Since my family couldn't speak Chinese, I had to guide them, somehow, through more than 2, 000 miles in China and then into Southeast Asia.

CNN: Why I fled North Korea

This is an excellent, and massive, guide to the important works in Chinese literature up to 1911.

FORBES: Recommended China Books

The way Chinese tourists are travelling is changing too: wearing matching caps and following a guide with a flag are becoming less popular.

ECONOMIST: China��s new middle class goes farther for its holidays

The flow of Chinese investment overseas and investment in China by foreign multinationals will, if history is a guide, spur still more trade between China and others.

WSJ: China Trade Rise Prompts Shifts Around the Globe

If history is any guide, the process will hurt, says Joseph Fan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

ECONOMIST: Chinese family businesses

One guide to French food zips through a recipe for baked sea bream with almonds in just 129 Chinese characters.

ECONOMIST: What cookbooks really teach us