While in Hong Kong this past January, I spent a lazy afternoon holed up in my room off Nathan road, completely engrossed in back-to-back episodes of CCTV International’s show Travelogue. Now that the PRC goverment is actually trying to attract tourists in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, they’ve launched a full-on charm offensive to counter decades of indifference. Playing on the state TV network’s English language outlet, Travelogue is a Globetrekker-style series recast as mild propaganda about destinations in and around China (watch our young, quirky hosts visit happy minority communities in the pristine countryside!). Factor in some unintentionally hilarious use of English, and genuinely beautiful footage of lesser-known corners of China, and I was hooked. The show’s website, which, like most things in China, suffers from intermittent technical difficulties, has archived episodes on Yunnan Province and Singapore, and malaprop-tastic blogs written by the hosts.