
Qufu, China: a tour of Confucius’s home town
“I am a descent of Confucius,” says my guide, and I am enormously impressed – until I learn later that the Chinese philosopher’s progeny officially number over two million people. Still, Kong Xiangqiang (or Tommy, as he asks me to call him) has the ideal

Inside Beijing’s former brothels
“Welcome to my humble brothel,” jokes Simon Gjeroe, our 6ft-plus guide. Kowtowing to fit through the doorway, he ushers us into a two-storey building that was once one of Beijing’s bordellos. Today we are touring Bada Hutong, an area a half mile square that is