Immersion Guides

“Kaiser Kuo could make anyone want to be a Beijinger. The humor in his columns — part acid, part warm — is a perfect match for the city. And he's serious, too, without ever being heavy. “Ich Bin” improved my own life in Beijing, and it's also a great way to understand the city from afar.”

— James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic and author of Postcards From Tomorrow Square: Reports from China

“Kaiser Kuo is a Beijing rat, a denizen of the dark corners, sooty hutongs, and dusty courtyards of China's capital. Few foreigners have his feel for the place. Trail along with him as he scampers through the city's heart, ferretting out its secrets, digging out its riddles. Kuo is the perfect guide to this amazing new world.”

— John Pomfret, former Washington Post Beijing bureau chief and author of
Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China

In this essay collection, Kaiser Kuo draws on the unique experiences and insight gained in the course of 13-plus years' residence in Beijing — as a rock star, journalist, multinational executive and doting dad — to create a poignant, humorous and delightfully engaging portrait of contemporary Beijing and its residents.

Available in stores around Beijing or by delivery to your home, office, or hotel.
To order a copy, call (86) 010 5820 7101 or e-mail distribution@immersionguides.com

The ultimate English language guide to Beijing’s Chinese restaurants is finally here! Beijing Eats – A Food-Lover's Companion to China's Culinary Capital is your guide to 140 of Beijing’s best Chinese restaurants, covering 31 regional and historic cuisines.

Beijing Eats is written by Eileen Wen Mooney, a long-time Beijing resident and food writer. She has a deep love of Chinese food, years of experience and a fierce determination to seek out authenticity in the preparation and serving of food. That means Beijing Eats takes you to places that few foreigners go to, and offers you a unique chance to dine like a Beijing local in the know.

Each Chinese regional cooking style has its own chapter, with cultural information and expert descriptions of classic regional dishes, plus Eileen’s picks of the best restaurants. The names of all dishes and ingredients are in Chinese and pinyin as well as English, and naturally, addresses are bilingual too.

With Beijing Eats, choosing and finding restaurants is a breeze. You can select the cuisine that interests you, then find the most convenient restaurant using the book’s nine color maps. Every one of the restaurants is clearly located with a numbered location point.

Beijing Eats is available for RMB 100 at various bookstores around town – see the order page for a complete list of the stores where you can find it. You can also contact our Distribution Manager Zoe Wang on 5820 7101 or e-mail her for more details on how to get a copy.

The 2009 edition of the Insider’s Guide to Beijing is now on sale.

Written by people who live here and love it, 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 Beijingers’ windows 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 620-page Insider’s Guide has become a Beijing institution. 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.

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 at various bookstores around town: see the order page for a complete list of the stores where you can find it. You can also contact our Distribution Manager Zoe Wang on 5820 7101 or e-mail her for more details on how to get hold of a copy.