I would love to go someday to one of their tours. They also have a tour in Arcadia. Unfortunately this one I have already visited all the restaurants.

Six Taste's New Chinatown Food Tour: The San Gabriel Valley - Gold Star has a deal for $33, regular price $55.

The restaurants include:  

• - 8 Tastings at New Capital Dim Sum (been at another branch)
• - Assortment of BBQ at Sam Woo BBQ (been there)
• - Fresh pastry from Kee Wah Bakery (been at another branch)
• - Tastings at Happy Kitchen Restaurant (been at another branch)

My 2 cents: They should have included a Vegetarian Restaurant (there used to be one in that plaza), and a Boba place. And Van's Bakery is near there, but I guess it's Vietnamese so it does not count (amazing flan).

A teacher from Ohio asked me what I would recommend for a Chinese Tour of LA.

My quick 2 cents:

My 2 cents on what to visit for a Chinese Themed visit to LA:

1. Chinese Temple in Hacienda Heights
2. Din Tai Fung Dumplings in Arcadia
3. Dim Sum place (look on yelp and look at your schedule to choose a good one). Located through out the San Gabriel Valley. For Rowland Heights I like Hong Kong Palace for a true dim sum experience. Happy Harbor Restaurant if your into the food. I have not tried New Capital Seafood Restaurant (used to be called something else).
4. Quick drive through the LA Chinatown, a historical Chinatown.
5. Quick trip through Monterey Park, may be stop at the Chinese Mall at Del Mar and Valley.
6. One of the Chinese museums in Chinatown. Both if you have the time.
www.camla.org/
http://www.chssc.org/
7. Visit a Chinese bakery for a snack.
8. Chinese Gardens at Huntingon Library

For a tour company:

Esotouric
Kim Cooper - tours@esotouric.com
www.esotouric.com
Kim and Richard are amazingly knowledgeable on LA anything related to history. I have gone on two of their tours.

Six Taste
I have been wanting to do a tour by them - I get a weekly deal e-mail from Goldstar and they mention an Eating Tour of San Gabriel Chinese suburbs, but my wife (from Taiwan) looks at me as if I am crazy.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/six-taste-los-angeles
Great reviews on yelp!
http://sixtaste.com/

LA Conservancy
They also have tours and they may know someone.
http://www.laconservancy.org/

I just found this on the Internet, looks like a Chinese Tour company:
http://www.tours4fun.com/los-angeles-tours/?gclid=CIrxxYidlLACFUEGRQod_Umfqw

There are two Chinese museums I know of in LA. They may be able to refer someone:
www.camla.org/
http://www.chssc.org/

I knew it was bad, but not this bad. 

‘Princelings’ in China Use Family Ties to Gain Riches - NY Times

And yes, the US has the Bush and Kennedy families in politics, but that is small potatoes compared to this.  When you look at the children of US Presidents and political figures, for the most part they are not movers and shakers of our society.

The estimate from IDC is in 2013 Chinese will be the biggest spender in Asia with $173 Billion in purchases for IT equipment.

Hey big spender: China set to take Asian IT spending crown - The Register

A Mother called me today and wanted my advice about helping her kids, who are learning Chinese, with their accents. They have a Chinese tutor.

My first question was where is their tutor from? The answer was Shanghai.  Shanghai has a beautiful accent, but for teaching Chinese this means a Mainland Chinese accent (and yes, I can tell the difference from somebody from Northern Chinese, Southern China, HK, and Taiwan usually, unless they are like my wife, and change their accent depending on who they are speaking to).

Next question was what Chinese Curriculumn are they using? My First Chinese Reader by Better Chinese was the answer.  Better Chinese has a huge amount of extra material available. We also talked about the headache of different material having different accents (the three I see in materials are an American, Beijing, and Taiwananese accent - American accent is the one I would avoid if there is a choice. I have a slight preference for Taiwanese - my wife is from Taiwan, but I understand the Beijing accent is the one in demand.

Another suggestion I gave her was see about Chinese programming online, especially cartoons from Taiwan. In Southern California there is a cable channel that has some.

I also suggested look into online play dates, with kids from China who want to Learn English. This could be a win win arrangement, at no cost to either side. They kids in China get practice with English, and her kids get practice with English. I suggested she check out Craig's List, since this is world wide. For adults I know there are some free web sites that help arrange trades, but I am not sure about kids.

Good question, and my answer would be it depends on the goal. To just learn Business English, my answer would be no. If your goal is to be an English major, you need to have some acquantance with the bard.

And if your in the LA area, you should go see Pulp Shakespeare - you will never look at Pulp Fiction the same way :-) And visiting the Rennaisance Faire is a good way to help your English.

Should China’s University English Programs Drop Shakespeare? - Business Insider

I would compare studying Shakespeare, to studying Chinese classics. For those advanced enough, its a must to truly understand the culture.

My favorite book on Chinese poems, with a great study guide:

A Thousand Peaks: Poems from China

Our Price: $19.95

Chinese Poetry Anthology

Spans 2,000 years--from the Han Dynasty to the 20th century

• Rhythmic translations capture astonishing beauty of original Chinese poem and history
• Stories that describe the culture and history that inspired the poet
• Pinyin and Chinese translations
• With illustrations

I have noticed in a lot of comments as I read article's on China, about how the US is jealous of China's success.  I even got a comment like that on my blog post on Resource-Rich Canada Looks to China for Growth.

Americans always clamor about how great and beneficial competition is for the world, just as long as they win and are on top. But when China is catching up fast and Americans cannot compete as well, Americans then whine about unfair competition, illegal dumping, and so on.

My opinion:

1. The US government and people, usually just wants a level playing field and countries to play by the rules. Yes, I acknowledge how some special interest groups from time to time have twisted rules to their advantage in the US (sugar, textiles, etc), but this is usually much smaller than what many other countries have done. The goal is a system that is win win, and not a win lose. The US has a history of helping other countries get richer. Japan and Germany are examples of this.
2. Canada is their own country, and they can do what ever they want. The Canadian government needs to do what is best for their country, and they should not ignor the potential market of China. 
3. The US Government should not take Canada for granted.

A good article to read:

Ezra Klein Explains the Fallacy of American Decline - The American Interest