Sad as it is to admit, the rare solar eclipse that incited such mayhem on Easter Island earlier this week has thrown our own Beijing community into a tizzy. Or perhaps the culprit is the stultifying heatwave which has descended on our city, turning Popup Towers into a beseiged fortress of air conditioning, and sending the rest of the expat community scurrying to their habitual vacation spots in Shunyi and Fengtai.

Whatever the cause, along with everyone else we know in Beijing, the Sinica podcast is taking a vacation this Friday. Instead of a regular podcast discussion on the matters of the day, we're pleased to present a special recording of Kaiser reading selections from his latest book: Ich Bin Ein Beijinger. Consisting of selections from the columns Kaiser has written over the last nine years for an English language magazine here in Beijing, this book is available in most foreign language bookstores here in Beijing as well as in a special digital edition for the Kindle. Oh yeah, and here's the standalone mp3 file.