LYRRA’S FOUNDER Collaborated with CITIC Press Group to Publish the Choice of Infinite 2017 Restaurant Guides

Pioneering the First National Library-Registered, AI-Powered Restaurant Guides in Chinese History

LYRRA is proud to announce the official publication of The Choice of Infinite 2017 China Restaurant Guide and The Choice of Infinite 2017 South Korea Restaurant Guide, authored by Angelina Saiyi Li and published by CITIC Press Group, one of China's most prestigious and selective publishing houses.

Marking a historic milestone, The Choice of Infinite 2017 China Restaurant Guide became the first officially published and ISBN-registered (ISBN: 978-7-5086-7478-0) restaurant guide in Chinese publishing history.
Unlike foreign restaurant guides printed as commercial supplements or softcover imports, "Choice of Infinite" was formally accepted into China's national library catalog system, establishing its status as a fully authenticated, government-recognized publication.

As the sole author, Angelina Saiyi Li has over a decade of experience as an editor, author, and public relations strategist. Since 2011, she has founded and led two nationally renowned hospitality and dining awards in China. In 2016, she was invited to co-author the foreword alongside the Ambassador of Italy to China and the President of Unioncamere for the Italian national project "Ospitalità" Italiana"—the official Italian Restaurant Certification Guide (China, Korea, and Japan 2016 Editions).

In 2016, Angelina Saiyi Li independently founded the "Choice of Infinite" project based on a critical recognition of existing flaws in traditional restaurant evaluation systems. She believed that dining awards should not be restricted to the subjective opinions of a few external reviewers unfamiliar with local culinary nuances but instead should reflect the true collective preferences of the broader dining public.

To realize this vision, she initiated a pioneering collaboration with Microsoft, marking the first time in history that AI algorithms and large-scale real-time search data were integrated into the restaurant selection process. This data-driven approach ensured greater fairness and transparency, honoring the authentic efforts of the restaurant community.

Angelina personally dedicated over a year to the development of the guides, visiting each selected restaurant herself. She made nearly seven research trips to South Korea alone, demonstrating an unparalleled commitment to accuracy, integrity, and firsthand validation. Her longstanding expertise in cross-cultural content curation and international communication brought unprecedented strategic depth and credibility to the "Choice of Infinite" series.

Founded in 1988 under China CITIC Group, CITIC Press Group is celebrated for its rigorous publishing standards, cultural leadership, and influential position across business, finance, academic, and lifestyle sectors. As a state-owned publisher holding comprehensive licenses from the National Press and Publication Administration of China, CITIC is widely regarded as a benchmark for quality, credibility, and national cultural mission.

Over the past three decades, CITIC Press has released globally renowned works such as Good to Great, The Long Tail, The Black Swan, and Only the Paranoid Survive, consistently leading China’s rankings in business and social science publishing. It has won numerous accolades, including the "Top 100 Publishing Units in China" and "Bestselling Book Awards," solidifying its reputation as a guardian of intellectual excellence.

Publishing through CITIC Press entails a rigorous selection process, involving multi-stage editorial reviews, cultural compliance verifications, and strategic content alignment with China's knowledge economy.
Thus, the inclusion of "Choice of Infinite" in CITIC’s official catalog symbolizes not only recognition of its intellectual rigor but also acknowledgment of its cultural and strategic importance to contemporary China.

The "Choice of Infinite 2017" project, supported by CITIC Bank Credit Card Center and Visa International, introduced a pioneering methodology: leveraging Microsoft Bing’s real-time consumer search data combined with exclusive evaluations from high-net-worth cardholders. This dual-validated approach revolutionized the global restaurant guide model, fusing subjective taste with algorithmic intelligence.

Both the China and Korea editions provide meticulously curated restaurant selections across major cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Sanya, Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, Busan, and Jeju — with bilingual Chinese and Korean content, promoting deeper cross-cultural understanding.

Angelina Saiyi Li, serving as the chief author and strategic architect of the guides, led the narrative framework, cultural symbolism design, and behavioral insight integration, offering a new blueprint for high-end lifestyle publishing in the cross-border era.

Through this historic collaboration with CITIC Press, LYRRA and Angelina Saiyi Li once again demonstrated their commitment to building globally relevant content ecosystems that blend commerce, culture, and technology into a unified narrative structure.