Etiquette & customs
The first thing to understand is that Chinese people do not expect foreigners to know Chinese etiquette, and are generally delighted rather…
Culture, etiquette & history
Travelling well in China is mostly about reading the room. This section covers the cultural logic behind what you will see — why people queue the way they do, why the banquet has rules, and what 3,000 years of history left on the ground.
Mandarin basics
What you need to know about the language Mandarin (普通话, pǔtōnghuà) is the official spoken standard and is understood nationwide, though…
Festivals & holidays
China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes and the traditional lunisolar calendar for festivals. That is why Chinese New Year…
History in brief
The short version China's history is usually told as a sequence of dynasties, each conventionally understood to have risen, consolidated,…
Religion & philosophy
Westerners tend to assume religions are exclusive: you are one thing and not another. Chinese religious practice has generally not worked…
Tea culture
All true tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates a Longjing from a pu'er cake is processing — chiefly how much the…