Beijing, Day Zero
A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit
A first-timer's guide to Beijing, built around the walls visitors actually hit: the paperwork at the border, a city that runs on phone payments, apps you can't reach from home, sights that must be booked a week ahead, subway exits, and menus.
Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the sights, with the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.
Editions
Shanghai, Day Zero
A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit
A first-timer's guide to Shanghai, built around the walls visitors actually hit: two airports and a maglev to choose between, a city that runs on phone payments, apps you can't reach from home, the handful of sights that must be booked ahead, a river that splits the city in two, and menus you scan rather than read.
Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the Bund, the Old City and the lane houses, along with the new riverside walks and museums most guides miss, Disney, and day trips to the water towns and the Yangtze Delta, with the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.
Editions
Xi'an, Day Zero
A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit
A first-timer's guide to Xi'an, a city with one real wall and plenty of invisible ones: the paperwork at Xianyang airport, street stalls that only take phone payments, the Terracotta Army, the history museum and Mount Hua all booked by passport, the best sights an hour out of town, and noodle menus with no English.
Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the warriors, the Ming ramparts, the Muslim Quarter and the Tang pagodas, with day trips by rail and car to Mount Hua, Luoyang and the emperors' tombs, and the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.
Editions
Chengdu, Day Zero
A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit
A first-timer's guide to Chengdu, where the first wall is at the airport: there are two, far apart. Then come the ones every visitor meets: phone payments at the hotpot table, apps you can't reach from home, pandas and Sanxingdui booked by passport, a heat scale that runs from mild to numbing, and teahouses that come with no instructions.
Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the pandas, the Three Kingdoms shrines and the bronze masks, with the Leshan Buddha, Mount Emei, the highlands and two chapters on Chongqing, and the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.
Editions
About the Author
Kevin Gu was born in 1977 in Anqing, in China's Anhui province, where he grew up, and has since worked in Chengdu, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai. He now lives in Jiaxing, in Zhejiang province.
He is a shareware developer and a freelance writer. This book grew out of a local's knowledge and experience of the country, and was written with the help of online information and AI tools, which were also used to translate it into its other editions.