What to see in Beijing? Beijing Part 2:

If you are a first time visitor to China, you are most likely to land in Beijing first. Beijing has been a capitol to China for roughly 700 years since Kublai Khan’s time, so as you can imagine, there are a lot of things to see here.

The question is, given the limited time that a visitor has, what exactly should he/she see in Beijing? For a quick geographical and historical reference, check my old thread Beijing, Part 1!

A few things before we get started :

1. I am going to assume that you are carrying a guide book of some kind when you get here. While I personally believe guide books can give people a false sense of security when travelling, they are still indispensable when it comes to listings, maps, transportation options, and simple phrases in the local language. Therefore, I won’t list the transportation details when I list the places worth your time.
2. I’ll repeat my mantra about this ancient and Byzantine city, stay by the subway. It’s VERY EASY to get LOST in Beijing. I can’t count the number of times that I have lost people whenever they think they know where they are going. Some old timers/taxi drivers will also uses archaic names/landmarks that no longer in use/exist to describe certain places, all the while completely ignoring/can not understand the modern address that you have in your guide book.
3. Most of the decent attractions can be reached by subways or are probably within the Second Ring Road.
   
4. I’ll only focus on the attraction in this post, so you will have to wait for the shopping or other guides later.

So what should you go see in a city that is a capital of an ancient country for 700 years? Everything else but the shining buildings. I am sure you have seen enough skyscrapers at home, and you aren’t interested in seeing more unless they are just too weird (there are plenty) and you must take a picture.

Here we go:

1. Jingshan Park (景山公园). Here is a little tip. Before you zipped off to the Great Wall or the Forbidden Palace, come here first to this little park. Why? Because this is the ONLY PLACE in Beijing to get a shot for the ENTIRE FORBIDDEN PALACE. Since you can’t build tall buildings inside the Second Ring Road, this is the tallest structure/man made Hill inside the moat. It’s a lesser known secret that a lot of people miss when they come here. You will probably never get more beautiful shots of Beijing than here. From this place, you can clearly see how well planned Beijing was and how structured it was. You can clearly see the Central Way that runs straight North to South splitting the city in half. On a sunny day, it’s a sight to behold. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in Beijing. And while you are on top of the hill, pray at the temple for your temporary intrusion, he is been there for a while to look after the place so you can have this view.
2. Beihai Park 北海公园 low through. TheAnother awesome place. There are a lot of places of interest in here, and to really see it all, it’s probably best to give it 4-5 hours. Most places of interest are already well described by various guide books. The Circular Wall (Tuancheng) is a actual left over structure from the Kublai Khan’s times. The entirely Jade statue of Budda is a sight to behold. You might be interested to know that this place showcases ancient Chinese drainage technology with the bricks forming an intricate layer of gaps to let water flow down. The Long Corridor is one of the longest running Chinese style corridors in the world. It’s quite a sight to behold on the opposite of the lake. You might also be interested to know that the “scene” you see across the lake or on the lake from this structure is landscaped/built with the idea of a Chinese calligraphy painting in mind, with the little pagodas and small building roofs peeking through the trees. You will probably find a lot of locals here, especially in Summer time. It’s a great place to take a date in Beijing. You might also find impromptu Chinese opera singing, or dancers around the 5 Dragon Pavilion.
   
3. Houhai/ QianHaii 后海, also 什刹海, also Lotus Market It’s right by the BeiHa park, so I might as well mention it. But it’s almost pointless for me to mention this place, because it’s the hippest part of town since Sanlitun got partially torn down. It’s still worth a walk through, just because of how unique it is. The Hutongs are here, if you walk out of the Lotus Lane’s gates and start to walk around in the neighbourhood, but it’s fairly gentrified and a bit touristy now. It’s up to you to decide on the tricycle or not. The naming of the place is a bit complicated. Qianhai is the connected to the lotus lane, which is what you will see if you enter through the lotus gate in the front by the Beihai park. Qianhai is connected to the more popular bar/pup/club hop joints in the back sea or Houhai through JinDing Qiao which is one of the oldest and shortest bridge in Beijing. Never, I repeat, never take a taxi THROUGH here. And if your host asks, NEVER drive the car through here or try to park here. This place is getting extremely commercialized, with the Starbucks at its head doing very brisk business. I don’t exactly recommend eating here or buying anything here if you are budget conscious. The food go from Not Bad, to Ok, to tourist crap. All the beer/drinks are ridiculously, extravagantly out priced. 40-50 RMB for a 3-5 RMB beer is not unheard of. However, if you have the time(it’s just a 5 minute walk), you should take a peek at Prince Gong’s Mansion/Gong WonFu. That’s just a nicer name for it. This place is better known as HeShen’s Mansion by the Chinese people. Who is HeShen? He is the most corrupt official in Chinese’s 5000 years of history. When he was executed much later by the son of the Emperor that brought him to power, and his estate confiscated, his total net worth was calculated to be worth 10 years of China’s GDP at the time! So it’s quite a sight. And now you know where that skimming culture comes from.
4. Drum & Bell Towers aka GuLou & ZhongLou It’s not a very popular place. But this is where old Beijing is at. When they talk about Hutongs with small alleyways and closed in family/communal court yards this is a good example. Walk around and check out old Beijing for a bit.
5. Tian Tan aka Temple of Heaven aka 天坛 I wanted to briefly mention this place. This is Beijing’s symbol, so it’s unlikely you will miss it. However, a lot of people miss the very interesting Imperial Kitchens exhibit and the Chinese musical instrument museum. Go take a gander.
6. The Imperial College This place was quite interesting for me, because it was hidden and out of the way, so it felt kinda like a secret discovery. This was where the best and brightest of Chinese student came to learn and the only “official” University in the entire country. The Emperor will come here and do a lecture when he feels like it. If you really want to get to know about Chinese culture and see how the Chinese was able to educate its people and build such wonderful things, it’s a interesting little place. It’s not very big or exciting though. My years of teaching probably resulted in my fonder image of this place.
7. Jie Tai Temple, or Jie Tan Temple (the temple of the altar) This is NOT a very well known place, and this place is still a real temple with real monks training and living here. It’s too bad that they are trying to ruin such a spiritual place with more tourism/tourist stuff and the intention to build condos on the huge but used to be tranquil grounds. I still recommend you to go see it. It is situated on Ma’an hillside of the Western Hills in Beijing 25 kilometers from Beijing. First built in the reign of the first emperor of the Sui Dynasty (581- 600) and named as Hui Ju Temple, it has a history of over 1,400 years. I recommend you take the whole day for this place. Try not to buy any incense or Buddhism stuff until you are inside the temple. You can get drinks anywhere though. There are a lot of things to see here. If you are the hiking type, take the road to the back mountains to the dragon pond where one of the area’s river originated. The Tower Forest (my translation) or the place where they place the tomb stones of the famous monks through out Northern Chinese history is quite a sight to behold. It’s a somber but beautiful place. The dignity and tranquillity is quite tingling to the bones for the spiritually inclined. If you are a Buddhist, you MUST Visit this place.

Whew, this post became longer as I go along. This is just scratching the surface though. You can spend a life time in Beijing and still find something new and interesting as long as it hasn’t been torn down and poured over with concrete. There are still a lot of places I haven’t been to but meaning to hit. I’ll update as I get more time to reminisce.

Good luck in your travels.

Chinese Visa problems:

Courtesy or WSJ:

Linky

This is a sort of update on the Visa section. You may or may not have trouble getting a visa. If you need to stay long term, you don’t really need multiple entries anyway. I’ll stick to my original advice, stay away from consular offices and go with a certified travel agency. It’s possible to save yourself a lot of paper work and headache.

Feel free to ask any questions if you got any concerns.

—-

Edited to Add:

This is important, if you need to work or study, I don’t recommend the travel visa. If you are coming here for long term for -

1. Study: Get a student visa. It’s not that bad. Applying to a formal Chinese university might take more time and money, but you won’t get harassed once you get here. I personally know a few school official that won’t mind the extra paper work to properly “invite” you over.

2. Work: This is a gray area. It depends on what you are hired to do. If you are hired by a big company/university, it’s quite probable that most of the paper work are already done for you to get a proper work visa(you just have to pay tax). But if you are coming here without any proper plans except to maybe just get hired as an English teacher, it’ll be somewhat difficult to get one without going through some hoops. If that is the case, then you might want to try the business visa.

As for the crack down, going through consular offices will just makes it easier for them to track you. It’s up to you on what you want to do.

Some might be worried about this:

My face is more important than my people’s well being

But if you are really staying long term, wait out the Olympics. Chinese would eventually understand that visa restrictions(because of the complaint from the Chinese companies/people themselves) would actually hinder Chinese economy, investment to China, and continue to erode any foreign support or trust from any foreigners that are already choosing to live and work in China. Sooner or later, they need to learn that they don’t live alone in the world, and they can’t survive (let’s forget about economics for a second. China does not product enough food to support itself, not counting coal, oil and any other necessities that it needs to keep itself running.) without others.

As for residency permits, that’s entirely up to you. This is how I look at it, the more the Chinese government knows about you, the easier they can do something to you. On the other hand, you will be hard pressed for answers if you are found out. Of course, if you married a Chinese or work for big companies or universities, this is completely pointless to you.

Good luck in the path you take.

Books for you to Learn more about China:

Sorry for the delay, but my grandmother is visiting, so I’ve been kinda busy.  I’ve also been debating on whether or not to go more acidic for this blog, since I know bursting quite a few bubbles already.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about China, here are a few books I’ve found to be “Personally” useful. This isn’t meant as a commercial or advertisements for these books at all, buy them at your own judgment.

Mr. China

Excellent book, I would recommend it even if you goal isn’t to do business in China. Old China hands like him paved the way for us newer expats.

Asian Godfathers

This is not Directly linked to China, but this should give all the potential investors and business owners a quick cold shower before they rush to the next gold rush/big wave.

Beijing at your Door

Old book by Chinese info standards, but a decent guide to start you off with. There are some outdated information, but this should give you a heads up about Beijing and life in China.

There are quite a lot of books you can read about China, but very few honest or decent ones. After scanning quite a few of them on my trips home to Vancouver, I’ve come to realize that most of them are just hype machines written by this business “guru” and that China “expert”.

I’ll be very careful about some of these books, especially the investing ones. Most of the Chinese companies don’t really understand the concept of Fiduciary. Actually, I don’t think this idea exist in the Chinese language or culture per-se until western common law ideas were introduced. You can NOT get any accurate information about anything involving a company unless you are an insider, so you can guess who actually makes money here. And Chinese companies simply DO NOT BELIEVE they own you Anything(including information) just because you happen to be an investor(minority or majority). If you or your fund managers aren’t willing to put in the FACE time required dig through/drill info from the company(homework), don’t bother, you might just as well go buy a dream weaver, because you’ll get better dreams that way( and lose less sleep).

There are 2 more books that I am reluctant to post, because they are more political or less informative. And one of them might get you in trouble because it talks about a No. 1 Chinese fugitive. So let me brew on that one.

Have fun reading.

Food in China Part 3, part A:

Ok, besides all the scary pictures and disgusting stories, how about some realistic expectation what’s good to eat and what’s bad to eat?

I am the bad news first person, so I’d like to prepare you for the worst before presenting any of the good stuff. But, I don’t really think people need help spotting something they like, and recommendations are hard to give due to personal palettes can be so different.

Anyway, here goes:

1. Avoid the Street Stall foods like a plague. Fruit on a stick, fruits, sausage, egg rolls, spring rolls, Chinese pancakes, grilled meat on a stick, roasted yams in drums, meat and veggies dipped in hot broth and etc. You will see this all over the place in China. They are cheap and plentiful, so, good eats, right? WRONG! Chinese news reports (whenever it’s not political, they have no problem reporting idiots) have found people spray painting (industrial paint) their fruits to make it look better and shinier. The tin/steel drums they roast yams with are usually pilfered off industrial waste sites that were used to contain industrial solvents, glues and really nasty chemicals. What about stuff made on the spot? Have you ever paid any attention why something is so cheap, how they make a profit and where they get their ingredients? Home made sausages made using meat scraps recycled from farms and butchers. Recycle the sticks they cook BBQ meats or Mai La Ton with.

Some might argue that millions of Chinese eat/buy this without problems. But you as a new comer don’t really have the skills and literally don’t have the stomach to actually deal with problems should they arise. I don’t know how skilled you are at picking grocery at home, but you ain’t prepare for what’s here. And should you fail in your choosing, your body will not be ready to deal with the disaster.

2. You will get sick/stomach pains at the beginning. Deal with it. I go through this almost every year. No matter how careful you are, you are bound to find that one rotten apple and eat it without realizing until it’s too late. Just remember to keep hydrated and plenty of rest. As a new comer, you will eventually get bowel pains. That means your body is adjusting to the food here. A doctor once told me that most westerners just don’t have the enough E Coli in their bodies to digest the food in China, therefore, they need to go through that first 2 weeks to get more.

3. Picking restaurants is an Art. China has 8 big regional cuisine influences. i won’t go into what they are. The Chinese idea of “western” food usually leaves a lot to be desired. Combine this with the difficulty of finding good staff and lack of decent local produce, you have an extremely competitive industry running in its hamster wheels. A lot of media sources would like you to believe that there are a lot of hip and happening restaurants that are just like home in Beijing or Shanghai. Take that with the same attitude that you take everything that comes out of this country, with a salt lake. So how do you find a good restaurant that suits your delicate taste buds? Make some expat friends that speaks fluent Chinese. There are very few decent media sources that are trust worthy (most of them start with good intentions but usually ends up being a advertising platform). Quite a few expats have gone through what you are experiencing, and most of them usually have an unpublished mental list of decent restaurants, Western or Chinese.

Outside of that, here are some ground rules:

A. Is it busy? MOST of the time, this rule, well…, rules! The Chinese logic is thus: If a place is busy, that means some of the food is decent, and since they are churning out lots of dishes, most of the stuff is fresh. I’ll be frank, this rule HAS failed me before, and a touristy place with lots of tourists usually doesn’t a great restaurant make. You might want to watch the demographic that walks in, and judge for yourself.

B. Is it a Chain? Chain style restaurants, despite the bad press they get at home, are usually held to a higher standard in China. After all, they are trying to make or sustain a brand in a very competitive industry. They usually face greater scrutiny in terms of food safety and health inspections. My black Chinese joke goes like this: If there is something wrong, I can scream murder and claim in western media that they are trying to poison a westerner. Then I’ll sue them. *wink* By the way, a lot of Chains that you are used to may not be the same as back home due to Chinese ownership laws. Starbucks is an notorious example of not holding up their image and service in Beijing compared to home. Pizza Hut is a interesting example of turning a humble pie into an high class restaurant and succeeding.

C. Is it brightly lit, clean, and do the waiters waitresses look like they will have a job tomorrow? This is self explanatory.

D. How long has it been in business? Longer doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better . (ouch, I made a funny) But if the place has survived for at least 1-2 years, that means it has something going for it.

4. Know your palette. Most westerners(especially North Americans) are used to westernized Chinese food.

Sorry to cut this short, but there are more fires to put out, so I’ll be back to finish this.

I am going to update this section with a new post to avoid confusion.

Teaching English, Part 2(and working in China in General):

This seems to be an extremely popular section, so I’ll give it more press.

I have taught English/ESL part time for nearly 10 years, and my experience is more than enlightening. If you want to teach English or otherwise in China, here are the general advices:

1. What do you want?

I can not stress this one enough.

Look, a lot of people came here with the reasons I have posted in section 1, and I really can’t say I approve it. The reason is very simple, working in another country is a VERY BIG commitment. China doubles that equation by 5 or more. Most westerners are JUST NOT prepare for the experience. This is in no way patronizing on my part because it is true. The amount of people, time, man hour, money and life wasted away here by westerners is probably enough to take the current USA out of recession. China didn’t build their current economy. Foreign investments, technology transfers and eager beavers who tried to cash in did. They lost trillions. I want to prevent you from doing the same.

If you want adventure, romance, sex, excitement, and a big pay check.., go to law school or take a MBA program. The best way for you to get that glamorous movie expat life is get hired by a large International Conglomerate and get stationed here. You make foreign currency, and all your living needs are already paid for by your company. Life on the ground is not like that. This is no place to escape a mediocre life. You need to know what you really want before setting foot here.

2. Take a tour.

Come here first. Take a look around. Spend 1- 3 month to travel the country a bit. Backpacking if you must. Talk to some expats around the town you are interested in staying. You need to get a general feel about the place before you decide to settle down here. If you can’t stay that long, 2-3 weeks is probably minimal.

3. Do your homework.

Talk to a career counselor and a financial adviser before coming. This is important. Working in a foreign country is like immigration, except that you are going to a (most likely 3rd world country). You need to have a realistic expectation on how much you are going to spend, and how long you can go without a job. If you loose/quit that first job(extremely common) you get hired for in China, you need to know if you can survive. China isn’t a cheap place to live anymore.

4. Have a realistic expectation.

This is the typical salary range for an foreign English teacher in China (exchange rate may vary) :

3000 – 6000 RMB/Month = 400 – 800 USD/Month.

But what about your living expenses? China is cheaper, right? Let’s use Beijing as an example:

Within 4 ring road:

1000 – 5000 RMB/ 1 bedroom, 1 bath/10+ square meters/Month = 150 – 700 USD/Month

2000 – 8000 RMB/ 2 bedrooms, 1 or 2 bath/20-25+ square meters/Month = 280 – 1100 USD/Month

3500 – 20000 RMB/ 3 bedrooms, 2 or 3 bath/35-40 + square meters/Month = 500- 2800 USD/Month

That’s not so bad, right? As long as you stay within the lower range, and you take on a few private tutor jobs, you should be fine, right?

Wrong. Most Chinese buildings are built to Chinese living standards according to the year they are built. Most of the buildings that are semi-suitable to what you used to as western standard of living are built after 2001 or later. I won’t go too deep into housing here, but expect what you deem acceptable to be in the high range.

What about living expenses?

2000 – 5000 RMB a month for food, public transport, a few nights out, 2 dinners a week is very common.

What about the visit home?

5000 – 6000 RMB for a round trip ticket from Beijing to Vancouver.

What about those jobs with contracts that includes room, food and an airplane ticket?

You get a room in a dorm. You will (most likely) share the bathroom with the entire floor. You WILL have a curfew. You will eat free in the school cafeteria that serves …, anyway. And expect things NOT to work. Your roof might leak, and most of the appliance are probably 5-10 years old. Expect to catch some kind of skin disease.

5. A Personal story.

A friend of mine makes almost 25,000 – 30,000 RMB/Month = 3500 – 4200 USD/Month in Beijing teaching. That’s REALLY GOOD, right? Guess how much he keeps at the end of the year? ZERO. He’s been here for 4 years, got a wife and kid, and takes 2 vacation outside China(mostly going home to Vancouver) every year. Very typical and normal for a western family right? Except that he doesn’t get to save any money. Why? He still hasn’t paid off his student loan, nor his credit card debt that he incurred when he first arrived and he has child support from the first marriage. That is also extremely common for typical western families. Making RMB to pay CAD debts is down right insane and not really workable.

But you will say, it is possible to make that much teaching, right? LOL.

The reason he even makes that much is because he has build up his reputation for teaching excellence after 4 grueling years here. And he doesn’t really teach in schools at all. He teaches for multinationals and big companies.

6. Consider the human cost factor.

I can’t stress this enough. Life is tough here. I am not just talking the pollution, the cost of living, and/or any of the other crap I have mentioned. Working in China can be very tiring psychologically and emotionally. The rudeness, the behind the back talk, the staring, the people asking for free lessons, the constant questioning, the sneaky picture taking and the complete absolute lack of privacy. There are a lot of wonderful things about the Chinese people, but you have to wade through a lot of things to get there sometimes. Think about it.

To be continued. I’ll also answer my board mate TK’s question in the next post. I’ll update this post later.

Living with Pollution/Weather in Beijing/China (for Athletes and New Comers):

This is sort of a section for the Athletes and new comers. Pollution is very bad in China. If you are staying long term in China, expect it to take a few years off your life. I won’t get into anything technical here, because telling you how many particles per million or billion is useless to me and most likely to you as well.

This isn’t a section on how bad the pollution is or a rant about environmental damages. This one is about how to cope with it.

I have an independent air filter system at home in Beijing. If you have the money, you can get a combo with a air moisturizing system add on which can be a god send in Beijing.

1. Get an air filtering system. Or if you have an AC, change its filters often(HEPA if you can get it).

2. Get used to it. The US Olympics team has decided to stay in Korea and will only go to Beijing in the last minute to compete. BAD mistake. Your system needs that critical first week to adjust to the new environment. If you don’t do this, the pollution crash(with asthma or flu like symptoms) will be horrid.

3. Drink a lot of good water. Enough said.

4. Choose a living quarter away from the Main streets. In the west, everyone wants a view, don’t they? In China or Beijing in particular, getting a view can mean that your windows can have constant (depending on where it’s facing) winds blowing pollutants INTO your house. You will also have less noise.

5. Keep up your Ritual. Keep up your daily ritual of waking up at 6 am, brushing, and/or your favorite breakfast of sunny side eggs. This will keep you emotionally stable, so you and your immune system will be better prepared for the onslaught.

6. Do some experiments before coming. Here is an interesting experiment to try: Don one or two surgical masks, and go out and run for 5-10 kms. Can you handle the thinner air? Is your body still getting adequate amount of oxygen?

7. Be prepared for HOT, and DRY heat. If you are coming for the Olympics for any reason. Beijing is extremely hot in the summer. A lot of people don’t know that Beijing has desert weather. The fact that we are situated near the corner of Gobi Desert also helps. We don’t usually get sand storms in summer, but these days, you’ll never know. Pause for a second and Imagine a sand storm in the 50 degree C weather. You can get back to me later. Take your time. …., back? Unpleasant? Uncomfortable? Downright Nasty? You bet. AC can be your best friend in this season, but if you stay too long in it, you will get AC disease.

As for Athletes, stay off the sun, and keep hydrated. I am sure you don’t need me to say that.

8. If you are rich, you can get a place near the Summer Palace. This is one place in Beijing with a lot of water nearby and lots of old trees that are actually localized. Of course, you could stay/rent a farm house out there for cheap, but I am not sure if any westerners can actually survive that.

9. Honey with Grapefruit, Honey with Lemon, Grapefruit tea or a tiny bit of ginger tea can be a god send.

To be continued.

Beijing Part 1:

Alright, here we go! I won’t bore you with the usual boring details about the city that you can find on wiki or lonely planet. Beijing has been a city for roughly 2500 years, but it wasn’t anything special before the Mongols or Kublai Khan because the center of power has always been in the center of China such has Chang An or Loa Yang.

Beijing didn’t really become Beijing with the infamous Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven until the Ming Dynasty or around 1400. The Manchus that overthrew the Mings decided to not to mess with a good thing when they see it, and we have the Beijing today.

Now with the cliff notes version about the background of the City out of the way, let’s focus on what you need to know when and if you want to visit the place. Most of the places of interest that you want to visit are left by the 3 Dynasties I mentioned I above. But the most important thing is to get your bearings. You need to know where you are before you know where you are going, right?

Here is an easy reference, imagine Beijing as a giant castle with 5 walls and you’ll get the picture. But now imagine the walls have been demolished and replaced with giant free ways and you’ll get it right. These freeways are what we called Ring Roads. First Ring Road, Second Ring Road, etc. They go from inside out, just like a castle would.

Most things of interest(like shopping districts) are focused on old gates of the walls that enters or leaves the city (which makes a lot of sense if you think about it) . Most of the Tourist attractions that you want to see are within the Second Ring Road. If you can get a place within that square, getting around is easy and you can probably see most of what you want to see.

Don’t expect the Chinese maps you buy on the news stands to make sense, even if it’s labeled with English. They are littered with Pingying names for places, and can be down right out of date.

Confusing map

Here is a “interactive” (it doesn’t work, typical when you deal with official Chinese government stuff) map from the official Beijing Olympics website. It’s useless because it doesn’t have enough relevant labels, but it should give you a basic idea about the 5 ring roads.

Official Map

Beijing has 8 urban districts, but most of the time, you don’t really need to know more than 3 or 4. Here they are in order of importance (to a visitor):

Xicheng District (西城区: Xīchéng Qū)

Chaoyang District (朝阳区: Cháoyáng Qū)

Haidian District (海淀区: Hǎidiàn Qū)

Dongcheng District (东城区: Dōngchéng Qū)

Xuanwu District (宣武区: Xuānwǔ Qū)

Shijingshan District (石景山区: Shíjǐngshān Qū)

Fengtai District (丰台区: Fēngtái Qū)

The links are courtesy of answers.com, since I was too lazy to type them out and if you wanted to know more, you can check it out there.

There are a few neighborhoods that is probably a must for most visitors. I’ll deal with the main attractions later. Here we go:

• Wangfujing 王府井
• Xidan 西单
• Yayuncun 亚运村
• Zhongguancun 中关村
• Guomao 国贸
• Wudaokou 五道口

Wangfujing is the quintessential shopping district in Beijing for the 25-45 and middle to upper class. If your image of China is still from the Cold War, go here. Oriental Plaza and the New World mall here pretty much covers all the second tier brand shops with a few first tier brands mixed in between. Chinese pop stars shops here, but it’s unlikely any will be recognized by any non-Chinese. There is also the only official government sectioned street stall food street here. Take pictures of the scorpions, sea horses, and silk cocoons here, while the braver souls can try the food to their large intestine’s dismay. It can be reached by Subway. It has the best foreign language book store in Beijing. Food here(that ain’t served from a street stall) aren’t bad. There are more, but I’ll get to it later.

Xidan is the second quintessential shopping district in Beijing, but this is for the young and not so rich type (14-24, counting allowance money type). If you want to oogle young girls of any kind in Beijing, go here. It also has the biggest book malls in town. They have a lot of English Text books for cheap. (35.00RMB for one, anyone?) This place covers all the second to third tier western brands plus all the funky but horribly expensive/crappy in terms of price and quality Chinese brands. There are no real food here, since it’s all filled by food courts and chained restaurants. Be warned, this place gets VERY busy during weekends. It is a subway station name, just get off when they tell you to.

Yayuncun or Asian Games Village, soon to be Olympics Games Village. This is where the bird nest and the giant fish bowl is. Traffic used to suck until they finished the subway line 5. I lived here for 2 1/2 years, and I’ll post the pictures of the changes of this place later. There aren’t a lot of attraction here for visitors, even though the real estate surrounding this whole area has gone bananas ever since they decided to put the bird nest here. Don’t bother getting a place here if you are here for the games. Most of the venues are spread all over town. Note: As far as I know, there is only one Starbucks near the stadium, and it’s at the 5th street Mall, which is 15 mins drive with no traffic and 30 mins walk.

Chongguancun or the Beijing “silicon Valley”. This is where all the high tech companies and the big electronic malls are. Come here to look if you like, make sure you bargain hard for the prices. There is no easy way to reach this place, and that has been a point of contention for quite a lot of workers here. As you can imagine, the rent is expensive around here.

Guomao or the International Trade Center. This is the old standby. All old/veteran China hands/expats got their start here at 80s, because this was the only place to stay and apply for a business license address. China World Hotel was where most international delegation stayed along with the western journalists. 30-65 and Rich is the audience here. All the top tier brands are here. Gucci, Prada, LV, and etc. Expect the snob from both sides. It also has an ice rink that is closest to town. It is directly connected to a subway station. There are a few interesting places to go outside the giant complex, but that’s another section. A lot of decent restaurants here, and with the price to match. This is also close to the old embassy compounds.

Wudaokou will probably be the new Wanfujing + Xidan. It’s college town, with quite a few big internet companies as anchors. There are lots of young and hip things/people here. Koreans have a huge influence in this neighborhood. The food is decent and cheap (student price). You can see a lot of expats working and studying here. If you are studying Chinese in Beijing, this is where you are most likely to be. The rent here is Atrocious. Expect funky and lots of people trying to practice their English with you. Crowded. It is accessible with a Skytrain station.

I hope you enjoyed that as well as it has proven helpful to you.

The Deal about Chinese Visas:

Ok, this is an extended section on getting Chinese visas. (You need a passport photo, most visa agencies will be happy to take one for you. My usual price is HKD 35.00)

As of now, all long term visas are no longer issued because of tighter security surrounding the Olympic time. The maximum time you are allowed to stay is 3 months on a business visa.

Work visa is different since it requires some proof of employment, an application with the Ministry of Labor and it requires you to start paying Chinese taxes ever since the start of last year. All tour/travel visas are one month only. I have no idea about the difficulty involving journalist visas since I never had to apply for one. I can imagine it being more complicated and formal given the current situation around Tibet. There are also family visitor visas and visas for H.K. resident/green card holders. Taiwanese go through another category entirely. Student visas requires you to be enrolled in a school and an ok from Ministry of Education.

There is also the issue of the how many times you need to enter or leave China on a given visa. Single Entry means, you are allowed to go in once, that’s IT. Once you leave, you’ll HAVE to apply for another visa to return even if you still had time on the original visa. (I’ll tell a funny story about that later) Double Entry means you can enter the country twice after leaving it the first time. Multiple entry means you can do it as many times as your allowable time of stay doesn’t run out.

Recap with price in HKD (rough estimate from the agency I use) :

Single Entry L – HKD 200.00 ( USD 29.00)

Double Entry L – HKD 280.00 ( USD 40.00)

Multiple Entry L or F – HKD 480.00 ( USD 70.00)

Ever since the beginning of 2007, the China Custom Office has apparently upgraded their computer system and has since refused to offer 1 year stay + visas unless they are either from official channels (with all the complicated and costly/time consuming paper work) or H.K. residents. As of now, you CAN apply for an one year visa if you feel like stepping outside the country every single month. You need that stamp every month to keep staying.

As usual most Chinese consulate websites do not have the updated information you need. They are also a LOT more expensive, time consuming, onerous and you get a lot more questions. Here is an link and a quote from the Chinese consulate office in Vancouver:

7. Types of regular visa fees(American citizen not included):
1 Entry(3mths valid), $50CAD; 2 Entries(6mths valid),$75CAD; multiple Entries(6mth valid), $100CAD; 12 and 24-month multiple Entries, $150CAD.

From August 1st.2007,there will be adjustments to Chinese visa fee for U.S.passport holders, following as:

1.For an individual U.S.passport holder, any visa (single-entry,double-entry or multiple-entry )will be charged with 130 Canadian dollars.

2.The express and rush visa service fee will remain unchanged , which are 35 Canadian dollars and 50 Canadian dollar separately.

It takes four business days to process visa applications. For special cases, rush service is offered, and the applicant is subject to pay an extra fee for it. The rush service fees are rated as follows: $50 Canadian Dollars per person for the same day service (application must be submitted before 11:00a.m.), $35 Canadian Dollars per person for the second or third day service.

Note: The Consulate-General does not accept cash, credit card and personal check. Please make payment by debit card, money order or company check.

8. OFFICE HOURS: 9:00a.m.–1:00p.m. Monday to Friday, closed on holidays.

Stay away from the bureaucracy, and save yourself the trouble.