Chinese language guidebooks

[roddy]

Has anyone any recommendations on Chinese language travel guides that are worth using? I'm planning to do a bit of wandering about this summer* so trotted down to the local Xinhua bookstore to see what's available and came back with:

中国自助游, which is a big yellow and black beast covering the entire country. It's basically the same idea as the Lonely Planet or Let's Go guides, but in Chinese. Seems, after a quick flick through, to cover more places than I remember the Lonely Planet having, but maybe at the expense of some detail - maps in particular are disappointing as it has mostly / only maps showing routes between cities and towns but few if any street maps showing you how to negotiate when you actually get there - I remember the Lonely Planet would number attractions and hotels in the text and you could then easily find them on the map. It's perhaps more geared up to those driving themselves around, although it does still have public transport information, albeit again a bit less than I hoped - often no train numbers, costs, etc.

As I don't know where I want to go yet I wasn't planning to pick up any more specific guides, but ended up buying 昆明大理丽江香格里拉政略 out of a combination of 'oh I've been there' and 'oooh, pretty pictures'. It's not great as it's entirely about the hotels and restaurants, with no info on how to actually get around.

*Disclaimer: As usual this doesn't mean it will actually happen.

[tianjinpete]

Have you been able to look at the 中国世界遗产大观 series? .. I have the green volume, 山川、古代工程类 and the blue 古城类、古村落类、宗教建筑类、原始遗址类。

Bilingual 湖南地图出版社 ... Contains photos, maps, itineraries, and its fair share of chinglish, but don't let that deter you ...

[889]

For practical travel information, I like the province-by-province series published by 藏羚羊 Zang Ling Yang. Of course the individual guides vary in quality and timeliness, but their standard is generally high, and they resemble LP/Rough Guides in structure and content.

Can't say I've ever seen a bookstore that stocks a full, current set, though.

http://chiru.com.cn