Hutongs, hand-pulled noodles, and the cities a guidebook never quite reaches.
Fruit in cellophane, two hands, a refusal that isn't one. How a small gift changes hands at a Chinese front door, and the puns to step around. CN: 推辞两次的礼物：上门送礼的分寸
Who raises a glass first, how low the rim sits, and the one phrase that lets you drink tea instead of baijiu without giving offence. CN: 杯沿低一点：中国饭桌上的敬酒之道
Clockwise, slowly, and never while someone is reaching. The glass turntable at a Chinese round table has its own quiet rules, down to where the fish's head points. CN: 转盘的方向：中国圆桌上的顺时针规矩
Almost all of China's coffee is grown in Yunnan. In Kunming, small roasters brew beans from Pu'er and Baoshan with the patience usually kept for tea. CN: 昆明的咖啡：从普洱山坡到街角吧台
In Quanzhou, breakfast is hair-fine vermicelli cooked down into a soft, savoury broth. You choose the toppings from trays at the counter. CN: 泉州面线糊：古城清晨的一碗慢早餐
In Guiyang, siwawa reaches the table in pieces: a stack of thin wrappers and a spread of small bowls. How to fold it, sauce it, and where to find it. CN: 贵阳丝娃娃：一桌小碗，自己动手包
A grey 无 on the 12306 app looks final. In practice it is the start of a queue, and you can let the app wait in it for you. CN: 火车票售罄时：12306候补购票怎么用
Paying by phone in China works in two directions: the seller's code or yours. How to read the stall, the table sticker, the metro gate and the hotel desk. CN: 扫码还是被扫：在中国用手机付款的两个方向
China's trains run on time, and so do its station gates. This is the order of operations from the front door to your coach number. CN: 火车站里的顺序：大屏、检票口与停止检票
A small Yangtze city in Anhui you can cross on foot: breakfast dumplings, a Ming pagoda above the barges, and an evening of the opera that grew up nearby. CN: 安庆一日：振风塔、江毛水饺与黄梅戏
Two slow days in the Sichuan salt city south of Chengdu: a hand-drilled brine well still boiling, a carved merchants' hall, a river teahouse and rabbit eaten cold. CN: 自贡两日：盐井、会馆与冷吃兔
An hour from Shanghai by rail, Zhenjiang is worth one slow day: breakfast noodles cooked under a floating lid, an old ferry street the river left behind, and a hill above the Yangtze. CN: 镇江一日：西津渡、锅盖面与北固山
Most visitors see Kaifeng's costumed Song park and leave. Stay for the old walls, a carved merchants' hall, and the squat pagoda locals call Po Ta. CN: 清明上河园之外的开封：城墙、会馆与半截繁塔
Behind Shexian's eight-legged stone archway, Doushan Street keeps old Huizhou's sky-well houses, inkstone workshops and a river walk that most day-trippers miss. CN: 八脚牌坊背后：歙县斗山街与徽州老巷
One turn off Chaozhou's rebuilt arch street, a short lane of carved granite porches, painted beams and doorway tea tables is still a place where people live. CN: 潮州甲第巷：牌坊街背后，仍有人家的老巷
A film crew built a Tang capital in Hubei. A short taxi ride away stands a real walled city with a moat, a north gate on the Han River, and beef noodles served with morning wine. CN: 襄阳唐城：为一部电影建起的长安
Hero's most famous duel was filmed among the golden desert poplars of Ejina, in Inner Mongolia. This is how the forest, its grove of dead trees and a ruined city work for visitors now. CN: 额济纳胡杨林：《英雄》里那片转红的金色树林
Outside Yinchuan, two crumbling frontier forts became a working film set. A walk through the gate tower from A Chinese Odyssey, the Red Sorghum yard, and the Helan foothills beyond. CN: 镇北堡西部影城：把荒凉卖给电影的宁夏古堡