Now you can travel China with your own personal celebrity tour guide - or at least a handy voice recording of Chinese stars' personal reminiscences.
The luxury label Louis Vuitton has produced audio guides to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong narrated by three top Chinese actresses, each recounting their favorite local places and sharing colorful stories.
A graduate from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, Gong Li (pictured center) tells of the city's storied hutong. Hong Kong actress Shu Qi (pictured right) takes you on a journey behind the city's ultra-modern landscape with her description. Actress and director Joan Chen (pictured left) describes Shanghai's French Concession area, where she was born and spent her youth in the 1970s.
The recordings are enhanced by original soundtracks composed by Kubert Leung and Albert Yu.
Tourists can now download these 'city walk soundtracks', for a fee of $17, at www.louisvuitton.com. The audio guides are available in five languages: Chinese, English, French, Japanese and Korean.
(China Daily August 22, 2008)