With the Bookworm's Literary Festival in full swing, we give the the lowdown on geek chic.

Junot Diaz, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is coming to town as part of The Bookworm International Literary Festival. Ahead of his visit, we had the chance to ask him about the challenge of teaching at M.I.T., his thoughts on the Haiti earthquake, and why people who read can be considered a special tribe.

Admit it. There’s been at least one moment, marveling at the sun rising over the Forbidden City or the moon rising out of a pair of split pants, that you’ve paused and thought, “Wow, I should write a book about this magical place called China.”

And maybe you should. With the Bookworm International Literary Festival opening tomorrow night, we sought some advice and encouragement from two of the festival guests: prodigious novelist/creative writing professor Jill Dawson and publisher/writer Graham Earnshaw.

New Yorkers can get sentimental about bagels. I’ve never seen anyone else hurl an imposturous bread item across a room while yelling “This is not a bagel.” Kudos to Moss for what I would call the real deal, with their glorious tough exterior shielding a soft, chewy heart.

Before I met Ray Plummer, who manages the Beijing International Ice Hockey League, he sent me a one-line e-mail in response to coming to one of their games: “Drink lots of beer when watching.”

Thanks to the fashion bible that is the Calgary Sun, we found out that animal prints are “in” this season. Not just in the greater Alberta area, or even Canada at large (although both are fashion hothouses, that’s for sure). Beijing, too, is in on the craze with prints that are wilder than a box set of Animals Say The Funniest Things (which is also popular in Canada).

Hair. It’s more than a controversial musical. It’s a way of life. How else do you explain the plethora of hairdressers in Beijing? If they aren’t cutting hair, then what could they possibly be doing? No matter. What’s clear is that a bit of mousse and expert tousling can swing you over the fine line between fool and cool.

Beijing isn't all "blue sky days." Sometimes it's pretty, erm, foggy here. That's when you need to cold rock a mask. Just don't mention swine flu.

Here’s the fifth installment of our Beijing 2010 preview: what’s opening, who’s coming, when it’s happening, where to play and what lies ahead.

Here’s the fourth installment of our Beijing 2010 preview: what’s opening, who’s coming, when it’s happening, where to play and what lies ahead.