 ethnic minority peoples of China). Believe it or not, they were actually selling some of the stuff on display. We were offered a very delicate porcelain vase decorated with peaches (for longevity) for 720 RMB (less than £65) and were told it was 120 years old from the Qing dynasty. We thought OK, you could pay that for a mass produced vase from John Lewis so we bought it. This transaction was carried out in the company of both our local & national guide so we thought it was safe.

Chongqing (Holiday Inn) - 1 hour 10 mins flight.
This was just really a staging post for the drive to Chengdu via the Dazu caves at Baoding. Dazu was a 2.5 hour drive, this site is stunning, with many buddhas and other figures carved into the rocks dating from before 1200AD. It was quite noisy with many tour guides using megaphones or amplifiers.

Chengdu (Tianfu Sunshine Hotel) - 4 hour drive from Dazu.
Visited Giant Buddha (it is!) at Leshan. This is a 2.5 hour drive each way and some members of the tour thought it was a long way for what it was but it really is impressive at 71 metres tall, carved out of the cliff. Only do the climb down and up if you're not afraid of heights. We viewed it from the river where you can really appreciate the size of it. Following day, visited the Panda Breeding Research Base a few miles outside Chengdu, definitely a highlight, we saw lots of adolescents (around 2 years old), adults as well as the babies in the maternity ward. Ahhhh! There are also Lesser red pandas housed here. Visited Sanxindui Museum housing discoveries found in 1929 dating back 3000 to 5000 years old - looks nothing like Chinese at all, very strange.
Chengdu has a lovely musical illuminated fountain in the city centre, worth seeing.

Xian (Tianyu Gloria Plaza Hotel) - 1 hour 15 mins flight.
Visited Hanyangling Museum, housing the Lesser Terracotta Army which was only discovered 15 years ago, smaller than the more famous ones, but still a good museum. Free time spent walking to the city wall, we wanted to visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda but the weather was murky and visibility poor. Fab visit to the Terracotta Army - pictures in books and on the internet just can't do this justice. Pit 1 is HUGE, housing lots of warriors and horses. It was very busy. There's a new museum with 2 reconstructed bronze chariots. There are some warriors in glass cases (standing archer, kneeling archer, general, warrior with horse) and some still have vestiges of paint remaining.
Visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, worth climbing for views over the city, walked on the City Wall, visited the Great Mosque which sadly seems to be allowed to fall into disrepair but is picturesque nonetheless. Walked through the bazaar (selling tourist stuff) and down a local market street selling lots of food. Viewed Drum & Bell towers. Also attended a music & dance show as part of one of the evening meals.

Beijing/Chengde - overnight train to Beijing, 11 hour journey.
We thought this was a great experience, very luxurious (compared to Indian sleeper trains), 4 berth cabins with clean linen, lcd tvs and headphones, The cabins are small (to be expected) and if your luggage can't fit under the bottom bunks (ours did), it's a bit of a squeeze to get 4 adults in. There are washrooms and loos at each end of the carriage, these were clean.

Chengde (Yunshan Hotel) - 4 hour drive.
After breakfast in Beijing, we drove to Chengde (summer retreat for the Qing dynasty). Nice scenery, caught a glimpse of the Great Wall. It was freezing here, weather was clear and sunny with really fresh air. We visited the Summer Resort which was very picturesque with the lake, saw the Emporor's Buildings museum. Ventured out at night, it was -4C. Apparently the river, which is pretty wide, freezes over in winter.
Visited Tibetan Puning Temple (good) and Potala Temple (aka Putuozongchengmiao) which was stunning, lots of steps and great views. Then took the chair lift to Hammer Peak, great experience if a little chilly. Steps then led higher up to the base of the ‘thumb'. Very windy and not for the faint-hearted but wonderful views.
The city was lit up like Blackpool Illuminations, the Chinese really love their neon changing lights on buildings and bridges.
Really enjoyed our stay in Chengde.

Beijing via Great Wall (Dong Fang Hotel) - 1.5 hour drive to the Jingshanling (or Jinshanling) section of the Great Wall.
This is one of the lesser used sections (Badaling, Mutianyu and Simatai being closer to Beijing) and joins up with the Simatai section. Our national guide said they visit this part as it's quieter and has more watchtowers. It WAS quiet, lovely to be able to see stretches of the Wall without any people on. I just wanted to carry on walking all day. The day we were there was sunny and clear, the views of the Wall stretching over mountains seemingly in all directions (because of the way it flows over the mountain peaks) that changes perspective with every few steps - something I'll remember forever.
Further 2.5 hour drive to Beijing, free time before dinner so walked to Tiananmen Square (25 mins to southern end) but found it blocked off because of the world summit being held there. As part of the tour, we revisited T Sq (now open), when you're stood in it you can appreciate how vast it is. Massive queues of Chinese people to visit Mao's Mausoleum. Visited the Forbidden City, very impressive but busy and we felt a bit rushed. Visited Temple of Heaven (circular) which was a fab building with 3 marble terraces (for the Emperor), a smaller one for the Empress with echo walls and a 3rd one with just the marble terraces.
Spent some free time in HongQiao Market, it was manic on the shoe/bag floor. I've been subjected to hassle from sellers in lots of places (Bali, Thailand, Goa, Tunisia, Egypt to name a few) but never had 2 girls pulling my arms in opposite directions. You need to take a ‘chill pill' before you venture in there.
Ate at an ethnic minority restaurant with an unexpected dance show.
1.5 hour drive North to the Ming Tombs (quite disappointing), the Sacred Way with massive stone statues of warriors, elephants, camels etc was a very nice walk though.
On the way back to Beijing, we stopped (not part of the tour) at the Olympic Stadium which was impressive.
Attended a great acrobatic show lasting 1 hour.
Visited the Summer Palace (1 hour drive), this was lovely with bronze statues of phoenix, dragons, deer & crane. There is a 2 storey marble boat and Kunming Lake is big. Also the Long Corridor, a covered walkway stretching 728 metres with lots of paintings all different.
A couple of hours free time on our last evening.

General points:
This is NOT a holiday, but for us it was the best experience we've ever had and has whetted our appetite for similar trips.

We thought this tour was good value for money when we booked it (£2200 pp), but as we experienced it, for what was actually included it was excellent value.
The following were included:
Breakfast (western style in hotels), lunch and dinner as well as a drink at lunchtime & dinner (beer, cola or water - but not unlimited).
All entrance fees to sights mentioned in the itinerary.
4 cruises
3 shows
4 internal flights and 1 overnight train journey, luckily, we experienced no delays at all.
All coach travel and transfers and a local guide at each city.

A number of optional tours were offered, including mask-changing, opera, dance, cultural and Shaolin monks. Prices for these ranged from 100RMB (£8.75 approx) to 180RMB.
We did sometimes feel that travel arrangements (i.e. return to the hotel) for the tour members who weren't going on these optional tours were changed to accommodate the people who were.

The tour was well organised, bus drivers and local tour guides were waiting for us as we arrived in each place.
Our national guide (who became our local guide at our final stop in Beijing) was excellent, ensuring everything went smoothly and there were no issue with hotel rooms etc. She ensured that any food that contained something that one member of the party had an allergy to was pointed out.
4 weeks is a long time to be away, in the almost constant company of strangers. There were 13 people on our tour covering a wide range of ages. We either ate all together or on 2 tables and every time there was a general mix, rather than the same people sticking together (which was nice).

The hotels were of a reasonable standard, better than we'd expected.

Generally, we found the guides to be good, some were OK, one was really excellent. I guess it's hard for them to strike a balance of how much information to impart. Some members of the tour thought it was ‘information overload' but you can just walk away and look at things if you don't want to listen.
One complaint we did have about the local guides was that most of them did not seem to know the particular area around the hotel very well, if at all. When you turn up in a strange city in the evening and all you want to do is find somewhere to buy a couple of beers or soft drinks before crashing out for the night and the local guide can't tell you where the nearest supermarket or small shop is but you find a supermarket within a few hundred yards, it struck us as poor preparation.
On our 2nd night in Shanghai (our hotel was some way out of the city centre) we wanted a bit of life. The local guide told us unequivocally that there were "no bars, no subway" in the area. In fact, after checking a map and asking the hotel receptionist for advice, we found a subway station less than a 10 minute walk away. The following morning, the guide said she "didn't know that there was a Metro Line 4".
Maybe we're being a little unfair if providing that type of information is not within the remit of the local guides or CTS use a wide variety of hotels, but I'm writing to CTS to make this point.

This tour is not for the faint-hearted.
There are early starts and long days of sightseeing (including a lot of walking and climbing steps). Sometimes sightseeing starts straight after arriving at a new destination rather than allowing check-in at the hotel (this is necessary to allow everything to be fitted in) and sometimes you have to go straight to dinner from sightseeing without going back to the hotel to change.
There is substantial travelling (tiring in itself) and not much free time.
You'll have Chinese food for lunch and dinner with no Western option. You'll be served some food that you've never heard of and can't even recognise - do try to be be adventurous. It was amusing to see all of us look down at a plate that's been set on the ‘Lazy Susan' and say simultaneously ‘What's that?'
Chinese beds are extremely hard, even for us who are used to orthopaedic mattresses, but I enjoyed the best sleep I've had for quite some time. One option is to ask for an extra quilt and sleep on top of that.
Some of the toilets, especially in public areas and service stations, can be challenging to the stomach. Many are of the ‘elephant foot' style and can be awkward for those people who find it difficult to squat. Always carry toilet paper and antibacterial no-water hand cleanser.

We found the Chinese people to be lovely, open and friendly. There is some hassle from street sellers in major tourist areas and in malls (especially Hongqiao in Bejing) but we personally didn't find it excessive or a ‘pain', although some members of the tour found it tiresome.

We experienced widely varying temperatures so you need to take that into account when choosing when to go. T shirts, shorts & sandals in Shanghai but jeans, thick jumpers, scarves, gloves and padded jackets in Chengde.
It's a very relaxed tour so you don't need dressy clothes.

Possible negatives - factory tours. We visited a pearl shop, silk factory, brocade factory, tea plantation, jade factory, cloisonné factory, paper cutting shop. Some of the processes are very interesting (Health & Safety? What's that? LOL), if you don't show excessive interest when you get to the shop part, you don't feel pressured.

The plus side is you'll see sights and cities that are somewhat off the beaten track and if you go with the right attitude, you'll have a great time.
We are so pleased that we decided to go for this extended tour rather than just doing Shanghai, Beijing & Xian.
If you can afford the time and money, I'd recommend it.
We'll definitely look at other tours offered by CTS when we do our next 'big' holiday.

If anyone is interested in more details, either about the tour or places visited, I'll do my best to answer any questions.