At some point, every country builds a Great Wall to keep the secret of its cuisine from spreading to foreign nations, only to find that the real wall lies in its heart. Tear down the Great Wall of painful secrets with today's Groupon: for $49, you get a Chinatown tour or cooking course from The Sharing Table (a $98 value). Choose from the following tours or classes:

• Oakland Chinatown 101 tour
  • September 3 at 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.
  • September 17 at 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.

• San Francisco Chinatown 101 tour
  • September 10 at 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.
  • September 24 at 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.

• Chinatown 102 cooking course
  • October 1 at 2:00 p.m.
  • October 8 at 2:00 p.m.

The Sharing Table guides curious students through the intricacies of Chinatown's community and cuisine with tours and classes led by friendly experts on Chinese culture. The Chinatown 101 trek totes up to 20 shoppers to the best stores of the area, teaching them how to pick up true bargains instead of expired tickets to the Beijing Olympics. Foodies can sniff out the secret menus from some of the best spots for barbecue pork, egg-custard tarts, and Chinese brunch and learn the correct etiquette to ordering their meals or asking their meals for directions to the nearest library. Docents can put their new skills into action during a dim sum lunch to refuel energy lost during the three-hour jaunt.

The Chinatown 102 course schools hands in the arts of Chinese family cooking by making three entrees, soup, and rice—a meal large enough to feed a group of four that takes just 30 minutes to prepare. While sipping a complimentary cocktail, guests learn the must-have ingredients for a Chinese meal, the ways that Chinese dinner differs from the American version, and how fortune cookies are legally binding documents. The hands-on course lets all 15 students take a stab at Chinese cookery, with the entire class sharing the delicious homemade fare at the end of the session.