The sights and sounds of contemporary China can neither be bought in a bottle nor flown to on a wingless dragon that’s out of gas. Today's Groupon offers a suitable substitute: for $8, you get a 90-minute Chinatown Discovery Tour (a $17.95 value) from the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Your tour also includes a brief sit-down presentation, as well as gallery admission to The Wing.

The 90-minute stroll through Seattle’s micro-China starts at the Chinatown-International District museum. A friendly and engaging guide leads tours through authentic Asian markets, whirling with bustling merchants, brightly colored goods, and savory smells of incense or freshly roasted duck. As you learn the history and significance of historical landmarks, the diverse languages of the city's Asian community comingle melodiously in the air, and the spirit of a 7,000-year-old culture flits through the incomparable Seattle neighborhood like a flutterbug in a bag of cotton balls.

The Wing, a Smithsonian-affiliated museum, was founded in the mid-1960s to preserve Asian cultural traditions. It features rotating exhibits as well as a permanent collection of community portrait galleries, an exhibit about Wing Luke, and more. Email groupon@wingluke.org to reserve your time for the Chinatown Discovery Tour.

Reviews

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is a Smithsonian Affiliate, the first in the Pacific Northwest.

10Best names the Wing as one of its 10 Best, and the Heritage Philadelphia Program has this review.

• Should you ever visit Seattle (or be lucky enough to live there), please promise me this: you will go see the Wing Luke Asian Museum. – Mary Gen Davies

Yelpers give the museum 4.5 stars:

• The tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable, we learned about several different ethnic groups that came to the area - nothing was sugar coated but nothing was overly dramaticized either. It was really an amazing way to learn about the history of this area and I felt as if I better understood some of what makes Seattle so unique. – Michele L.
• [S]eattle has a large asian american community currently and with a rich history. i think this museum does a great job at sharing the story and experiences of the old and with the new- which is important as we learn about our past and where we have come, and where we are now. – Chanda I.