Jiangnan + 5-Star Yangtze Cruise + Chongqing
11-Day Discount Tour (CITC11)

Departing on May 18, 2012

Enjoy all of these tour features for the low, all-inclusive price of only $1980:

• Visit these popular destinations: The Yangtze River’s Three Gorges and Chongqing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, and Shanghai
• Travel through the spectacular Three Gorges on a 5-star cruise ship
• Indulge in the comfort of deluxe 4-star hotels for the entire trip
• Avoid wasting your time with a frustrating, ultra-cheap shopping tour: A limited, reasonable number of well-chosen shopping stops

Open or download a PDF version of the CITC11 tour itinerary to find out more!
下載或打開 CITC11 的中文行程（PDF 版）

Please note: As a limited-departure discount tour, CITC11 will be conducted in Chinese, and the tour guide may not be fully proficient in English. This tour is recommended for Chinese speakers or people traveling with Chinese speakers.

Beijing + Jiangnan + Yellow Mountain
11-Day Discount Tour (CITS11)

Departing on June 15, 2012

Enjoy all of these tour features for the low, all-inclusive price of only $1899:

• Visit many of the favorite destinations of China travelers: Beijing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Yellow Mountain (Huangshan), and Shanghai
• Witness the grandeur of Yellow Mountain firsthand
• Indulge in the comfort of deluxe 4-star hotels for the entire trip
• Avoid wasting your time with a frustrating, ultra-cheap shopping tour: A limited, reasonable number of well-chosen shopping stops

Open or download a PDF version of the CITS11 tour itinerary to find out more!
下載或打開 CITS11 的中文行程（PDF 版）

Please note: As a limited-departure discount tour, CITS11 will be conducted in Chinese, and the tour guide may not be fully proficient in English. This tour is recommended for Chinese speakers or people traveling with Chinese speakers.

Image credits (top to bottom): Dave Lau, Tan Wei Liang Byorn, Gustavo Madico, Curt Smith, and J. Aaron Farr

More wallpaper images are available on our Free China Travel Desktop Wallpaper page.

Click on the wallpaper image to display a full-sized image, then right-click on it and choose an option
such as “Set As Desktop Background” or “Save As…” to save it on your computer.

Reflected Buildings on Hong Village’s Moon Pond

1024 × 768

1280 × 720 1280 × 800 1600 × 900 1600 × 1200

	Early Bird Discount (extended to the end of February): Customers who book a 2012 standard tour and pay by 2/29/12 will receive a $100 discount! (Tour must be booked 90 days or more before departure date.) Image credit: Unit66
	2012 Discounts: Seniors (age 60 and up) and Dragons (customers born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, etc.) will receive a $50 discount on standard tours booked in 2012!

Please note:

• “Standard tours” are our Mainland China tour packages, tour codes CIT001 through CIT012.
• China International Travel CA’s discount offers may not be combined and may only be used once per tour participant per tour.

In celebration of the lunar new year, I present some spectacular photos and a couple of video clips that will give you an idea of what the experience of celebrating Chinese New Year in China is like. We at CIT are looking forward to another successful year, and we’d like to wish all of our family, friends, and customers a prosperous Year of the Dragon. Thank you for your support!

Chinese New Year Fireworks Photo Gallery

Click on any photo below to open a full-sized version in a separate window.

Explosions amidst residential buildings… (photo by Jaye Zhou)	…now THAT’s what the Chinese term 熱鬧 (rènào; “lively”) means (photo by Aapo Haapanen)

Viewing from high-rise balconies is hazardous (photo by Harry Alverson)	Fireworks stores pop up during the New Year (photo by Marc van der Chijs)

Let’s hope they’re well-shielded from stray sparks (photo by Christopher)	“Fountains” light up streets and alleyways (photo by Fox Z.)

Mile-long strings of firecrackers scare away evil spirits… (photo by Ming-Yang Sue)	…and people, too, if they know what’s good for them. (photo by Ming-Yang Sue)

Firecracker aftermath (photo by Ming-Yang Sue)	There is an ironic beauty in all that potential destruction… (photo by Jakob Montrasio)

…especially in picturesque places, like Shanghai’s Huangpu River… (photo by Sebastien Poncet)	…and Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour (photo by N.C. Burton)

Hong Kong’s 2009 Chinese New Year fireworks (photo by N.C. Burton)	China during the Lunar New Year: a country on fire (photo by Jinjian Liang)

Check out these video clips to get an even clearer idea of just how crazy it can get (you might want to turn down the volume first):

This month’s Random Discovery Photo is a little different from my usual choices: a striking, artsy, black-and-white photo of a guy who exudes coolness and looks to me like he could give “the most interesting man in the world” a run for his money. The photo was taken in Shanghai’s famous Huxinting Tea House, which you can visit when you tour the nearby Yuyuan Gardens on any of our Mainland China tours that stop in Shanghai. Who knows, you might even run into this interesting character there and have a chance to imbibe some of his hard-earned wisdom along with a relaxing pot of tea. I know I’ll be on the lookout the next time I’m in Shanghai.

Beijing’s Forbidden City (photo by Richard Fisher)	Rank upon rank of terracotta soldiers in Xi’an (photo by CIT)

The Li River in Guilin (photo by Cyril Bele)	The Huangpu River and Pudong, Shanghai (photo by Curt Smith)

Some of his comments echo the perspective I tried to express in a recent blog post (and some earlier posts like this one) about the touching and exciting experiences that travelers can have in China’s rural and less-touristy areas:

But don’t just visit the giant metropolises. Go also to the countryside that is China’s soul[...]Wherever you go, drop in on a village. Residents will be surprised but hospitable, and if you have a Chinese speaker to translate, then you can have great conversations. Or drop by the local school, and you may find an English teacher delighted to practice conversational skills.

Kristof also mentions some amazing places that are less well known among Western tourists:

Visit a town like Datong, west of Beijing, home to stunning carved Buddhas several stories high. They are 1,500 years old and one of the most amazing sights in China, yet few foreign tourists know of Datong.

Not far away is the stunning Hanging Monastery, perched precariously on the side of a cliff. And Datong can be used as a base to see parts of the Great Wall that haven’t been restored. Nobody charges admission: they just sit there, waiting to be explored.

The Yungang Grottoes at Datong and the Hanging Temple (Hanging Monastery) at Hengshan are both featured in our Roots of Chinese Culture 14-Day Tour (CIT006).  Side trips to see unrestored sections of the Great Wall can also be arranged.

Buddha statues carved from stone at the Yungang Grottoes (photo by Llee Wu)	The Hanging Temple in the shadow of Mount Heng: an indelible sight (photo by Patrick Streule)

Another Times travel article published on the same day, “The 45 Places to Go in 2012,” also mentions a number of places we can take you to: Lhasa, Tibet; Ha Long Bay, Vietnam; and Moganshan, near Shanghai. Lhasa is the highlight of our Mysterious Tibet 16-Day Tour, and Ha Long Bay is one of the attractions on our Vietnam/Cambodia Highlights 7-Day Tour, which also features the ancient city of Angkor Wat. We’re also happy to arrange custom getaways to the tranquil mountain retreat of Moganshan, where you can relax in a new luxury hotel, admire its historic villas, and explore its tea fields.

Lhasa’s Tibetan Buddhist Potala Palace (photo by David Wong)	Limestone islets in Ha Long Bay (photo by Thomas Hirsch)

If you want to create your own unique China travel experience, we are always happy to modify our existing tour packages to include the places and activities you want or to help you design your own, completely original itinerary.  Just contact us and let one of our agents know what you have in mind!

One thing about China is that you can truly get away from it all there, especially in inland rural areas like Jiangxi.  This raft trip was a profoundly relaxing experience.  Check out the trained cormorants catching fish for the fisherman on one of the rafts!

On our Yunnan Highlands Local Culture 11-Day Tour, you might see cormorant fishermen in action on Lake Er at Dali.

Waaaaaarm beer!  Peanuts!  Get yer warm beer and peanuts!  A bamboo raft trip at Longhushan: just like a baseball game, but without that loud obnoxious drunk shouting and crowding your space, and without the threat of a foul ball bashing your head in unexpectedly, and…Ok, it’s nothing like a baseball game; it’s much better, though that beer could have used a little refrigeration. And that raft vendor could use a little more charismatic sales patter.

Our tours that include Guilin feature a raft trip like this one; those that include Dali, the Three Gorges, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zhouzhuang, and/or Suzhou all feature gondola or boat trips that you may find even more relaxing or stimulating.

During the last part of the trip, we walked overland as the bamboo rafts were portaged past an impassable section of the river.  It was a good opportunity to get some footage of the beautiful farmland in the area, record the deafening sound of the obnoxious local cicadas, check out an ancient Taoist temple (where an immortality pill was created by a Taoist master, who unfortunately doesn’t seem to be around any longer to tell us how he did it), and take a rickshaw ride.  At one point during the walk, a local man started to talk with me, and you can hear him saying that I look like an American before the conversation is cut off.  (The identification of “Caucasian” with “American” is very common in China, and comments like that always make me want to launch into a lecture about why such assumptions are wrong—but maybe he just meant that my flagrantly casual clothing and wide-eyed, foolish manner were unmistakably American, in which case I can’t argue with him.)  After the raft trip resumed, we watched a flashy “cliff acrobat” rappel down the side of the mountain as a prelude to a “hanging coffin” show; the area was once home to the Guyue people, a minority (non-Han) culture that placed its coffins in grottoes in the cliff face.  Unfortunately, either my battery or my tape ran out at that point, so I was unable to record what followed.

If you’re interested in these “hanging coffins,” our tours that include the Three Gorges feature a boat trip that will allow you to see similar ones.

Although Jiangxi attractions like Longhushan and Mount Lu aren’t featured in our tour packages since they aren’t popular destinations for Western tourists, we welcome you to contact us to arrange a custom tour to Jiangxi (or anywhere else that isn’t included in our tour packages).  I highly recommend both of these places for adventurous tourists.

I gave the boy what he had asked and thanked him in Mandarin. I was caught so off guard emotionally that I didn’t think about what I was doing, and I’ve often wanted to smack myself for not saying more, for not giving more.  It was such an inadequate gesture, inadequate to express all that I wished I could somehow share with him and with everyone there. But maybe in the end that simple response was the best thing I could have done.  Would offering more money have seemed like a kind of insult?  Was there anything I could have said that would have been understood better than a heartfelt “thank you”?

That encounter occurred during a Three Gorges cruise on my first trip to Mainland China in 2001.  Although I’ve had any number of memorable experiences in China of every kind, probably the most emotionally profound experiences I’ve had have been in my contact with people living in China’s rural areas.  The sense I always get when I’m in China of life being lived more deeply, with more immediacy and more vitality, is magnified in areas that are less touched by modernization and Westernization.  The people living in these areas seem more there—less distracted, less needy, less divided, in the way that modern media technology, consumer culture, and the faster-paced life of cities seem to make us all.

On a trip to Jiangxi a few years later, I had a similar experience in a small rural village, a place that was definitely not part of the China promoted by flashy tourism advertisements and government propaganda.  A member of our group of friends had grown up there, and we were invited to spend a day with the locals.  I was told that I was the first foreigner (or perhaps they meant the first Westerner) ever to visit their village.  Who knows whether that was literally true, but I definitely felt like a bit of a celebrity, with a group of local children constantly crowded around me.  They were fascinated with my camcorder and had me play back recordings of them several times so they could see themselves.  As  with the boy in the Yangtze village, the untainted joy of these children left a deep impression on me.  But instead of trying to capture the experience in words, I’ll let this video footage tell a little of the tale:

I hope that everyone who travels to China is fortunate enough to have experiences like these with the local people.  They’re easy to find, even while in a tour group and even within a big city, if you’re open to them.  To say that they can be life-changing may be a cliché, but it’s not an exaggeration.

Since our clients are located all over the United States and even outside the country, this list focuses on online stores rather than local stores, though we certainly encourage you to support local businesses when possible! Please contact us if you have a suggestion to add to this list or have information to share about one of the products or retailers on this list.

Click here to open or download a printer-friendly PDF version of the guide

CIT has no affiliation whatsoever with any of these companies or products (other than our own, of course). We are promoting them only because we think you may find this information helpful.

The Ultimate Gift: A China Tour Package

Take advantage of CIT’s Early Bird Special discount: $100 off the price of a standard tour package (CIT001 – CIT011) for clients who book and pay for a 2012 tour no later than January 31. See our full list of tours on our Mainland China Tours page. (As always, we’ll also be glad to put together a custom tour package to take you anywhere in China you’d like to go.) Please note that this offer may not be combined with any other offer.

Wild China DVD or Blu-ray Set

An acclaimed documentary produced by the BBC, Wild China focuses on a side of China that doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the Western media: stunningly beautiful natural areas like Zhangjiajie, Xianggelila, Guilin, and Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). The 6-episode series is narrated by Bernard Hill (King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings movies) and contains spectacular footage of remote places that are rarely seen, as well as places that are easily accessible to tourists but no less beautiful. It also gives fascinating insights into the lives of the people living in such areas, especially their relationship with the land and its wildlife. If you enjoyed Planet Earth and you’re interested in China, you’ll love Wild China. The higher-definition Blu-ray version is highly recommended in order to fully enjoy the magnificent footage captured in the series.

Note: Netflix and Amazon Prime customers can stream Wild China in high definition for free!

If after watching Wild China you feel a sudden urge to visit the incomparably beautiful places it documents, take a look at our tour packages. Our Yunnan Highlands and Majestic Scenery tours, in particular, highlight these destinations. You might also consider arranging a custom tour to visit a unique combination of scenic areas.

Other DVDs and Blu-rays

Here are a few other Chinese or China-related movies that we think you or your loved ones may enjoy. Many more films will be highlighted in future blog posts and shopping guides, as China has produced a number of the world’s greatest films over the last twenty years.

Infernal Affairs – Blu-ray (無間道): The acclaimed Hong Kong thriller that inspired The Departed, featuring Andy Lau, Tony Leung, and other stars of HK cinema. Note that the DVD version available on Amazon is (probably inaccurately) described as being dubbed in French.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Blu-ray (臥虎藏龍): Though the new version of the film’s English subtitles has received some criticism, this new Blu-ray presentation is stunningly beautiful. Relive this contemporary classic in high-definition glory. (And if you’d like to visit the lovely Hong Village, where some of the scenes were filmed, take a look at CIT’s Jiangnan Gourmet Cuisine/Yellow Mountain 10-Day Tour!)

Red Cliff (International Version) – Blu-ray (赤壁): Director John Woo’s uncut, 288-minute adaptation of the Chinese literary classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms is another film that has achieved both critical acclaim and great popularity. It features some of the most ambitious battle scenes ever filmed. See them in high definition on this Blu-ray release.

Shower (洗澡): A contemporary Chinese family drama involving the conflict between the traditional and modern worlds. A materialistic “prodigal son” with a successful career in Shenzhen, whose family runs a bathhouse in Beijing, returns home to visit his aging father and mentally challenged brother. There he finds himself slowly drawn into the traditional world he had left behind. A touching film that laments the precious, human things lost in the fast-paced lifestyle and relentless change of the modern world.

Last Train Home (归于列车): A moving documentary directed by Yixin Fan that candidly reveals the challenges faced by a rural family. Like many of China’s 130 million migrant workers, the Zhangs have had to leave their children in their home village while they pursue more lucrative work in the hope of giving their children a chance at a better life. Raw and though-provoking, but also beautiful and sometimes funny, the film presents their experiences in a way that is universally understandable.

China from the Inside: In the U.S. media, we are often exposed to a very narrowly Western perspective on China. As its title suggests, the 2007 PBS documentary series China from the Inside makes a genuine effort to present representative opinions from many Chinese citizens, scholars, and government officials on some of the major issues and challenges in contemporary Chinese society. The producers of the series had unprecedented access to places and activities that could not be easily seen by foreigners, and many of the people interviewed speak with refreshing candor. Through its objective but sensitive portrayal of the lives of ordinary citizens, the film makes contemporary China comprehensible even to Westerners not already familiar with it. The major topics covered in the four-part series are the status of women, the Communist Party, environmental challenges, and justice and freedom. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to gain real insight into Chinese society.

China-Related Books

China Books (originally known as China Books and Periodicals), founded in 1960 and now located in South San Francisco, has some good deals in the “bargain bin” and “clearance” sections of its website.

Books About Chinese Art, Literature, and Philosophy

Art in China (Oxford History of Art) (Craig Clunas): This comprehensive introduction to China’s 5,000 years of visual arts is an expanded 2009 edition of the highly rated first edition published in 1997. Available for Kindle.

Highly rated books that focus on the architectural wonders and other important sites in China include China’s Sacred Sites by Professor Nan Shunxun and Beverly Foit-Albert, which features photographs of not only temples and other important architecture but also the stunning landscapes that they adorn; Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage of a Nation by Ronald G. Knapp, Jonathan Spence, and A. Chester Ong; and Yale University Press’s voluminous Chinese Architecture, the third volume in a planned 75-volume series on Chinese culture, which boasts contributions from six leading historians of Chinese architecture.

For people interested in Taoist philosophy, there are a wide range of English texts to choose from. Here is a brief guide to the most acclaimed English editions of the Tao Te Ching (道德經, or Dao De Jing):

• David Hinton’s translation is critically acclaimed for its poetic beauty as well as its linguistic and philosophical accuracy. Although it is currently not in stock at Amazon, it can be purchased through one of the many booksellers listed under “more buying choices.”
• The Vintage translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, long prized for its poetic evocation of Lao Tzu’s style, has recently been republished in a new edition. Like the popular original, it is an oversized book (10.9 x 8.4 inches) enhanced with meditative photos and a calligraphic version of the Chinese text. (There is also a smaller edition available, so take care when ordering.) Available for Kindle and iBooks on January 4, 2012.
• Red Pine’s spare and elegant translation is acclaimed as a faithful rendering of the original. Envisioned as “a discussion between Lao Tzu and a group of people who have thought deeply about his text,” this edition is also unique in providing selections from the many commentaries produced over more than two thousand years by Chinese thinkers to complement the text and give deeper insight into its meaning.
• The audaciously titled Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition, translated and compiled by Jonathan Star, is a useful resource for anyone who wants to take a scholarly, in-depth approach to reading the text. In addition to his literary translation, it features a literal, line-by-line translation, as well as notes on the possible meanings and connotations of each character.
• Tao: The Way (The Sayings of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Lieh Tzu) includes revised versions of the classic translations by the scholars Lionel and Herbert Giles, presented in a unique format. Rather than separating the three texts, it combines selections from each text in topical sections like “Tao as a Moral Principle, or Virtue” and “The Doctrine of Inaction.” For someone interested in a philosophy-oriented survey of Taoism, this is an especially useful book. Available for Kindle.

As an introduction to Chinese poetry in translation, David Hinton’s Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology is a perfect gift. More than simply providing a faithful and pleasant translation, Hinton’s ear for verse gives these poems an added power that makes them worth reading as works of English literature too. Writer Bei Dao (Zhao Zhenkai) gave Hinton’s translations just about the highest praise possible: “Given the magnitude of his ability and his overall project, Hinton is creating nothing less than a new literary tradition in English, an event of truly major importance not only to English literature but also to the literature of my own language. I cannot recommend the value of his work too highly.”

Books About Chinese Society

China: Portrait of a People (Tom Carter): The photos in this book were taken during a two-year journey taken by the author through all of China’s 33 provinces. Despite the fact that it is no longer easily available and is being sold by many retailers for more than the cover price, it is highly recommended for its stunning photos, which are both beautiful and truly representative of China’s many ethnic groups—you can see several sample photos on the book’s Amazon page, and there is also a “book trailer” on YouTube with an array of architecture-oriented photos from the book. Note: Look carefully at current shipping information before ordering directly from Amazon; items that are not currently in stock are sometimes never again available. Instead, look at the “more buying choices” options.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Jung Chang): This powerful book tells the story of three women whose lives span the tumultuous changes in Chinese society over the course of the 20^th century: Chang’s grandmother, her mother, and Chang herself. Both critically acclaimed and popular, Wild Swans is featured in many university and high school courses. Available for iBooks.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China (Leslie Chang): Written by a former Beijing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Factory Girls focuses on the lives of young women in southern China who have left home to take assembly-line work in search of a better future. In intimate detail, it reveals the intense, fast-paced world of migrant workers that is experienced by 130 million people in China but glimpsed by few outsiders. Available for Kindle and iBooks.

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory (Peter Hessler): Hessler, a Mandarin-speaking American (and husband of Leslie Chang) who has spent years living and traveling in China, is a sharp, sympathetic, and dauntless observer and explorer with a gift for drawing you into his experiences. Country Driving, as its title suggests, covers his extensive road trips through northern China, as well as the time he spent living in a village outside Beijing and visiting factories in southern China. Moving, fascinating, and funny, it is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in understanding the effects that China’s rapid changes have had on its people. Hessler has also written two other well-received books about his time in China: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze and Oracle Bones. Available for Kindle and iBooks.

This Is China: The First 5,000 Years (Haiwang Yuan): This introduction to China and its history draws from The Berkshire Encyclopedia of China to give readers a concise but comprehensive overview of China. Available for Kindle.

China (DK Eyewitness Books) (Hugh Sebag-Montefiore): This book provides a great introduction to contemporary China for children, with a wealth of photos and information. DK’s Ancient China (by Arthur Cotterell) provides a complementary overview of China’s long history.

Chinese Language-Related Books

Niubi: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School (Eveline Chao): One fascinating effect of China’s continuing growth and modernization on its popular culture is the explosion in slang expressions that has occurred in recent years, in large part because of the use of the Internet by ever-larger numbers of Chinese citizens. As in the United States, wildly creative, funny, and vulgar new slang can become popular overnight as a result of mass exposure online. Many now-common colloquialisms are given a clear and thorough explanation in this book. For anyone who wants to really speak like a native and have fun with the dynamic, living language that is contemporary Mandarin, this book is a great resource. Available for iBooks.

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (Claudia Ross and Jing-heng Sheng Ma): For the serious student of Mandarin, this 432-page guide presents detailed, comprehensive information about contemporary grammar and usage. To make the book as useful and relevant as possible, its authors favor the practical over the obscure.

Learning Chinese Characters, Vol. 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters (Alison Matthews, Laurence Matthews): Most helpful for beginners but also a good reference tool for more advanced learners, this book uses a cartoon-based mnemonic approach to aid in memorization. It presents the characters in a logical order that also makes them easier to memorize, and it also contains useful information about each character.

Schaum’s Outline of Chinese Vocabulary (Yanping Xie and Duan-Duan Li): For intermediate-level students, this book contains a well-designed course of 200 exercises to help students understand and memorize practical vocabulary, including topics like computer terminology that are neglected in many other Mandarin sources.

Chinese (Mandarin), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation): This well-reviewed audiobook (CD) conversational Mandarin course of 16 half-hour lessons is based on the Pimsleur Method. There is also a much more expensive 30-lesson version available.

Chinese Language Educational Software

Multimedia Learning Suite Chinese Characters Memory Lifter: Presented in a convenient “plug and play” USB stick format, this program uses multimedia flashcards organized by subject to help you memorize 3,000 Chinese words. Its useful features include a variety of learning modes, the ability to track your learning progress, statistical feedback on your performance, the ability to edit and expand vocabulary sets with your own data, and the ability to print flashcards. The package also includes a study guide, introductory videos, MP3 audiobooks for playback on portable listening devices, and a “Learn to Learn” booklet to help you get the most out of the system.

Fluenz Version F2: Mandarin 1+2+3 with supplemental Audio CDs and Podcasts: A well-reviewed (but expensive) 3-disc, 75-lesson CD-ROM set with two audio CDs and supplemental podcasts. Since this course uses pinyin (romanized Chinese) only without Chinese characters, it is appropriate for those who are only interested in learning to speak the language or who want to use this course as a supplement to other materials. The developers of this course describe it as a teacher-oriented approach, with each lesson led by a tutor. They emphasize that in contrast to other learning systems that focus on mimicking patterns, their course involves explanations of grammar and sentence structure to build clear, conscious understanding. For both PC and Mac operating systems, though Mac OS X users should be aware that as of three months ago, the program would not run properly on Lion.

Tea and Teaware

Good information about tea and teaware can be found on the discussion boards at TeaChat.

Yixing zisha (“purple clay”) teapots are prized for both their beauty and the added richness they impart to the flavor of tea. Although there are apparently a number of English-language retail websites that sell authentic Yixing teapots, my research suggests that the sites introduced below may be the best places to purchase them. However, to ensure faster shipping for Christmas, you might also consider purchasing a pot directly from the Yixing teapots page on the U.S.-based website of Yunnan Sourcing, a company that also sells high-quality tea leaves.

• Chinese Shouzhen Zisha Teapots: The family of Cheng Shouzhen, makers of traditional handcrafted zisha teapots, sell their wares directly through this site. Although some people have complained about their customer service (in particular, inaccuracies in the size of the teapots, which are often larger than their descriptions on the website suggest), the quality of their products is high.
• Wan Ling Tea House: With a tea shop in Shanghai and other operations based in the U.K., Wan Ling Tea House is a great source for both tea leaves and tea accessories, including Yixing teapots.
• Chinese Tea Culture: This site is operated by a Mandarin-speaking American living in China who is able to ensure the quality of the products he sells (tea leaves, Yixing teapots, and other tea accessories) by getting them directly from producers.

Teavana Yixing Travel Tea Tumbler: Although for this price it may not contain true high-quality zisha, this stainless-steel, clay-lined thermal tumbler provides an inexpensive and practical way to add a traditional twist to your daily tea drinking experience.

The following books would make great gifts for anyone interested in learning more about tea culture and the complexities of tea itself:

• The Tea Drinker’s Handbook (Francois-xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste): Written in clear English by the co-directors of France’s Le Palais des Thés (“Palace of Tea”) retail chain, this well-designed, accurate, and comprehensive book goes beyond many other books about tea in giving detailed information about tea bushes and the cultivation of tea. It also features 200 full-color photographs and illustrations.
• The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Best Teas and The Story of Tea: A Cultural History & Drinking Guide (Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss): Written by the founders of Tea Trekker, these books have received a great deal of critical praise and high marks from readers. The Handbook is a “pocket guide” (for a large pocket) that focuses on practical buying, brewing, and tasting advice; The Story of Tea is a more comprehensive tea tome augmented by 150 full-color photographs. Both books are also available on Amazon, though the Handbook is currently not in stock.

Chinese Cuisine

Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao (Bee Yinn Low) and The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight’s Dinner (Jaden Hair): Two very highly rated cookbooks covering the spectrum of Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on convenient recipes that use ingredients available at American supermarkets.

Joyce Chen 10-Inch Bamboo Steamer Set and Joyce Chen Parchment Steamer Liners, 10 in. (50 Count): A set of two stackable bamboo steaming baskets, along with convenient paper liners fitted to the baskets.

14-Inch Traditional Cast Iron Wok Set: A perfect gift for the budding Chinese cook who wants to cook the traditional way, this is an “old-school” wok (without teflon) that has received rave reviews on Amazon. It includes five pieces: the wok, an aluminum lid, a stainless steel spatula, a ring, and a bamboo cleaning whisk. For a high-quality teflon-coated wok, consider this 14-inch wok from T-Fal.

Chinese Art and Calligraphy

Mystic East Art’s website, chinesepaintings.com, has a good reputation and features beautiful Chinese-style paintings—original paintings only, not prints. Oriental Furniture is a highly rated seller with a broader selection of Chinese and Asian furniture, art, and decorative accessories.

Oriental Art Supply and Asian Art Mall are two reputable online retailers that offer a huge selection of calligraphy- and art-related supplies and products. Oriental Art Supply is owned by the family of Dr. Ning Yeh, an accomplished painter.

Here are a few art-related gift ideas available on Amazon:

Chinese calligraphy writing and brush painting set (by Reorient) with 5 brushes, an ink stick, an inkstone, signing ink, a water well, a brush rest, and a stone chop. Although this product is highly rated, be aware that the brushes are quite small and may be unsuitable for people with larger hands. Reorient, which sells through Amazon, is a highly rated merchant with a wide variety of products.

Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering (Rebecca Yue): A well-reviewed book for beginning practitioners of Chinese calligraphy.

Hanshi rice paper, 100 loose sheets: Used for Chinese and Japanese calligraphy and brush painting. Note the shipping charge of $5.95.

Kung Fu and Martial Arts

The Martial Arts Store has an incredible selection of martial arts-related goods.

Feiyue martial arts shoes: These shoes are apparently the kind worn by Shaolin monks during training. Flexible, padded, and light, they are ideal for martial arts and similar activities. One drawback is that the shoes’ rubbery soles have a strong smell at first that diminishes over time. Note that these shoes are different (lighter, for martial arts practice) than the shoes sold on the official Feiyue website based in France, which are more fashion-oriented shoes.

The Way of Energy: Mastering the Chinese Art of Internal Strength with Chi Kung Exercise (Master Lam Kam-Chuen): An introduction to zhan zhuang (站桩), a basic but powerful form of qigong/chi kung (氣功) that involves standing still in various postures and can be done by people of all ages. This book is very highly regarded for its lucid explanations of qigong concepts and its easy-to-follow instructions, augmented by more than 100 drawings and photographs. Complementary video clips by the author can be found on the StandStillBeFit channel on YouTube.