“There is so much traffic!” … “Why is it so hot in Beijing?!” We all love to complain about the city, but in this hustle and bustle we often ignore the artistic side of Beijing. Art is everywhere around Beijing. Art is fluid and ambiguous, and as someone once said, “Art lies in the eyes of the beholder, and everyone has their own interpretation.”

Beijing is undeniably beautiful and never fails to light the bulb of creativity. The art lies in the interpretation, but sometimes it is hidden behind the chaos, the monotony of day-to-day life, and the proud skyscrapers, and it’s always worth it to lift the curtains of this hidden treasure of art.

Every day I walk out on the streets of Beijing I encounter nuances of the city’s art that astonish me. It amazes me because most of the time these things appear very ordinary, but they are still extraordinary. Let me share glimpses of three everyday places around Beijing that carve out a new definition for art.

First on the list is Liangmahe. You’re living under a rock if you haven’t been to explore this peaceful spot in Beijing. I found this place very artistically appealing because of its magnificent scenery. The river boasts its graceful flow, while Beijingers complement its beauty through their jovial presence. Especially during the rose pink dusk light of the sunset, the river appears no less than a canvas painted with the glittering of alluring elements. The colorful fluorescent light around the trees, the fleet of enthusiastic kayakers, the melody of the street concerts, the lively moves of the local dance troupe… It’s always refreshing to just walk and cherish the ornamental nature of the Liangma River, making it a spectacular spot on a hot summer evening to admire the artistic side of Beijing.

Next on the list is the one and only Wanjing SOHO building. What were your initial thoughts when you first looked at it? When I came across this building, my first words were “Oh, this looks like a mountain with terrace farming on it.” I wasn’t wrong. The design resembles many of the Longji rice terraces in Guangxi province. The architecture of the building is certainly commendable. At the same time, it is very ambiguous – different people have different opinions about the architecture, making it artistically pleasing! Next time you see the building, pause for a minute and interpret its creative structure. Also, don’t forget to snap a picture!

Last but not least, the third place might seem a bit strange to some people, but I think it’s still uniquely artistic. Have you ever traveled on the public buses of Beijing? I believe there is an art of unspoken storytelling, and that’s what the faces, the gestures, and the identities of the strangers narrate on the bus ride. It’s strangely soothing to just sit and listen to the sound of traffic, a lullaby hummed by grandparents to calm their grandkids, and the swift sound of gusts of wind entering through the window. Try it yourself – just admire the hidden art in the monotony of a simple bus ride on a hectic work day.

One thing I want my readers to take away from this article is the power of imagination to chase the hidden art around Beijing. The city of Beijing will never disappoint you, especially when you’re on the trail to explore art. Art is everywhere around the city, but what matters is your perspective. The three places I shared with you today might or might not have pleased you, but don’t let your eyes miss the hidden art in the trivial-yet-significant instances that are part of your day-to-day life in Beijing.

Images: Uni You, Pexels

Without a doubt, the top three things on any expat’s must-do list when relocating to the capital are downloading WeChat, finding an apartment, and hiring an ayi. Almost every Beijinger who has the means will hire an ayi – whether it be part-time or full-time, live-in or not, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. – to assist with their day-to-day lives. Because, let’s face it, living and working in a bustling city like Beijing can be exhausting, and if we can afford to hire someone to help, why not?

That’s why each year we conduct our Ayi Survey, to find out the latest updates and most vital information about Beijing’s ayi scene. Of course, you can always ask your friends how much they pay their ayi, or the scope of their responsibilities, but we’ve gone ahead and taken the guesswork out – while adding the honesty that comes with anonymity – by surveying a sizable swath of Beijing.

There are different types of ayis with diverse job descriptions. There are those who’ll only clean, those who’ll clean and cook, those who’ll watch older kids, and those who will care for babies full-time. The training they receive is different, as is the salary that you’ll want to pay them.

First thing’s first, however…the interview! Here are a few of the most common questions to get you started.

1. Find out why she’s leaving her current family. Is it because they’re moving or is it because of an altercation? It’s great to have a previous employer’s recommendation, but since that’s not always possible, ask as many questions as you can to get a full picture.

2. Does ayi speak English? If so, how well? Always confirm their language level rather than accepting a simple “yes” or “no.”

3. Has she worked with foreign families before? If so, where were they from? Sometimes agencies will classify all foreigners together, regardless of cultural differences.

4. Is she certified in CPR or first-aid? If so, for what age? Infant CPR is very different from adult CPR.

5. Be specific about what her duties are. Never assume that just because you’ve had an ayi who voluntarily did laundry for the family, all ayis will.

6. How old were the kids she previously cared for? How many families has she worked with?

7. Will she work on weekends? If she’s not living with you, will it be a problem if you need her to stay late from time to time?

8. If you have pets, does she have experience working for a family with pets or does she have any allergies?

9. Is she trustworthy? Was she recommended by someone you know? If not, can she provide you with a copy of her ID card and health check certificate? If they can’t or won’t then, it’s a definite red flag!

10. If you’re planning on hiring a live-in ayi, ask her specifically about what she’s expecting her living situation to be. If you can, do the interview at home so she can also ask questions about your family’s lifestyle.

The Survey Results Are In!

According to this year’s survey results, the most popular way for Beijing’s expat families to find their ayi is through referrals from someone they know. 57 percent reported finding their ayi through a friend, colleague, or neighbor, while 11 percent pursued a referral from another ayi that they already knew, and 10 percent followed a referral from a WeChat group.

This means that only 22 percent are finding an ayi through an agency, online ad, or some other means.

Of all the people who answered that they have full-time ayis, only 19 percent said that their ayis live with them. The rest employ ayis with a Beijing residence, who commute to work each day.

And now for the burning question that everyone’s most curious about: How much should you be paying your ayi? The monthly salary of your ayi will depend on whether they live with you or commute, and it would also depend on the exact work they’re hired to do. Ayis who look after children will be more expensive than those who only clean. According to this year’s survey results, 22 percent reportedly pay between RMB 7,001-RMB 8,000 per month for their ayi. While it’s not entirely uncommon to pay more than RMB 8,000 a month, only 7 percent of participants in this year’s ayi survery shell out that much per month.

28 percent said that they pay between RMB 6,001-RMB 7,000 a month, whereas 28 percent answered that they pay between RMB 5,001-RMB 6,000 a month.

On the lower end of the spectrum, 12 percent said they pay between RMB 4,000-RMB 5,000 and two percent said they pay less than RMB 4,000 per month for ayi. This would most likely be those with part-time ayis rather than full-time.

Curious if what you’re asking your ayi to do is reasonable? Of the long list of duties that we included in this year’s survey, the most common duties for ayi include:

KEEP READING: What You Need to Know About Finding (and Keeping) an Ayi

Images: Jingkids, Pexels

This article appeared in the jingkids 2021 May issue

About seven years ago a neighbor introduced her to me; in hindsight, maybe they did it out of spite. My first ayi in Beijing was in her 40’s, I think. We actually never had a conversation about her age. She was the worst ayi I’ve ever had. I only used her a few times before having to have that awkward conversation of letting her go.

Now I’m pretty low-maintenance, especially when it comes to settling on how many hours ayi worked and her availability, but she was a whole different story. Maybe she sensed that I was new to Beijing and was still a bit timid about giving instructions. She pounced on my language insecurity like a hungry lioness.

Her rate was reasonable but she’d take her sweet time with every task, all while taking constant breaks to chit chat on the phone. Annoying, but OK. I get it. It’s not the first time I’ve seen an hourly worker procrastinate, milking every minute of their work. But to make things worse I got the sense that she was gossiping to her friend about me in her local dialect that I couldn’t understand while she’s still in my apartment. You know that feeling, where even though you can’t understand what they’re saying you know they’re talking about you because they look at you and the make these snarky facial expressions.

OK Mina, be the bigger person and just let it go…

My final straw came after a particularly tiring day at work, and ayi was cleaning/gossiping and left without saying good-bye. After she left I found out that she had completely forgotten to do the bathroom (but somehow still spent the same amount of time cleaning as every other time she’s been at my place). That’s when I decided that enough was enough. I needed a new ayi. My plan was simple, just never call her to make an appointment again.

She had other plans.

A week goes by and I get a call from her, in her heavy accent that I can’t really understand she asks me if she can come over to clean. I tell her no and make up some excuse about not being home. A few days later she calls again; this time accusing me of wasting her time because I haven’t made an appointment with her in weeks. Um, excuse me? We didn’t have a set schedule and I’m not obligated to use her!

When I met my husband who’s a local Beijinger and told him about her, he laughed. “You were being overcharged and taken advantage of.”

How much should you be paying your ayi? Where can you go to find a good ayi?

Take the annual ayi survey, and when we publish the results, you’ll never have to go through the hellish experience with a nightmare ayi that I did.

Introduction to the Survey
Now in its seventh year, the Beijing Ayi Survey was started by an expat called Tobal Loyola; he now works at True Run Media, beijingkids’ parent company. After asking around about ayi salaries and getting a variety of responses, he realized the need for a community resource to provide a basis for comparison.

We’re once again conducting the ayi survey to collect some much-needed information on an essential part of your life in Beijing. To take the survey, click here or scan the QR code below.

Photos: unsplash

Hey, I’m Yuka. I’m both Chinese and Japanese, and have been living in Beijing for about 12-years. I love going out with my friends, traveling, reading, and roaming around the city. I have a little brother and a 7-year-old toy poodle. I used to call him Coco but since I got back from the Maldives this summer, I’ve been calling him my Maldivian Fish Curry. You have no idea how mesmerizing it was to have fish curry for breakfast every morning…

How has living in Beijing better prepared you for the future?

People here are very open to learning about foreign languages and cultures, so it has made me become more curious about things, people, and their stories.

Tell us your most helpful study tip.

Absorb as much knowledge as you can during the class!

What your favorite place to shop?

Brandy Melville, but they don’t operate in Beijing. Hollister and Bershka are my favorite substitutes.

What’s your favorite place to hang out with friends in Beijing?

Cliché, but Sanlitun.

Where do you go to veg out?

Yánjǐyòu (言几又)- a chill book store in the Grand Summit at Liangmaqiao with comfy furniture.

What advice do you have to newcomers just arriving to Beijing?

Be extra careful when crossing the street; drivers here can be a little savage.

Beijing breakfast: baozi or jianbing, and why?

Definitely a baozi for me! I love how the meat inside is salty while the skin has a slightly sweet aftertaste.

What’s your favorite book?

Pride and Prejudice

Where’s the most ideal place to be on a very polluted Beijing day?

Either my sofa or a bookstore.

What app could you not live without?

Shǒuqì Yuēchē (首汽约车)-a wonderful uber service.

This article appeared in the beijingkids July-August 2019 Teen Takeover issue

Photo: Kipp Whittaker

A few weeks ago my family and I were involved in a car crash.

I don’t mean to cause any alarm- we walked away completely unhurt and no more than a little put out. The accident happened, like everything else on Beijing’s roads, with glacial slowness. Indeed, it is in many ways a quintessentially Beijing story, and so I present it as such, without comment.

We were riding in a taxi along the third ring road, and, as so often happens, there were four lanes of traffic where only three were marked on the tarmac. A van was attempting to pull into our lane, which it did by the usual method of edging very gradually across. The van driver clearly expected our cabbie to stop and let him in. Our cabbie, however, refused to give way, and continued driving resolutely, bumper to bumper with the car ahead.

I had noticed this situation developing and watched with some amusement for several minutes as the two vehicles gradually, almost imperceptibly, converged. Somebody must blink, I thought, but no, and eventually the inevitable happened. The taxi’s wing mirror made contact with the side of the van, and gracefully inscribed a thin line into the paintwork.

In England, a collision of this kind would result in a red-faced shouting match, with both men determined to establish their moral superiority. In Beijing, the drama unfolded in eerie quiet, although there was no doubting the seething anger underlying it. Our cabbie and the van driver both immediately took out their cellphones, first to photograph the damage, then to call – who? The police? Insurers? I have no idea how these things work here.

Our cabbie then opened his trunk, set up his warning triangle, and wandered off for a smoke. At this point, we began to wonder what we were supposed to do, and more importantly, whether the meter was still running. My wife tried the door only to discover that we were locked in.

Amusement began to turn to concern. Were we expected to stay and act as witnesses? My kindergarten level Chinese is barely up to ordering a mei shi ka fei, let alone testifying in court. I tapped nervously on the window and bleated “Women xia che ba?”

The driver wordlessly released us, although I had to climb across to the back to get out as my door was wedged up against the van. We paid (I was relieved to see the driver had stopped the meter when he had stopped the car) and wandered off down the highway.

Photo: Michael Coghlan via Flickr

In a city with millions of inhabitants, it’s easy to get lost in the vast numbers and forget that those numbers relate to people. Beijing’s a melting pot of cultures influenced by people from far and near. The Beijing Kaleidoscope series gives you a snippet in to the lives of both expats and locals to show their diverse perspective on the city they call home. 

Ji Won An came to Beijing four years ago and works as the general manager of Gates Academy, a private education institution that caters to students age 12-18. The 27-year-old decided to come to the capital alone after being offered a good job. An teaches diverse subjects, and likes to play the violin, and visit eateries in her spare time. Kicking off this series, An has an interesting outlook on the place she’s called home for some time.

What other cities/countries have you been to/lived in before you came here?
I’ve been to Malaysia and lived there for one year. Spent some time in Canada and US as well. I have also been to Canada and the States.

How would you describe life in Beijing compared to other places?
I’ve been to Shanghai a while ago, and I find that Beijing and Shanghai are very contradicting. I never thought of it before I went to Shanghai, but thinking about it now, I feel that Beijing is a very lonely city. Unlike in Shanghai, when you ask for something in English here, most of the time people don’t understand. I feel that Beijing is much more traditional. Also, everybody’s so busy, and I think Shanghai is more open to foreigners than Beijing.

What changes in Beijing are the most significant, or clear?
The weather, definitely. It wasn’t this humid before. Five years ago, it used to be very dry, and I couldn’t live without applying a lot of lotion, but it is much more humid now and I’m not using that much lotion anymore. I guess Beijing’s changing weather patterns changed my habits.

Also, Beijing is modernizing at a scarily fast pace now – it’s becoming more and more advanced. At times I’m surprised at the technology here, for example, when payments through WeChat became available.

I eat out a lot; another change that I see is the increase in restaurants in Beijing. But, most of the traditional marketplaces are disappearing, which is a regrettable thing.

If you were to paint a picture of Beijing, what would you paint and why?
I would like to paint lao (old)Beijing. I think that’s the most representative thing about Beijing. I would paint old people on the streets, either practicing taichi or playing small board games. Also lao Beijing food.

If you had only 24 hours to live in Beijing, what would you do?
First of all, I would go have a lao Beijing brunch. After that, tour palaces, such as the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. I love palaces, especially the Forbidden City – it’s beautiful. Then I would go to a rooftop bar and enjoy the city’s night lights, which are also very pretty. But I would mostly focus on the palace tours and food.

Please complete the following: Beijing is a lonely city.

An plans on staying here for three more years. For her, the city is a blend of traditional and modern where the old and new coexist. Amidst the palaces and the night lights, with its contradicting but unique aspects, Beijing is a lonely city.

Judy Jeon, our July intern, attends the Western Academy of Beijing and decided to brave the murky waters of magazine writing. She is a writer in her school’s Roots & Shoots organization, and also leads an orchestra. With less than a year left to stay in Beijing, Judy is setting out to gather different views about the place. She likes to read, hang out with friends, and can be found exploring  Chinese culture around the hutongs. 

Photos: Ji Won An

As a kid from small town America, not to mention one who shares his birthday with Halloween, I may not be an expert on the holiday, but I’m intimately familiar with how it works.

Halloween is one of those holidays that parents either seem to love or express worry about due to its glimpse into the darker side of humanity; death, scary costumes and decorations, haunted houses, and people shouting boo. This leads schools to transmogrify the event into “Fall Harvest” celebrations or to ban costumes like ghosts or witches.

Unfortunately, asking kids to dress up as historical icons doesn’t impart the same spirit of fun and adventure as say Iron Man, Harry Potter, My Little Pony, or Princess Buttercup. Not to mention it forces parents to come up with double costumes for the same day. Even if you could dress a kid like Harriet Tubman or Winston Churchill (try finding those costumes on Tao Bao), I doubt most kids would be keen to give a history lesson every time someone asked who they were dressed as.

Still, even businesses can blunder the holiday as many a family found out at one major shopping outlet in Beijing (I won’t name names, but lets just say it was Mauve Mall). Despite shops having signs to indicate participation in the trick-or-treating program, every time our kids entered a shop, the employees looked at them like they were from another planet. Our daughter declared that the employees were all tricking the kids this year. Fortunately the restaurant staff at “Mauve Mall” saved our outing. They had plenty of candy and other treats for the kids to enjoy.

But the foibles of the holiday go out to Beijing homes too. While escorting my kid and her friends around a compound with designated apartments for trick-or-treating, we ended up at the one home with no decorations on the door. The kids rapped away and yelled, “Trick-or-treat!” The door opened and a man stood back and beckoned the children to come in. There were no spooky decorations or anything to indicate that the place was Halloween ready. Never discouraged, the kids marched into the home, around the corner, and into the living room (I followed) where they found several trays of goodies laid out on the coffee table. Call me over-protective, but it was the one place that I felt scared for the kids as visions of Hansel and Gretel played out in my mind.

Maybe next year I’ll buy my kid some candy and we will stay home and read history books together. I’ll even dress up like Captain Kangaroo. Now there’s a historical costume we can all identify with. Right?

Photos: Sui