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An open book whose pages become a misty mountain landscape, with a traveller walking out along a stone path

A self-guided playbook for first-time visitors

China,
without the guesswork.

Beijing is live: what the city is, why it was built the way it was, and how to read what you are looking at — plus the practical layer that gets you through the day.

Get the guide — $30 See the routes One-time payment
Notion space · free updates · yours to keep

Your foreign card will be declined in most places. Alipay and WeChat Pay work — but only if you set them up before you fly, with the identity check most visitors fail.

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The Forbidden City, the National Museum and most long-distance trains sell out days ahead — bookable only in Chinese, with a passport number, inside a narrow window.

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Beijing is not one city but five, stacked. Which district you sleep in decides how much of your day you spend in transit — and most guides never mention it.

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The roadmap

Beijing is live.
More cities are in research.

Every city is a full chapter, not a page of highlights. Beijing is written and on sale now. The rest are in research.

The Great Wall of China On sale
01
Beijing
北 京
Eight hundred years of capital. Why the city holds the shape it does, and how to read what you are looking at.
The Shanghai skyline at dusk In research
02
Shanghai
上 海
Modern China's front door. The Bund, Lujiazui and Yu Garden — where the old city and the skyline meet.
The Terracotta Army in Xi'an In research
03
Xi'an
西 安
Tang dynasty, still standing. The Terracotta Army, the city wall and the Muslim Quarter after dark.
A giant panda in Chengdu In research
04
Chengdu
成 都
Pandas and a slower pace. Teahouses, Sichuan food, and the panda base at opening hour.
Dim sum in Guangzhou In research
05
Guangzhou
广 州
Southern gateway, food capital. Morning tea, Lingnan culture and an easy airport entry.
West Lake in Hangzhou In research
06
Hangzhou
杭 州
The Jiangnan aesthetic. West Lake by foot, bike and boat — the sequence matters.
The Chongqing skyline at night In research
07
Chongqing
重 庆
The vertical city. Hongya Cave, trains through buildings, and a skyline that reads as fiction.
A moon gate in a Suzhou classical garden In research
08
Suzhou
苏 州
Classical gardens. Which ones earn the ticket, which are just a queue, and the 25-minute train that makes it easy.
The Shenzhen skyline In research
09
Shenzhen
深 圳
Built in forty years. Coastline, city-making, and an easy add-on from Hong Kong, China.
Gulangyu island in Xiamen In research
10
Xiamen
厦 门
Island city, easy pace. Gulangyu, the ferry, and a slower end to a long trip.

What you get

One purchase.
The whole chapter.

Everything lives in one Notion space — readable on a laptop while you plan, and on your phone while you're there. Everything below is included in the one price.

“China rewards the prepared. The travellers who come home disappointed are almost never the ones who went to the wrong places — they are the ones who arrived without knowing what they were looking at.”

Why this exists
Get the guide — $30
01

What Beijing actually is

Why a city can hold the same shape for eight hundred years, what the axis running through it was for, and how the districts fit together.

02

How to read what you're looking at

Gate counts, roof forms, courtyard depth, colour. Beijing's architecture is a set of rules made visible — once you know them, the city stops being a blur of old buildings.

03

The practical layer, kept short

Reservations, payments, transport, what to book and when. Everything you actually need to get through the day — and nothing you don't.

04

Why the trip felt shallow

China is not short of sights — it is short of explanation. The guide gives you the two paragraphs of context behind each stop, so you are not standing in front of a wall wondering why it matters.

Get access

One payment.
Yours to keep.

No subscription. No upsell. Updates to the chapter are free, forever.

Nothing ships. Pay by card and we already have the email address from checkout — the Notion invitation follows within 24 hours, added by hand between 10:00 and 23:00 China time (UTC+8). Orders from Europe or the US usually land the same day or the next morning.

$30USD
Beijing · the complete chapter
  • The complete Beijing chapter, in a Notion space
  • Written in English for independent travellers
  • Free updates, forever
  • Delivered by hand, usually the same day

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Digital access, granted within 24 hours — refund policy.

Questions

Before you buy.

Is this a tour, or do you book anything for me?

Neither. It is a self-guided playbook. Nothing is booked on your behalf and there is no group. You get the plan, the context and the practical groundwork; you make the bookings yourself.

Why only Beijing so far?

Because a city done properly takes months, not a weekend of listicle-writing. Beijing is written and on sale now. The other cities on this page are still in research.

What exactly do I receive, and when?

Access to a Notion space holding the complete guide. Pay by card and we already have the email address from checkout, so the invitation is added by hand within 24 hours — we are in China (UTC+8) and deliver between 10:00 and 23:00 China time, so an order that comes in overnight is handled when our working day starts. Paid by PayPal instead? Send us the address on WhatsApp and we will do the same. Nothing is shipped.

Do I need a Notion account?

Yes, a free one. The complete guide is a Notion space, so you need a Notion account to read it — Notion is free and runs in any normal browser, so there is nothing to install.

Can I get a refund?

No. This is a digital guide and access is granted within 24 hours of payment, so there is nothing to hand back. Everything you receive is described on this page before you pay. If you are charged twice, charged the wrong amount, or paid and never received the invitation, email us and we will fix it — billing errors have no time limit.