Understanding China is a walk in the park. That is the lesson I learned when I found myself recently employed on a two-week group tour of the country as a designated expert -- a position comparable to a small stone skipping over the surface of the world's deepest well.
Yet I knew enough to figure out that after checking into our first stop at a luxury hotel in Beijing's Jianguomenwai district, and before the tourist dash to the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, all I had to do to dive into the authentic center of the Middle Kingdom was to cross the street.
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