This is the book that plugs you into Beijing like no other guidebook can. It’s fully updated every year, which means that the 2009 edition is about Beijing today – not the pre-Olympics capital, but the city outside your window right now. Every listing (hotels, restaurants, galleries, tourist sites, bars, shops, businesses and more) has been individually checked and updated.

Australian author and Asialink Writer in Residence at The Bookworm Linda Jaivin, will be talking about and reading from her new book, A Most Immoral Woman (which is due to come out in March next year) at the Bookworm tonight. The book is a fictional recreation of a rather spicy episode in the life of the wonderfully complicated Australian journalist and adventurer George 'Chinese' Morrison (on a side note, Jane Macartney, The Times' correspondent in Beijing, delivered the annual Morrison Lecture two weeks ago - details here). The event marks the author's last public appearance as the writer in residence at the Beijing Bookworm. So, if you haven't had a chance to get down to hear Jaivin talk already - or even if you have - be sure not to miss what should be an entertaining and hilarious evening. If you're unfamiliar with her work, take a look at Fiona Lee’s interview with the author for some idea of what to expect. Personally, I regard The Monkey and the Dragon as one of the best China books around. Tickets are required, so it’s worth calling the Bookworm to confirm that there are still some spare seats.

While researching the historical novel that she'll be reading excerpts from tonight, Jaivin spent a lot of time peering into the journals of foreigners who lived in Beijing around the turn of the 20th Century. Given this, and her presence in Beijing as a foreign journalist for much of the 1980s, we decided to quiz her on the history of laowai life in the city and particularly about how various foreigners who lived in the capital during different eras amused themselves. Keep reading below for her replies to our queries about how laowai partied in Beijing during both the Legation Quarter days at the turn of the 20th century and the tumultuous 1980s. Jaivin also offers a few observations of how things have changed in today's "Olympic city."

Lord Chris Patten, best known for his role as the last British governor of Hong Kong, will be appearing at the Bookworm this Friday. The European politician will be there (and at a European Union Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Nov 1)  to talk about his latest book, What Next? Surviving the 21st Century. Fiona Lee spoke to Patten by phone earlier this month and below we’ve included her profile of the politician and author that first appeared in the fresh-off-the-press November issue of the Beijinger magazine.

Lord Chris Patten has never eaten a Big Mac.

Yet while avoiding McDonald’s (and the fast food industry in general) is standard practice for legions of left-wing warriors, Patten is hardly an opponent of globalization. Instead, he is a staunch supporter of the free market system.

Globalization is just one of the subjects that Patten takes on in his newest title, What Next? Surviving the 21st Century. Dubbed “the best foreign secretary Britain never had” by The Independent (UK), Patten takes a clear and engaging look at the multiple issues that demand the attention of international governments and their people.

On Wednesday Eric Abrahamsen, the principal contributor to Beijing by Foot (recently described as being "quite possibly the most illuminating guide to the Chinese capital this year.”), will be speaking at the China Culture Center about the history of the South Dongsi area. Below we've included an interview with Abrahamsen that appears in the current edition of agenda. Editors Alice Woodhouse and Iain Shaw began by asking Eric a bit about the Beijing by Foot project and his favorite Peking paths.

Eric Abrahamsen tells us that he began exploring Beijing’s various neighborhoods “almost as an afterthought”. According to the translator and writer, “there were several years where I walked around without really knowing what I was seeing. I liked the feel of Beijing’s older areas, but it wasn't until later that I began to seriously research the history and culture that lie behind the alleyways and buildings, and discovered that my little strolls were far, far more enjoyable when I knew the background.” Therein lay the genesis of Beijing by Foot, Abrahamsen’s recently published collection of 40 walks around Beijing neighborhoods, each mapped and annotated on its own individual card.

agenda: Beijing by Foot guides users through forty different walks in the capital, but for visitors on a tight schedule, which routes would you recommend exploring first?

I suppose if you’re here for a limited time, you’d better see the hutongs.

Australian author and Asialink Writer in Residence at The Bookworm Linda Jaivin, will be reading from her books and talking about her work at the Bookworm tonight. If you're unfamiliar with her work, take a look at Fiona Lee’s great interview with the author (included below) for some idea of what to expect. Personally, I regard The Monkey and the Dragon as one of the best “China books” around. Tickets are required, so it’s worth calling the Bookworm to confirm that there are still some spare seats. RMB 20-30.
7.30pm. The Bookworm (6586 9507)

The second phase of China’s National Library opened to the public yesterday. The sleek new design is decked out with comfy chairs, improved heating, and will offer more reader-focused services in continuation of a trend that saw them do away with charging for bag storage and lower photocopying fees last year. According to Xinhua, the combined floor space of the new library and the original building comes to 250,000 sqm, making the NLC the third largest library in the world. The East China Architectural Design Institute worked with the German firm KSP Engel und Zimmermann to design the building. The opening of the new building follows closely on the heels of the development of the National Digital Library of China Program, which has resulted in a large number of e-books (including winners of China’s Wenjin Book Prize and local chronicles), as well as other digital resources like Spring Festival pictures and oracle bone rubbings being uploaded to the library’s new and improved website.

Sep 1-Sep 4

The Beijing International Book Fair 2008

Tianjin International Exhibition Center
(022 2801 2976)

Tianjin is one of those small-scale towns that feel like a quainter version of Beijing. While the city has it's own Central Business District, it's located in what my taxi driver called the bailou qu (the white buildings district) - it is dwarfed by even the shortest of Beijing's CBD office buildings. The quaintness of the city and its contrast with Beijing is further sharpened by the experience of taking the new super duper high-speed train which transports you from the capital to Tianjin in only 30 minutes - at one point when I checked on the overhead electronic board it announced we'd reached a speed of 327km/hr. The train was very clean and neatly kept and amazingly the train stewardness, given that they're only on duty for half an hour, are impeccably dressed and even don an air-hostess hat.

Long-term Beijing resident and journalist Michael Meyer has experienced Chinese traditional life as an insider, living and working in one of Beijing's most well known hutong neighborhoods. In his book, The Last Days of Old Beijing, Meyer documents the colorful characters and unique situations he encounters. Tonight, Meyer will be at the Bookworm to talk about his work and the changing face of Beijing. Urbane editor Alex Pasternack recently caught up with Meyer and below we've include an excerpt from Alex's interview with the author. Look out for the complete interview in an upcoming issue of Urbane. Danwei readers might have caught a recent excerpt from the book. You can read what a New York Times writer thought about it here and listen to the author talk about the book on NPR's On Point here. The Economist also gives the book a mention in a recent review of Beijing-related books.

Aug 5
Book Talk: Michael Meyer
RMB 30 (includes a drink), RMB 20 (members).
7.30pm. The Bookworm (6586 9507)

Alex Pasternack: And in general, what do you think can be done now to best preserve what remains of Beijing's structural and cultural heritage -- and the area around Qianmen in particular? What bad ideas are still out there? Who might we look to for help?

Michael Meyer: In terms of cities with comparable politics, I think Hanoi has the right idea, for now -- let residents determine the fate of the neighborhood. I like the museum there, showing an improved home. Preservation is almost always born from citizen's opposing government/business designs -- involving outside funding and solutions -- and that's not a viable model in Beijing now.

One short-sighted idea in Beijing is to tear down original structures and rebuild them with red brick and beams. It allows people to stay, which is good, but it also erases any historical value, and will make it that much easier for the Hand to come along and say the homes can by destroyed because they date from 2008.

Last year there was plenty of speculation and confused reporting about just which foreign magazines would be made available at the special Olympic newsstands that BOCOG promised to make available to foreign media and athletes during the games. At the time it was reported that a measly 7 special Olympic news stands, most of which would be located in the Olympic center, would be dedicated to meeting the requirements of the 30,000-strong international press in Beijing; a puny little 8th newsstand would provide reading options for reporters and athletes in Beijing. Well, the news kiosks have now opened, and although it seems a complete list of all the imported magazines has not been released - we're not even sure exactly how many publications are available, with China Daily saying "100 varieties of newspapers and magazine" and other reports suggesting a more modest estimate of around 30 foreign magazines on sale across the city – we do know that the following publications are all on sale:

If you're quick, you can still get your hands on tickets to tonight's launch of Jen Lin-Liu's Serve the People a "stir-fried journey through China" at the Bookworm. To whet your appetite, keep reading below for Hannah Skrzynski's review of the book from the upcoming August issue of the Beijinger.

Serve The People
A Stir-Fried Journey Through China
Jen Lin-Liu
Hardcover
352 pages
Price in RMB still to be determined

Freelance journalist and first-time novelist Lin-Liu focuses on the tasty side of China's economic revolution, taking the reader on her journey through the kitchens and stomachs of China, in her hunt for the tastiest xiaolongbao. Lin-Liu's journey begins in Shanghai where she moved as a journalism graduate in 2000. As an American-born Chinese, Lin-Liu struggles with her ethnic identity, falling somewhere between laowai and local, and turns to food to connect with her new home. As her passion for braised pig trotters and the like grows, she eventually decides to enroll in the Hualian cooking school in Beijing. There she hones her cleaver clout, before moving on to a local stall to master the art of grated noodle, before moving onto the dumpling assembly line to learn the perfect wrap. Liu also tries her hand at the high-end cuisine, interning at Shanghai's famous Whampoa Club.