It's getting late on a Thursday night. You have a big FIT itinerary to sort out before you leave the office so you order in some Chinese takeaway and put your head down to finish the job. The sky is darkening outside the window pane when all of a sudden there is a blinding flash of light and a flying saucer swoops out of the night sky to hover to a standstill outside your office.  » Read more »

When Rubin moved to China in 1994, he was surprised to find a dearth of resources for discerning travelers in a country so rich in cultural heritage and natural beauty. He and his wife and partner, Nancy Kim, set out to change that, and now lead China’s most ambitious luxury tour operator. To keep up with the country’s rapid transformation, Rubin is constantly inspecting new hotels—Beijing has seen the  arrival of a Waldorf Astoria;  » Read more »

Rubin is one of the most sought-after tour operators in China for luxury travel, a field that has changed dramatically in the 16 years that he’s been in the industry. He exhaustively researches new openings—the Banyan Tree Shanghai; the Mandarin Orientals in Guangzhou and Shanghai—and cultivates local contacts that lead to insider experiences: a helicopter ride from Beijing to the Great Wall, instruction in the game of weiqi, or a private calligraphy lesson.  » Read more »

  Cai Guo Qiang, one of China’s best-known artists, opened his blockbuster The Ninth Wave exhibition with a literal bang on August 8th as his signature multicolored ‘daytime fireworks’ exploded over the Huangpu River. Located at the Power Station of Art on the river bank, the impressive scale matches the huge exhibition spaces that this relatively new venue offers.   The highlight of the exhibit is the eponymous The Ninth Wave,  » Read more »

  I often get asked if it’s really hard for an Italian to have to eat gluten-free (GF), and in China too.  No pasta? No dumplings?  What *do* you eat??  Luckily, China has always been a fairly GF-friendly country.  With the rare exception of restaurants specializing in wheat-based noodles or dumplings, there are always plenty of rice-based dishes to choose from, as well as rice noodles (and other GF starch noodles like mung bean or sweet potato noodles…).   » Read more »