The Oriental-List
Beyond A Better Guide to Běijīng
The Oriental-List is a moderated list for those who prefer to discuss travel in China or have their questions answered without wading through irrelevant cross-postings and ‘spam’.
Now more than 20 years old and with several hundred members, the list provides a forum for the discussion of travel in China, and across China’s borders to the nearest major centres, such as Almaty, Bishkek, Islamabad, Kathmandu, Hanoi, and Ulaan Baatar.
Subjects include:
- practical travel queries
- discussions of the merits of individual destinations or routes
- accounts of individual experiences
- historical and cultural material relevant to China travel
- reviews and notifications of other China travel resources (publications, websites, public lectures, etc)
- political, legal, and ethical matters to do with travel in China
- China travel news items.
The list is moderated, with the intention of keeping it free, as far as possible, from intolerant, irrelevant, and immoderate postings, and from commercial postings and ‘spam’. The list of members is not made available to any individual or third party organisation.
Membership is, of course, free, and members include those planning their first trips to China, experienced Asia travellers, and the authors of many China travel guides.
Once you subscribe you will receive full guidelines on how the list works, and will begin to receive copies of postings made by others. There’s no requirement to make a posting yourself, but you can post your own questions, join in debate, or supply answers to others’ queries simply by replying to the list address.
The list doesn’t deal with queries which can easily be answered by looking in guide books, but all others which comply with a few simple format guidelines usually receive a reply from a knowledgeable source.
If you find the list not to your taste, resigning from it is as easy as joining.
