The 2009 edition of the Insider’s Guide to Beijing is Out
This is the book that plugs you into Beijing like no other guidebook can. It’s fully updated every year, which means that the 2009 edition is about Beijing today – not the pre-Olympics capital, but the city outside your window right now. Every listing (hotels, restaurants, galleries, tourist sites, bars, shops, businesses and more) has been individually checked and updated.
Now in its fifth edition, the 640-page Insider’s Guide has become a Beijing institution. It’s written by people who live here, love it, and call it home. The Guide’s coverage of nightlife, music, arts and culture is outstanding, and you also get everything you need to know about the bread-and-butter stuff like housing, health, transport, work and education. (For those of you who like lists, here are the 14 chapter themes for the Guide: Housing & Hotels, Food, Kids, Art & Culture, Sightseeing, Nightlife, Shopping, Sports and Fitness, Health and Beauty, Transportation, Excursions, Business & Work, Adult Education and Useful Information.)
But the Guide is way more than just a mine of information. It has great sidebar articles featuring some of Beijing’s best journalists and freelance writers. They give the book the depth, insight and humor that made it an instant hit from its very first edition in 2004. For 2009, there are well over 60 new articles, covering everything from the best Beijing fiction to the guy in Beihai park who’ll teach you to walk like an animal. (He says it’s good for your health).
The Guide features over 330 color photos and illustrations, and its nine detailed color maps have been updated and enhanced with location points for over 1500 venues and places of interest.
The Insider’s Guide to Beijing retails for RMB 100, and you can pick up a copy at major bookstores like the Foreign Languages bookstore or the Bookworm. It’s also on sale at Jenny Lou and April Gourmet, or you can get it delivered to your home: Find out how at www.immersionguides.com. And if you’re reading this outside China, go to Amazon.com.
