Product Description This is the Beijing guidebook other Beijing guidebooks wish they could be. We tell you what's happening right here, right now, all over Beijing, because ... we live here. So do our 40 specialist contributors. With this book, you'll learn which songs will melt hearts in a Beijing karaoke bar, who has the best deal on antique furniture, how to take your landlord to court, and what Mandarin language program is for you. Along with all this wisdom goes the wit that has become the trademark of the Insider's Guide to Beijing over the years. Fully updated for the countdown to the 2008 Olympics, crammed with listings of hundreds of shops, bars and restaurants, lavishly illustrated with more than 750 full color photos by the capital city's best photographers, the Insider's Guide to Beijing is indispensable for residents and tourists alike. This edition also comes packaged with an up-to-date, fully bilingual pullout map of Beijing and its Olympic venues, printed on waterproof, tear-resistant paper stock. Stop looking for the key to the city. You are holding it in your hand.
Fabulous resource!!! November 10, 2008 We took this with us for a 9 day trip to Beijing and it had more information, and more information that no one else publishes, than all the other guidebooks put together. The sassy essays scattered throughout are fun as well as informative, and the listings are amazingly complete and with the kind of details you want when you are figuring out how to choose from among similar sounding shops or restaurants or galleries. It is too involved to be your only guidebook, you'll want something less intense to give you more of an overview of Beijing, but it is perfect for drilling down into something that intrigues you.
Best Beijing Book for Exploring September 10, 2008 For someone like me who has spent a few days at a time in Beijing but visit there two or three times a year this is a great find. Lots more detail than the average travel guide with a few key features... great map detail; the inclusion of Chinese characters for site names and locations -- so you can just pop into a cab, show it to the driver, and get there; and interesting alternatives to the usual and customary tourist sites -- although they are also exhaustively covered. I'm particularly taken with the article on galleries showing contemporary art.
The book includes a series of articles that describe the experience of being at many of the destinations. I found these articles to be engaging and, for the sites that I had visited, accurate and insightful. Updated in 2008 (and, apparently, annually), this is a "don't leave home without it" if you are in control of your own time in Beijing.
-- Bill Tysseling
Great for longer term visitors, not so much for casual travelers September 4, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great book, with tons of "insider" information that you won't find in other travel guides. And the many "color pieces" that are scattered throughout the book are quite wonderful.
On the other hand, it is really designed for people who are spending signficant amounts of time in Beijing. There is lots of assumed knowledge that the casual traveler doesn't necessarily have.
For example, very little information is given about where all the listed stores/restaurants/sites/etc. are actually located beyond their address. The assumption is that you'll have a detailed map of the city, or some other method, for figuring out the general area of Beijing where this address is located.
Also, would be very useful if they included even an abbreviated phrase book.
Would definitely recommend as one of a number of resources for travelers, but would caution folks against using it as their sole guide book in Beijing.
SAVIOR in Beijing August 9, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How else are you going to tell the cabbie that you want to go to the Kerry Center Hotel? I speak Mandarin, but didn't know the Chinese names, not to mention the Chinese addresses to the restaurants, bars, and touristy things that I wanted to get to! Unless you have an iPhone (and can use the hoodhot Beijing taxi guide app), this is essential for navigating Beijing!
Essential Guidebook for All March 30, 2008 I've been living in Beijing for almost ten years. My wife and I live by this book, and our visitors from abroad use this as their comprehensive reference for their Beijing visits as well. Great book for expats and tourists alike!
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