Lonely Planet Beijing by Damian Harper and David Eimer For those planning a trip to Beijing this is a good book to consider for your pre-trip plans. It is small enough that it can easily be taken with you or carried around. This guide focuses not only on Beijing proper but also on attractions surrounding the city. A detailed color pullout map of the city as well as the Metro is available on the back cover. This book not only provides detailed travel tips but you are going to find out other useful details such as why not to talk politics at the dinner table and how to improve your haggling skills.
A very nice feature is the Chinese script used throughout including on the maps- this helps facilitate communication especially if you have to show it to a local. One of the highlights of going to Beijing is going outside of the city to visit the Great Wall. This book has an excellent section just focusing on trips to the “wall”. As with their other International guidebooks, Lonely Planet Beijing is well written and extremely detailed – which is exactly the kind of information you need when making a trip to this huge city of 17 million + people!
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