Since I'm responsible in whole or in part for several Beijing guides, I'll bow out of that discussion, except to say that on-line sources are no substitute for a decent guide book and indeed very frequently highly misleading, and the main problem is sorting out a decent guide book from all the dross. As a hint, while you browse the shelves (my local travel book shop had more than 30 Beijing guides last time I checked) turn to the biographies of the writers. If they haven't long experience of China and a knowledge of Mandarin, move on.

The Insider's Guide is a bit thin on sights, very shabbily written and researched in places (while spot-on in others), and contains a great deal that's of interest to the resident but not the visitor. However, for a restaurant guide you won't beat Beijing Eats (published by the same people) by Eileen Wen Mooney. She also blogs here:

http://eileeneats.com/wordpress/

There's only bad news on the map front. The bi-lingual ones are hopelessly inaccurate. The Chinese-only ones are better but not by much, and in addition to getting street names wrong simply make up much of what's in between the main avenues and larger hutong. Some of the road atlases are a bit better (although these are all working from the same sources and ripping each other off--there's no original cartography) being at a clearer scale yet still light enough to be easily portable. Just go into the Beijing Book Store on Wangfu Jing and you'll find a large selection just to the left near the cash desk on that side. Simply get your hotel reception to go through and ring the characters on your key destinations. These are the ones you'll need to show drivers anyway. The Beijing Public Transport Guide (title in English on cover) is not too bad. Or there's the heavier Beijing Street Atlas. Note, by the way, that showing maps to drivers or when asking directions in the street is a pretty pointless activity liable mostly only to cause long-drawn confusion and delay. If you're just interested in the rough relationships between sights and the nearest metro station then even the usually pathetic guide book maps (themselves dumbed down versions of existing sources) will do. Leave the navigation to the metro system and taxi drivers.

If you'd like a hutong walking guide in pdf form (in a rather rough state, but with backstreet routes largely uncovered by existing guides) let me have an email address and I'll send you one.

Peter N-H
China