Customer Reviews

The Insider's Guide to Beijing 2004-05

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're just hitting Beijing for three-four days, stick with Frommer's, Lonely Planet et al. But if you're planning a longer trip, and most especially if you're a truly curious traveler interested in not only the what but also the WHY of a historical but living and fast-transforming city, the Insider's Guide to Beijing will be your trusted companion. It's a great guidebook while you're in the city but also makes fascinating pre- and post-trip reading, with great nuggets of info on how the taxi cab license plate system works, interviews with local people like chefs at famous restaurants, and humourous but also useful info on topics like "breathing in Beijing" and how to get from place to place using the fastest mode of transportation.
The fact that the Insider's Guide is really written by insiders - long-time expat residents who clearly know and love the city but also understand all its quirks, means you also get the benefit of informed reviews of everything from bars to shopping areas that go far beyond a thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating to really give you a sense of whether YOU as an individual would enjoy it. Since the writers are long-timers, you get a sense throughout the book of the fast changes Beijing is going through as well.
Other than the fact that it could use a few more maps (easily available at your hotel or a shop, however) it's a terrific, jam-packed, informative and easy to use guide to one of the world's great cities.

Wonderful guide book especially made for the expatriate in mind. I lived in Beijing and found this guide book very helpful. Actually calling it a 'guide book' kind of cheapens it -- this is the type of book needed in more cities around the world for those that live in a particular place and for those that wish to experience life 'like a local'

I would have liked more maps, yet thinking about the quick growth and change of the city, maps change just as much as the city does, so it is better to pick one up elsewhere.

This is a good book at a "no joke" price, although (of course) it is cheaper in Beijing. Yet don't take a chance and wait for Beijing - this is a must buy and a big regret if you don't get it.

I have lived in Beijing on and off for four years now, and this is by far the best, most updated, most useful guide for people who want to get beyond the big tourist attractions. These people KNOW Beijing -- from art/music/dance/theater, to what(and who)'s hot what's not, to family life and stuff for the kiddies.... This is the most up to date guide you can find on the shelves, and in a city that changes by the minute, you can't depend on Lonely Planet or other guides that come out once every couple of years! Whether you are a hipster or a stay-at-home mom, THIS guide has soemthing for you!

Great book, I agree with everyone else's raves. The book could be improved by providing MAPS! I ripped out my lonely planet beijing maps and paper clipping them to the back cover. This book was actually a good read, like when I was bored on the subway I'd find myself absorbed in random articles about starting a business in Beijing or reading reviews on the best kids' international schools. Unlike lonely planet beijing, which is geared almost solely towards sightseeing and eating, insiders guide has practical information and doesn't make everything about beijing seem perfect - the guide is realistic.

The editorial content is excellent and very thorough, especially restaurants, which receive shallow treatment in other guides. I preordered the 2007 edition, and used it within 2 weeks of receiving it from Amazon. However, I found many stores/restaraunts/etc not as listed, because they had moved or gone out of business. Such is the reality of Beijing -- it is changing so frantically, that no guide can be reliable, even when newly published. So the frustration is there is wonderful information to use to plan a visit, but your plans will be thrawted by construction upheaval and property speculation.

I appreciate generally complete Chinese language addresses with places listed. I would recommend that information be organized more around neighborhoods, since Beijing is so spread out that finding something interesting may not necessarily be easy to get to. Also, I would concur that the maps could be improved. Finally, while this guide is is useful to the visitor, it is oriented to the expat living in Beijing. The proof is the heavy weight of the guide -- quite uncomfortable to carry around.

My wife grew up in Beijing, but even she did not know many of the places and services listed in this guide. It is surprising how much of Beijing life this book covers and the reviews are truly from insiders. The book is really accessible because of it's excellent indexing and layout. It is the best Beijing book or city guide that I have seen, bar none.

I hefted this voluminous tome all the way to Beijing and back, and it was worth every pound! In addition to being a facinating read, we used it for tracking down restaurants and out of the way sights, but mostly, MOSTLY for shopping! This book saved us a ton of money and time; the article on bargaining really brought home some great techniques on buying everything we needed/wanted. It made this traveler feel like a real Beijinger! (PS..if you can read some Chinese, buy the current Beijing Busroute atlas at any bookstore: you'll save a ton of money getting round and it also pinpoints exactly the locations of sights/stores/better known restaurants/Post Offices/banks/hotels and many of the things mentioned in the Insider's Beijing book and how to get there on public transport--it was the best 15 yuan/2$ I spent!)

If you are traveling around China, get yourself a Lonely Planet China guide.

If you are coming to Beijing for more than two weeks you need this book.

But don't move to Beijing without it.

It's like Beijing's Yellow Pages, but with reviews + it includes tons of separate survival and cultural advice on every possible topic, written by people who have learned their lessons of living in Beijing the hard way -- so you don't have to.

Written in casual and humorous style, mostly by and for foreigners, I bet most local Chinese could also learn a thing or two about how Beijing works from this book.

The "Insider's Guide to Bejing" is a needed book, going to Bejing for the first time. Of course if you have friends there, that is one thing. But soon you will wish to see the city and surroundings. The book gives many ideas and how to approach certain places. There are do's and don't in every society and this book show's easy places to see and places with more difficulty, how to approach them... Or makes you think..?? "Should I approach this" :-) Yes, it's all fun to learn from these people and see a great culture.

I used this book while in Beijing for two months and found the information very useful. Written by people who live, work and play in Beijing it includes a number of interesting asides on customs and culture as well as the usual information on places to eat, stay, shop, party etc.
My only complaint is that it's way long on shopping (not my favorite activety) and a little short on cultural material, ie, museums, temples, historical sites, etc. As a consequence I found myself running out of places to visit after a couple of weeks, but for the short stay this wouldn't be a problem. All in all a better reference book for Beijing than any others I've seen.