In Hong Kong, why not come and hear from longtime Lantau Island resident Cecilie Gamst Berg, author of the recent book Don't Joke on the Stairs, as she describes the non-stop surreal-fest that is today’s China? Occasionally, she pauses to ruminate about the travails of trying to make Cantonese a world language and how the Chinese have invented a new English: Manglish.

Inside Berg’s book, readers find answers to many intriguing questions about China:
-- What does “the slippery are very crafty” really mean?
-- What is the etiquette for hitch-hiking in really small cars?
-- And what works best to gatecrash a ketamine party?