August, 2009

Some things to consider if you're a homeowner, or considering buying a house in Beijing:

A China Daily article cites a report by the Golden Keys real estate agency that claims the "ratio of home price to income in Beijing is now 27 to 1, five times the international average."

The ratio was based on government statistics and calculated using the average annual income of a family with two wage earners in Beijing (approx. RMB 60,000) measured against the RMB 3.04 million (!) that is now the purported average cost of an apartment in the capital.

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Few articles are as simultaneously infuriating and mollifying as this recent article from Xinhuanet.com. It centers around a forum at china.com where 98% of the readers called for lower years English lessons to be dropped. Two reasons for this attitude are shown below:

‘It is very ironic parents and students spend so much time and money learning something they don’t use’

‘My daughter has mixed English with Chinese pinyin, which is pathetic’

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A couple of interesting links from Slate.com – one concerning the very touchy subject of disciplining your kids (hat tip to forum user meiqi for the tip) that breaks down the different techniques (i.e. "Shock and Awe," "The Evil Eye" and "The Rational Saint") and concludes that one approach seems particularly effective (give your two cents here).

The second pontificates on the human politics of playdates and how easily they lead parents to judge each other. No super insights are offered here, but it's food for thought nonetheless.

Don’t miss this week’s five excellent events that are fun for the whole family. E-mail newsletter@beijing-kids.com to get each issue sent to your inbox. Check the beijingkids website for full event listings, www.beijing-kids.com.

Thursday 27th August – Disney Live! Winnie the Pooh

The adorable “hunny” loving bear and friends return to Beijing for an all-singing, all-dancing show at Century Theatre. Featuring a 3D projector this has all the makings of great family outing. Dubbed in Chinese. Shows from Aug 26-30. Century Theatre 21st Century Hotel, 40 Liangmaqiao Lu, Chaoyang District. 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets from RMB 120. http://en.piao.com.cn/beijing/ticket_2764.html

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According to new statistics, the number of Chinese Internet users (netizens) less than 10 years old has increased exponentially in the past year. The report claims that there are now approximately 3 million kids logging on, raising their percentage from total netizens from 0.3% to 0.9%, while around 80% of primary school students have access to the World Wide Web before the age of nine.

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Perhaps it is some innate longing to let loose myself, or perhaps that fact that public performance on such an impressive scale is now almost dead in my home country, but Beijing’s various park performers never fail to bring a smile to my face. Whether it’s a group of old boys with traditional instruments plucking away a slightly whiny tune, a choir singing lullabies, or couples ballroom dancing to music from a battered tape player there really is something magical about these wholly inclusive get-togethers, and if you haven’t seen it yet, then you really haven’t gotten to know Beijing- and you can’t argue, I’ve got the Washington Post on my side this time.

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The imminent arrival of the timeless west-end musical Cats in Beijing this September, coupled with an interview in Beijingkids’ June/July edition containing the lines ‘readers want storylines they can identify with, and which reflect their own cultural experience’ got me thinking. As much as Cats is a classic piece, it’s hardly tailored to the Asian cultural experience, and as such I’ve been thinking about some culturally conditioned west end faves. Here is my top 5 (with their original titles in brackets):

1)      Phantom of the Peking Opera (Phantom of the Opera)

2)      Okinawa! (Oklahoma!)

3)      East Side Story (West Side Story)

4)      Xiangqi 象棋 (Chess)

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As a current university student in the UK, this recent article in Times Online about the potential merging of British and American universities captured my interest. Given that collaboration between universities across the Atlantic has been minimal of late, the idea that we could be seeing Oxford-Yale, Cambridge-Harvard or Stanford-Bolton Community College hybrids in the not-too-distant future seems faintly ridiculous.

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If you’re thinking of things to do this August, it’s still not too late to catch the newest installment of the Harry Potter franchise; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

As a die-hard Harry Potter nut, I’ve been trying to find time to watch the movie since it opened on 15th July and finally managed to see it at the Megabox cinema at the Village in Sanlitun. http://www.imegabox.com/ Having paid RMB 40 per person to get in (student price), we settled down in the extremely comfy seats to watch the movie. Well, not quite as I ran back to get refreshments, forgetting that for a mere muggle it’s not easy to carry 4 cokes and 2 popcorns and re-present my ticket on request.

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Marie Claire recently ran an article by Shanghai born writer Ying Chu that ruminates on the social phenomenon of older White men dating and marrying young Asian women:

“Were these tycoons consciously courting Asian babes? Do any of them qualify for the unnerving ‘yellow fever' or ‘rice king’ moniker? It's unsavory to think so. But after two or three failed attempts at domestic bliss with women of like background and age, these heavy hitters sought out something different. Something they had likely fetishized. Enter the doll-faced Asian sylph on the arm of a silver-haired Western suit. (Hello, mail-order bride!) The excruciating colonial stereotypes — Asian women as submissive, domestic, hypersexual — are obviously nothing new. But decades after The World of Suzie Wong hit drive-ins and more than 20 years since David Bowie's "China Girl" topped the music charts, why are we still indulging them?”

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Chinanews.cn: New China Science and Technology Museum Boasts the World's Largest Domed Planetarium; Beijing Youth Daily: Three dinosaur fossils to arrive in Beijing this week (articles in Chinese)
Set to re-open this fall (date TBD), the new China Science and Technology Museum (not to be confused with the original facility of the same name located on the north Third Ring Road and now closed), unveiled its design and features at a press conference yesterday.
    Located in the Olympic Forest Park just north of the Bird's Nest, the new 102,000-square-meter facility sits on 48,000 square meters of land. At its center is a 28-meter, 9-story tall central atrium surrounded by new multi-leveled exhibition halls housed within a structure designed to resemble an ancient cube puzzle with interspersing pieces (somewhat like a Rubik’s Cube).
    The museum also boasts the world’s largest planetarium – a 600-seat theater housed in a 30-meter wide dome with a special “4D” section containing 50 seats that vibrate and rock in concert with the action on screen.
    In related news, the BJYD reports three valuable dinosaur from the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan fossils – including a 2.6-meter tall Lufengosaurus specimen, the oldest dinosaur species discovered in China – will arrive at the museum tomorrow for display in the main hall.

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Thursday August 13 - UE choral concert
Enjoy a varied collection of choral songs including La Vie en Rose, Canto Negro and Kiss the Girl (from none other than Disney’s The Little Mermaid) by the award winning choir from the University of the East.
National Centre for Performing Arts, 2 Chang'an Jie, Xicheng District. 7.30pm. Tickets from RMB 50-400, for more information call 010-64177845. www.piao.com.cn
Don't Forget: Refresh your Little Mermaid memory and head to Amazon.com to buy a copy of this classic.

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New York Times: Breast-Feeding Linked to Lower Cancer Risk
Some potentially good news for new moms with a family history of breast cancer: “There is new evidence that breast-feeding is associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer among a group of younger women who are at particularly high risk: those with breast cancer in the family. Although several studies have found that lactation is protective against breast cancer, the new report found little effect for premenopausal women over all. But for women with an immediate relative, like a mother or a sister, who had breast cancer, those who breast-fed had a 59 percent lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer. That is closer in line with the risk for women who had no disease in the family, the study found.”

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Don’t miss this week’s six excellent events that are fun for the whole family. E-mail newsletter@beijing-kids.com to get each issue sent to your inbox, or check the beijingkids website for full event listings online (www.beijing-kids.com).

Thursday August 6 – Paint Your Own Panda

Go to the Beijing Zoo and paint your own panda! This ongoing event invites kids ages 5-12 to design their own paper mache pandas, which will be put on display at the zoo until September 12, in celebration of the National Giant Panda Day. Daily 8.30am-4.30pm.

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 It’s the last month of summer, and most likely you’ve just returned from a summer holiday, have hosted many guests in Beijing, or maybe you and your family are new in the capital – either way, it’s time enjoy those last few days before the kids head back to school. If your child is beginning school for the first time, find out what to expect and how to ease young ones into the classroom. Searching for the right school is one of the most challenging and important obstacles families face – we’ve got the guide to finding the perfect school for your kids. Considering home-schooling? Ian Cook interviews two home-schooling families in Beijing to find out about their experiences.

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The good people at Beijing United Hospital (BJU) recently donated a bunch of board games to over 100 students and teachers who were going out of their minds with boredom at Yanxiang Hotel/H1N1 Quarantine Headquarters. 

The group of mainly British students have been waiting out the standard seven day quarantine since last Friday. Some took time out of their busy quarantine schedules (read: pacing the halls and watching CCTV) to pose for this happy snap. The masks are quite becoming.

Share advice, insight and experiences with other Beijing expat families on the beijingkids blog! We're looking for a few motivated moms and dads with a penchant for writing to contribute posts on a weekly basis.

Previous experience is not necessary, but enthusiasm, creativity and a nose for what matters to expat families are a must.

Send your contact information and a sample post to jerrychan@truerun.com.