Take a tour of the nation’s capital, as you’ve never experienced it before: as Michael Aldrich takes you through the palaces, temples, back streets and markets of the city, he relates tales of imperial customs, street food, temple festivals, struggle sessions, Tibetan and Mongolian customs, hiking trails, ghosts, espionage and more. Aldrich, a Beijing-based lawyer who has been fascinated with China for more than 30 years, weaves in sources from Marco Polo and Bernard Shaw to Ming and Qing-era travel guides for a fascinating tale.