Our Beijing.
Yours to explore.
Good food is a way into a city. So is the street you take to get there.
Beijing, by The Orchid is a local guide with a point of view. The Orchid is its publisher and the hotel we suggest as a base. You don’t need to stay with us to use it, and you don’t need an account.
Where the notes come from.
This public beta draws on Joel’s supplied neighbourhood map: 59 places, seven streets and wandering ideas, and the area around Baochao Hutong. The short notes are adapted from that material. Longer editorial entries will build on Joel’s own knowledge—not invented visits, aggregated ratings or anonymous review summaries.
We distinguish a source note from a freshly checked practical fact. The printed map does not prove current hours, prices or availability. Where an exact address, entrance or branch remains unresolved, the guide says so.
Public, viewer and editor.
Public reading needs no account. Viewer is a separate Google-authenticated reading role; editor adds server-authorized editing and importing. Signing in alone must not grant editor rights. Google sign-in and shared editing are coming later. Explore this public beta without an account; signing in will not automatically grant editing rights.
Public suggestions can be prepared, copied or downloaded, then shared with The Orchid through its official website. Preparing a request does not send it, publish a place or establish a verified location.
Location privacy.
GPS is opt-in, used only in memory and never put into URLs, browser storage or backups. GPS requires a secure browser context. On an insecure address, map-centre Lens remains available without a location request. A Lens radius is geographic distance, not a walking or driving route. Municipality checks use an approximate OSM outline and a conservative 10 km caution band: that band is a preview UX policy, not measured boundary accuracy. Boundary source and policy.
Finding the right door.
Each place opens Amap. A “Find on Amap” link searches the name in Beijing; it is not a promise that the first result is the correct branch. Confirmed exact-place links will replace searches as they are supplied and checked. Chinese names and known addresses are also available to copy.
About this beta map.
The current street layer is a self-hosted OpenStreetMap vector extract in WGS84, with visible attribution and no external tile requests. Coverage is partial; use Amap for route planning and confirm the destination before you go. Only source-located recommendations receive pins. Unresolved places remain readable without invented coordinates. The bounded central detail includes unnamed alleys, footways and real building footprints; zoom in to reveal footprints and courtyard holes. Coverage and positional accuracy are not complete or navigation-grade. Unsupported or invalid building relations are explicitly quarantined rather than repaired into imaginary geometry.
Street-label language is separate from editorial language. English labels appear only where supplied by the map data; no missing street translations are invented. The readable guide works when interactive mapping does not. Read map provenance and geometry exclusions.
This beta is being improved. Mainland and overseas connectivity and device behavior can vary; the readable guide and Amap handoffs remain available when map data cannot load.
Make The Orchid your base.
The hotel is at 65 Baochao Hutong. Read the base note for location context and trade-offs, and use the official site for current rooms and arrival advice. This guide is not an impartial comparison of Beijing’s accommodation market.
Start at The Orchid ↗