I spent the first 10 days doing the whole Shanghai, Beijing, Hongkong travel as a chance to see all the sites I'm supposed to see in China.  It's like telling someone you spent the summer in Nice, France; they'll ask if you went to see the Eiffel Tower.  It's easier to go see the stuff people will know than get the deer in the headlights look when you say the city you were in isn't near the tourist area.

I wish I had had the chance, but I was too busy working, meeting people and seeing factories, so I feel deprived.
I would love to go see the country for a few weeks after production winds up in the summer.....maybe a south to north train trip.

I sure did.  It was a 5 weeks trip, and I went from HKG to Guangzhou by train, stayed there for one week, then to Beijing for a 10 day tour with all the principal attractions, back south by train with intermediate stops to see the clay soldiers and a few days in Shanghai, and again by train and later ferry to Hainan Island, for a week at the beach near Sanya.
I do think that first trip cemented my attraction to be in China.

No I didn't do much site seeing as I was working everyday for a year, just the basic Great wall summer palace type thing for my one year in Beijing.
After my contract was finished i travelled throughout most of china before settleing in GZ for another 4 years labor. Took another break and saw the north east then back to Shenzhen for what has become anopther 6 years of labor.

The first time I came to China, that was the only reason, to see the sights. The second time however, I came to work, so I haven't had the time. However, I plan on doing some traveling on the weekends after this winter break.

No, I came as a teenager so I was preoccupied by other things. Afterwards, I just forgot about it.

The first thing I did was go explore the mens room, there I found my first squat toilet. I decided it was only a two hour wait and a four hour flight to my hotel, so I'll wait. Lesson here is check other stalls, probably a western toilet in there. The first thing I noticed in China was the smell.
For my first 3 days I only slept 2 hours and got up and went for 5 hour walks to look around. I was in Guilin. I then did the Li river thing, stayed in Yankshou rented everything I needed. Among them a scooter and went looking for cobras for 3 days.
 I then booked a private tour to Beijing and Xian. I wish I had planned better since I landed in Beijing, I should have looked around. With the tour I had to fly to Beijing. Xian was no different than seeing the photos. Then I went back to Guilin because Beijing and Xian were cold.

When I first arrived in China, I went to work three days after, so I really didn't get a chance to. I've been here two years, and since that time, have travelled quite a bit (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Guilin, Yangshao, Shanghai, Huangzhou, Ningbo, Zhoushan, (island of) Daishan, Chongqing, and Mengshan).

At first, I explored Hunan province (Liu Yang, Xiangtan, ZhuZhou, Zhang Jia Jie, XiangXi, Jishou, and Feng Huang) on two or three day trips, and from there branched out to one or two week trips. Our most recent one was for 8 days last November to Harbin, then to YaBuLi, off to Yantai, Weihai, and finally, Qingdao before returning to Changsha.

I'm an amature photographer, so I love to take photos and video of the local scenery. When I finally return to my own country (when, I have no idea), I don't want to say I didn't get a chance to see the many things offered in this part of the world. China has some awesome natural and man-made sights, and I love to explore the various sub-cultures that live here.