Published on 12 August 2003 by Travel Age West & Travelagewest.com Although the Athens Olympics are less than a year away, many travel professionals are already ramping up for the 2008 Games in Beijing. "We plan for it to be a major part of what we do here for the next few years," said Gilbert Whelan, director of marketing for China Travel Service U.S.A. in San Francisco. By all accounts,  » Read more »

by Jacob Ulevich Businesswoman Nancy Kim lends her time, talent and energy to benefit Special Olympics China Nancy Kim, owner of Imperial Tours is a relative newcomer to the world of Special Olympics. Her involvement with the movement began during the summer of 2002 when she volunteered to serve as the Chair of the Special Olympics East Asia Benefit Committee. Her work on A Very Special Christmas: Celebrate the Spirit,  » Read more »

Finding commonality at Beijing's West Qing Tombs by Guy Rubin What is it that you, me and the last Qing dynasty Emperor, Puyi, could all have in common? Absolute power at the age of two? Two wives for our sixteenth birthday? A flawed come-back in our thirties? Or maybe it's that now we can all be buried together. A commercial cemetery is the latest addition to the impressive Western Qing tombs.  » Read more »

Why take home a taxi-load of anonymous self-assembly flat-pack furniture, when for much the same price you can fill your apartment with elegant traditional Chinese pieces? (This article is for information purposes only. Imperial Tours is not in involved in any capacity with the antique or reproduction furniture business. We advise caution when contacting these companies.) Opening the door to your astronomically-priced expat housing, you are appalled by the gaudiness of the furniture inside.  » Read more »

Two hours from Beijing, Baiyangdian in summer metamorphoses from a drab swamp into a colorful checkerboard of lotus patches and fish nurseries The sun may have taken the weather forecasters by surprise, but not the lotus flowers. Attuned to the barest climatic fluctuation, they are already on the threshold of their summer bloom. A gathering tide of flowering lotuses is now sweeping across China, transforming seemingly destitute marshlands into scenic tableaux of white,  » Read more »