It’s true—at one time, there was a Starbucks right in the middle of the Forbidden City. Sadly, at some point after I left the government forced them to remove it—apparently because a 20 year old coffee chain in the middle of a 500 year old palace built by a civilization that is 5,000 years old (give or take a few centuries) is too threatening to Chinese culture.

Apparently KFC at the Great Wall is cool, though. Which make sense—I mean, people have to eat. Plus, who doesn’t want to chow down on a bucket of greasy fried chicken after—or even before!—spending an hour or two admiring one of the true wonders of the world?

Like oh-so-many things in China, it just makes sense …

Via Peter Hessler. The image is a bit small, but the silver signs say Urine (#1) and Dump (#2, obviously.) Awesome. 

For the doubters: close-up of the beer Christmas tree. 

Found in a Beijing mall: a Christmas tree made entirely out of beer bottles. It would make for a pretty merry Christmas Eve, if nothing else. (Read about this tree and more in “A Christmas Story.”)

Things to do in Harbin.

(Coincidentally, I happened to write a story about this experience, “Fowl Play.” You can, also coincidentally, find it in my book …)

Easy-to-follow instructions.

Just to be clear …