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| City: |
China |
| Country: |
Beijing |
| Submitter' s Name: |
Susanne |
| Nationality: |
Germany |
| Arrival Date: |
October, 2007 |
| Date Submitted: |
September 09, 2007 |
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Beijing is the capital of China, located in the North of the country. It has about 7,5 million inhabitants in the city. The weather is quiet pleasant with lots of sunshine especially in autumn and winter. It can be very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Especially in winter the air is very dry as it hardly rains due to the close-by dessert. |
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Although Beijingers are more used to foreigners as rural Chinese are, they still stare at you. If you are with your children in the street, expect them to take pictures of your child with their mobile phones or even touch your child with their hands... I would say that they are curious about foreigners, not especially open minded as there is the language barrier, but not hostile either.
- Positive aspects: Beijing is a fast changing city; it is getting more modern every day. And as every other capital in the world it offers a lot of international restaurants and bars. It offers a lot of green space and life is still affordable, more affordable than in other capitals.
- Negative: to me the greatest concern is health. Is the air we breath healthy enough? Is the food we eat healthy enough? Is the water or milk we drink healthy enough? This is a daily concern. And I do not feel comfortable about it. After all the scandals it might get better slowly, also with the Olympics in 2008.
- It is a good city for everybody. Singles can enjoy nightlife. Families can help the hard working members of the family to distract on the weekends.
Although my health concerns do not make Beijing very child friendly.
- I do not see racial, religious or gender prejudices.
- Beijingers dress down. Very relaxed. Make-up and pretty dresses are not so much seen (yet).
- I feel very safe in Beijing. Just pick-pockets or bicycle robberies from time to time like in every other town.
- Advice to avoid problems? I would say, some basic Chinese vocabulary might help.
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Our company organized everything for us. Also the annual re-issue of the residential visa. |
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Most of the foreigners live in safe-guarded compounds that offer houses or apartments with club facilities and housing maintenance on request. Most of the compounds are located outside the city towards the airport. Here you can get the impression you live in an American suburb and pretend to not be in China.
In the city you can find only a few compounds that have houses with gardens but a lot of brand new and very modern apartment buildings.
It depends what you prefer, where you work, where your kids go to school.
The air is not much better outside the city. Their might be fewer cars but lots of dust construction fields.
Rent is paid monthly and usually the companies pay to the compound management or the landlord directly. You can have a villa with garden for 5 to 10 thousand USD, depending on the location. You might also be able to rent an apartment for as little as a couple of hundred USD. Living in a courtyard house seems attractive but is not that easy to realize. |
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It is common to have help. An ayi (maid) can clean, cook, shop and look after your children. The minimum salary per hour would be 10 kwai (1,20 USD). Most of the foreigners have them work 5 days a week, 35 to 40 hours. This would be a monthly salary of around 1,600 kwai/month (190 USD) starting salary. Overtime payment is 15 kwai per hour (some pay 20, including me, because I want her to stay with me) paid directly.
Some foreigners have drivers payed by the company. Some use drivers for private purpose. It is hard to find a good one for 150 USD per month. He would not speak English. The company drivers earn much more including all the overtime (maybe 600 to 800 USD) |
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Our company organized everything for us. Also the annual re-issue of the residential visa. |
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It is very important to learn Chinese as you need to be able to communicate at least a bit in the markets, with taxi drivers, with people in the street. English is not very well known, even not at the counters of Bank of China.
Our company pays for the lessons. I am free to have as many as I want. From what I have heard and seen, most expats would have teachers come to their house (or office) about twice a week for 2 hours, depending on your schedule. |
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Water: Beijing tab water should be drinkable after authorities. However that is before the water runs through the old tubs in the city. I would never drink the tap water, but still use it for washing salad. The water is included in the rental. For drinking I use the Nestle La vie mineral water that you can buy in barrels or bottles.
Gas: provided by the compound and included in the rental Electricity: by the compound and included in the rental |
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The health care is so-so. There are English speaking doctors that have foreign education, e.g.in Beijing United Family Hospital and SOS Clinic. For basic problems they are fine and you can get all your medicine.
My son was hospitalized with a lung infection two years ago. The treatment was like back in Germany. However many pregnant woman decide to deliver in their home country or Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok as the medical standards are better their. If you need to get surgery you might better fly out of the country. |
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The situation is good, lots of choice. Besides the local Chinese schools there different kinds of national (French, German, British...) and international schools and kindergartens all over the city. Some of them have several branches in different areas. Some compounds have rented out space to kindergartens. |
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You must pass a 1000 questions test for a Chinese driver' s license. There is away around if you pay around 100 USD somehow... so you can drive yourself if you like. But I don' t. I live downtown; I can ride my bike or take a taxi. Sometimes I can use my husband’s car and driver. I prefer not to drive. I am too afraid of getting involved in an accident and not being able to talk enough Chinese to solve the situation. Chinese are some of the worst drivers I have ever seen.
Our compound is also very close to a subway that I initially thought to use regularly. But I have to admit I have never used it so far. I was too afraid of the SARS issue. |
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Everything can be found. As I said. Beijing is getting more and more modern and more and more international every day. If you couldn’t find your favorite crème last month, you might find it today.
For a haircut you can find Eric who charges even more than back home. But there are other options. Also may options for manicure, pedicure...or massages. This is heaven and cheap. One of the best things in Beijing. |
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Basically everything is available. |
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| Dogs taller than 40 cm (?) - I have no dog, so I am not sure about the size - are not allowed inside the 3rd ring road. So if you bring a tall dog you almost have no other choice than to live in one of the compounds outside the city. |
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| You can check my blog about random observations in Beijing: Beijing Notebook at |
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It is always inspiring to live abroad. Beijing offers many possibilities for foreigners to explore the culture and spend time with Chinese painting, calligraphy, Tai Qi, Feng Shui, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mahjong, martial art, Kung Fu, yoga ....
See too |
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City Description
Healthcare
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