You will be perfectly Ok in casual clothes. First time I went to China I took far too many dressed up clothes, second time I was on a Yangzi Cruise so people tended to dress up a bit more in the evenings but the rest of the trip smart casual was perfectly acceptable. I did the Peking Duck dinner, Opera and Acrobatic show in Shanghai on my first trip. Some people were a bit more dressed up for the Opera but most people were casual.

Thanks for the prompt reply Judith. That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Pending a lottery win, we will only ever be able to afford to go to China once so we are packing quite a lot into our 3 weeks; to be honest (apart from our 5 days in HK when the pace will be much more relaxed) I really don't think I can be bothered to make too much of an effort in the evenings.....

Hong Kong- relaxed?? I am exhausted when I leave there!

Puddleduck2
My first China trip was exhausting, early mornings and long days, sometimes I just felt like falling in to bed and not even having an evening meal. Hong Kong was a bit more relaxing at the end of the trip purely because I didn't have a set itineray and didn't have to rush out of the hotel at the crack of dawn, though I would imagine if the major part of your holiday was HK you would want to see and do a lot more than I did. I was pretty cultured out by the time I got to HK and just spent my time doing things at a lot more laid back pace. I would like to return to HK though and see more of the place.
Hope you enjoy your trip

Hong Kong- relaxed?? I am exhausted when I leave there!

Fiona - I mean because we won't have a guide there and will be on our own there and can do our own thing so may not feel as much pressure. Of course I am planning on using the hotel spa and maybe a bit of shopping and a bit of sightseeing and eating out a lot ......... Oh dear, did I say relaxed? Well, you know what I mean!

Yes - I know what you mean. I used Bangkok as my relaxation part of the holiday at Easter. It was the first time I had used a pool in Bangkok but I found it great not running around at 100 miles an hour. Be sure to have a dim sum some lunch time. You definitely won't want to do too much after that!