1. It's a city on the mighty Yangtze River, not far from the massive (and controversial) Three Gorges Dam construction project.

2. It's the subject of a pretty good book by a Peace Corps volunteer who spent two years there.

3. It's famous for its pickles.

4. It's where the writer of the "most clicked diary" on diaryland.com, the urbane and sophisticated Mimi Smartypants, adopted her daughter.

5. The orphanage... uh, Social Welfare Institution... has a website. Well, actually, the parents of the children adopted from Fuling have a website, but still. There are photos and stuff.

6. It's not too far from the Dazu Carvings, an ancient Tantric Buddhist temple that UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site. The folks behind the awesome Borobudur temple near Yogyakarta, Indonesia were also Tantric Buddhists. Go Tantric Buddhists! Go, go!

7. During World War II in China, this is where the Communists and the Nationalists set up a shared headquarters to kick the Japanese out. It's also one of the last places the Nationalists hung on to before getting their butts kicked off to Taiwan right after the war. (Yes, instead of reading childcare manuals, I've been researching Chinese history. Bad, bad parent.)

8. I have to be there on December 21st, because sometime between 12:00 and 5:00 p.m. on that day, they will make me a father.