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.

Though we wish that we could rave as fondly about something in the Chaoyang-Lido Fall 2008 Area Guide as we did about No More Bunz in the Sanlitun Area Guide, the truth is … there are so many new venues, and most of them are all so expensive – a little above the humble map correspondent. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop us from faithfully adding them to our area guide: we plough on, regardless of financial crises or epidemic, in order to bring you the best of Chaoyang-Lido.

Our coverage of the Chaoyang Park West Gate neighborhood is more thorough than ever before. Would anyone care to hazard a guess at the number of hot pot restaurants in the vicinity? Or the number of different broths available? Don’t let Block 8 or the Apartment 8 complex (八号公馆) fool you into thinking that everything there is all expensive – there’s some delightfully cheap Beijing treats at Er Yue Er, and of course, the giant baozi at An Die An Niang are fantastic in the early morning hours. The luxury-minded can try role-playing as an emperor or empress at Jiajingdu Roast Duck. Just think, for RMB 199 and up, one can experience groveling respect and worshipful awe – for some of us, this will be the first and only time in our lives. A moment to savor indeed.

Solana brings much great shopping – especially for parents – to the Chaoyang Park area. Expecting parents or those with young kids should check out Mothercare, a comprehensive UK store with all sorts of maternity and children’s clothing and equipment. Ice cream at Romana or Cold Stone makes a great reward for good behavior while Mom and Dad check out new clothes, while an ice skating rink and movie theater should be great attractions on their own. And don’t forget about Chaoyang Park just across the water.

The new American embassy seems to have subtly altered the neighborhood of Super Bar Street (Xingba Lu). Instead of the seedy bars of yore, we now have fewer seedy bars and more homey little Japanese restaurants. Indeed, the whole street now feels like a mini-outpost of Anjialou. We’re slightly envious of the new American embassy environs: instead of being neighbors with Maggie’s and Steak and Eggs, they now have everything from delicious hummus (Biteapitta) to great Japanese (Takenosuke) to fresh Cantonese seafood (Fu Rong) to even Austrian pastries (Cafe Amadeus) at their fingertips.

It’s rare that your humble map correspondent ever has anything exciting to report – aside from the release of another Immersion Guides Area Guide – but this time, something finally sparks among the usual slurry of openings and closings.

We are elated to announce that Sanlitun Fall 2008 Area Guide brings you Beijing’s best hot dogs. Perfectly juicy, bursting with flavor, these frankfurters are both delicious and cheap. The delightful Mr. Wei starts grilling only after you order, so the sausage arrives piping hot and the bun lightly toasted. This belies the humble hot dog stand’s name, No More Bunz, but we can’t complain – it would be hard to hold together that mountain of toppings and drizzles of mustard and ketchup without a trusty bun.

Opened by a Canadian, No More Bunz is one of the most cheerful little spots to open in Sanlitun. Unlike the meticulously designed and marketed restaurants and bars that have lately graced Sanlitun, this humble hot dog stand focuses all its attention upon the food. There’s no fancy concept here, no mirrored walls or cushy booths. There are, in fact, no chairs at all at No More Bunz – little more than an opening in the wall – but the hot dogs are so good that you won’t mind.

Shunyi is rapidly developing and transforming, as new shopping plazas and malls make suburban life more convenient than ever. Pick up Immersion Guides’ new Fall 2008 Shunyi Area Guide to discover the area’s latest health clinics, restaurants, schools, shops and more. What’s more, we’ll also help you get around, with revamped roads and new additions – like the Jingcheng Expressway and the spur leading to Capital Airport’s Terminal 3. 

Once one of the few Western-style shopping centers in Shunyi, Pinnacle Plaza now is joined by Europlaza, Lakeview Place and the not-yet-opened Harmony Walk Mall. These will provide not only staples like organic groceries from Lohao City and baby supplies from Leyou Kids, but also conveniently located medical services such as Beijing United’s dental clinic and the New Century Children’s International Hospital.

Gone are the days when you could only get bland American diner food in Shunyi. Now, in addition to those same old American restaurants, a host of new restaurants have brought spicier flavors to the neighborhood, with options ranging from Mexican to Thai. More unusually, Shunyi now has its first Middle-eastern and South African restaurants. Lakeview Place in particular makes a good dinner destination, as many restaurants are clustered around its man-made lake. 

Ever wondered, as you strolled down a particular hutong or street, what it was like 500 years ago? What scholars strolled these hutongs, what disputes echoed off these ancient walls, what intrigues were hatched?

Beijing by Foot provides at least a few answers to these intriguing questions. This collection of 40 walks around Beijing will take you through hutongs and high-rises, into the history and stories that still reside amidst the cement and construction.

Written by the tireless Eric Abrahamsen for Immersion Guides, Beijing by Foot has mapped the city like never before. We've walked every hutong and every street, in search of the forgotten gems and hidden details. And now the result is here, presented on stylish, easy-to-carry cards, each of which features a walk on one side and a map on the other, marked with sites of interest and a route, as well as the city’s best restaurants, bars and shops.

Old Beijing is still here, in our midst, if you know where to look. Though it may seem obscured by neon and scaffolding, there are still wonderful nooks and crannies all over our exploding city. Twittering magpies and mynah birds. Exquisite carvings adorning an otherwise unremarkable door. The city’s ancient waterways. Aged temples and most of all, Beijing’s life played out on the streets and hutongs, the sights and sounds and smells of a shared life outside the walls.

To coincide with Beijing's Green Olympics, Immersion Guides has teamed up with wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC and Beijing-based conservation NGO Shan Shui Center for Nature and Society to bring you the Beijing Green Guide.

With detailed information in both English and Chinese, the Beijing Green Guide takes Immersion Guides' most accurate, up-to-date city map ever and combines it with TRAFFIC and Shan Shui’s knowledge of all things green in Beijing to show you the best, most environmentally friendly places to eat, sightsee and shop.

The great showdown between 2006 Chili Eating King, Gabe "Dr Pepper" Monroe and reigning Chili Eating Queen Yulin Zhao ended in a controversial* draw on Sunday with the two pepper-eating machines swallowing an astounding 75 peppers in 5 minutes. Six other brave contestants nobly tried to keep up, with Spike in second place as he methodically ate his way through a fiery 33 peppers and Josh in third as he consumed 20 peppers.

But it was really just a battle between the two favorites, who went chili for chili down to the final count, with spectators holding their breath as they battled to eat just one more chili.

A large crowd of Canada Day attendees cheered on the contestants as they pushed their bodies to the limit for the chance to win vouchers from Asian Star and Elisa’s Italian. Each contestant also received a limited-edition t-shirt from Gobi Gear.

Witness the chili carnage for yourself below.

You can take a look at a gallery of photos from the event here.

Fancy a bit of Mala Xiangguo? Order your chicken wings biantai la? Put your Sichuan friends to shame by ordering the extra spicy broth at the local hot pot joint? Then we invite you to step up and take part in the Fourth Annual Beijinger Chili Pepper Eating Contest being held as part of the Canada Day celebrations at the Canadian International School this Sunday.

If you missed out on the interesting events that marked Cultural Heritage Day last Saturday, tonight offers up another chance to delve into some of the quirkier aspects of Beijing's history.

Eric Abrahamsen, the principal contributor to Beijing by Foot, will be speaking at the Bookworm about his new project, a collection of Beijing walks. Beyond the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, forgotten Beijing comes to life as Abrahamsen explores some of Beijing's lesser known historical sights.

Tonight Abrahamsen will be speaking on the Bada Hutong and Xiangchang Lu area in East Qianmen. From 1911-1928, the area was a center for modernization and development. Intriguingly enough, it also served as the primary neighborhood for brothels, and today, despite the redevelopment of the whole area, many of the original buildings still remain.

Hi friends and supporters of that’s Beijing magazine:

It's official – our company, the producer of "that's Beijing" magazine since its debut issue in October 2001 right through the June 2008 issue, will now no longer be involved with the brand "that's".

Our publisher, who controls the official publishing license of "that's," has abruptly ended our long-term cooperation mid-negotiation and behind our back hired someone else to produce "that's Beijing" magazine from now on.

Our company, however, will be soldiering on with a magazine you'll find to be quite similar to that's Beijing -- a magazine to be called "the Beijinger" which will make its debut with the July 2008 issue.

It features the same layout, the same content, the same distribution, and most importantly, the same team that has brought you that's Beijing since we created its debut issue in October 2001.