Immersion Guides is proud to announce the launch of the Insider’s Guide to Beijing 2010, the new edition of the book hailed as “one of the best, new, imaginative and informative guidebooks in a long time” (South China Morning Post) and a “Beijing Bible” (Beijing Today). The new edition will be unveiled at a launch party at The Bookworm this Thursday (December 3) at 7.30pm. Come along and celebrate with the contributors and editors of your definitive guide to living in China’s capital.

Beijing Eats author Eileen Wen Mooney blogs about two traditional nai lao (or "yogurt," for lack of a better term) in the capital. The second spot is the well-known Wen Yu Nai Lao Dian in Nanluoguxiang, which didn't exactly do it for me when I visited with my family a few week's back. Eileen offers some interesting historical background about the shop and explains why it's done so well.

Thanks to everyone who turned out for last night's Ich Bin Ein Beijinger book launch event at The Bookworm, where tbj columnist Kaiser Kuo regaled the 100-plus audience with anecdotes and readings from his new book, published by Immersion Guides, as well as an autograph session. Click here to view the gallery pics, and order your copy here.

In Old Beijing, this was the hub of commerce, entertainment and vice. Qianmen is named for the gate separating the inner “Manchu” city and outer “Han” city – Han residents were kicked out of the former by the Qing in 1648.

Some of China’s oldest extant businesses are here, including Tongrentang (5), a traditional pharmacy opened in 1669, and Qianxiangyi Silk Store (1), from 1840. The neighborhood’s commercial bent is also mirrored in street names like Zhubaoshi Jie (“Jewelry Market Street”) and Liangshidian Jie (“Grain Shop Street”).

Beijing Eats author Eileen Wen Mooney has a useful post about laozihao ("time honored brands") restaurants around town:

"Laozihao   (老字号): 

The term laozihao refers to classic brands that have existed for many decades, in some cases for centuries, and which were run by families who handed the businesses down from generation to generation. These time honored brands were turned into a mixture of private and state enterprises in 1956 after the Communists came  into power. Quality fell and these establishments lost their reputations that had been built up over time. With China’s reform and opening up, some of the descendents of the original families, have sought to reclaim control of their family establishments and to regain their former glory, but it’s been an uphill battle."

Beijing Eats author Eileen Wen Mooney has started her own blog, eileeneats - much like the book, she writes about Chinese cuisine beyond your everyday jia chang cai - everything from Guilin rice noodles to the delights of duck soup and recipes for meicai kourou (steamed pork belly with meigan cai).

Check it out here.

The most surreal experience was the subway ride afterwards. I squeezed through the doors, pushed through a crowd of people, and there it was, now in an entirely new light. As I gripped its shiny surface, I realized a profound truth: I will never look at a pole the same way again.

 My arms and legs ached. My shoulder was bruised. My shirt was soaked through with sweat. It had indeed been a workout.

Hours before, I’d entered a room on the 20th floor of an office building, thinking, like many others, that I’d take a crack at pole dancing. I hadn’t walked into a strip club – those are illegal here.

We’re insanely jealous of all the fun itinerant Insider's Guide editors Gabriel Monroe and Shelley Jiang appear to be having as they weave their way along the narrow roads of South West China. During the past few weeks, they've chowed down on dragonfly larvae in Yunnan's Yuanyang County and stocked up on provisions at one of the many local markets. They then wandered the ghostly streets of Huangyao in Guangxi. Last we heard, they were swerving to avoid a brood of waddling ducklings whilst village-crawling their way across the border into Guizhou in a lipstick-red Thousand-Mile Horse that they picked up in Guilin.

Follow their adventures here: Insiders Out - Two Beijingers on a southern tour

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the tastiest part of the chicken is the wing. It is likewise self-evident that Beijing’s most popular wings are based on Chinese recipes, not ones from Buffalo or Kentucky – if you plan to eat in one of these joints, go early or make a reservation because they draw hungry crowds. A few other facts: nothing goes better with barbequed wings than mashed potatoes; wings should be ordered in even numbers; and “BT” (biantai  变态) or “perversion,” means a chicken wing has been loaded with a perverse amount of spicy peppers. Diner beware.