Foreigners working legally in Beijing may now buy property with an immediate effect, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced, in a move anticipated since the summer of 2015.

Previously, non-Chinese citizens were required to be resident in Beijing for a year in order to become eligible to purchase real estate. Now, a legal work permit (and a fair bit of money) is enough to buy the Beijing home of your dreams – or the rental property you’ve always been eyeing.

Beijing’s real estate market was not long ago considered overheating, but has certainly cooled to the point that local officials are keen to encourage buying.

However, foreigners are not usually eligible for the same financing options available to Chinese citizens, which may continue to limit foreign enthusiasm for local property, even among long-term expatriates.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger on February 17, 2016.

Photo: thebeijinger.com

After a humble beginning in 2013 that raised more than RMB 20,000, local charity event Maovember exploded in 2014 when it generated over RMB 100,000 in donations for eye health organization Orbis, with every RMB 800 raised representing cataract surgery for one recipient in rural China. As it gears up again, we spoke to Maovember co-founder and prime mover Jim Boyce about its roots and the plan for this year.

How did Maovember start?
Julian Tavalin and I were getting drunk at the Hilton wine fair two years ago. He was running Tavalin Bagels at the time and had some unsightly lip hair and we started talking about Movember, when guys grow mustaches during November to raise money for research into men’s health issues like prostrate cancer. I suggested a further word play and asked if he’d donate one "mao" — a tenth of a yuan — to charity for every bagel he sold in November. Maovember! It was also Halloween weekend and I remembered how in Canada kids dressed up and visited their neighbors to get treats as well as pennies for UNICEF. The idea of helping someone with lots of small donations sounded good.

Anyway, Tavalin agreed and some other bars, restaurants, and vendors soon signed up and we launched Maovember. We didn’t have enough time to find a reliable men’s health charity so the donation went to the Library Project. I had worked with them on Beers for Books and had faith the money would be well spent. We raised more than RMB 20,000, enough to furnish a library for a migrants’ school in Beijing.

Plus, we grew mustaches. Andrew Papas of Two Guys and a Pie had an especially dubious pie duster. He also turned out to be the ultimate salesman for our 50-kuai Maovember lapel pins — few people have the skill set to turn cynical and sloppy drunks into pin-buying softies at The Den at 3 AM. Anyway, Two Guys was kind of our unofficial headquarters and we ended the campaign on the last — and very cold — day of November by selling Vedett beer, with labels featuring pics of donors, and with a show by The Beijing Beatles, who were juiced up on CHEERS mulled wine, in its modest confines.

That was in 2013. What about 2014?If 2013 was a pencil ‘stache, 2014 was a full-fledged flavor saver with bonus sideburns. This time, there was a men’s health angle — George Smith, a part owner of The Irish Volunteer, works for Orbis and said we could fund cataract surgery for men in rural China at RMB 800 per operation. We also had a lot more events — over a dozen — and participating bars, restaurants and vendors. And it turned out many people were willing to donate RMB 800 to fund an operation. In the end, we raised over RMB 100,000, enough for more than 130 surgeries, including 60,000-plus from events, 20,000 from personal donations and 20,000 from pin sales.

How are the charities chosen?
The idea is to choose charities that show a visible result. We couldn’t find a men’s charity in time in 2013, so we teamed up with Library Project. Andrew Papas and I went to the partner school on the edge of Beijing to help put the tables, chairs, and shelves together, and stocked the shelves with books, so we saw the physical manifestation of the donations. Or maybe a more accurate way to describe it is that we figured we were going to some ribbon-cutting ceremony and ended up being given hammers and screwdrivers and set to work.

Last year, I tried to get in touch with the China branch of the Prostate Cancer Foundation several times–they didn’t respond until February! In the meantime, we connected with Orbis. George Smith provided photos and biographies for some of the guys we funded as well as the charity’s quarterly reports that list progress on the surgeries.

What are the challenges Maovember faces?
Like any project, it comes down to people. There will always have people who promise to help but don’t come through or who have hundreds of ideas but little interest in implementing them, but we’ve been lucky to team with a lot of people who want to do something good and believe in the cause.

We had great venue partners last year, particularly The Irish Volunteer, Paddy O’Shea’s and Jing-A — which also teamed up with Beijing Foodies, Home Plate and The Loca l– who raised the majority of the event money. But there were others who came out of the blue. At the risk of singling out some and being accused of ignoring others, I was surprised when Stefan Schober of Q-Mex got in touch about organizing a quiz night and even more so when it raised over RMB 3,500. Or when Teesh Law of Deli De Luxe, who I had only known a few weeks, agreed to sell hot chocolate and coffee for charity at The Turkey Bowl, an annual flag football game organized by Mash Up. One of my most vivid memories was seeing a taxi, its trunk loaded with full cups of coffee, driving at 10 km per hour around Chaoyang Park in search of a football field. That’s only a couple of examples. There are many more.

What’s planned for this year?
My suggestion is to focus on the basics, to be less concerned about beating last year’s donation total and more concerned about maintaining the spirit of the event and its focus on small businesses, transparent fundraising, and concrete results. My big worry is that as Maovember grows, so do the odds of something dodgy happening and reflecting poorly on everybody, one reason we were pretty picky about events last year. We also raise money through pin sales and it would be nice if the venues who sell them paid up front — we’re talking RMB 500 for 10 pins — as a lot of time was spent running around collecting money and unsold stock last year that would be better spent elsewhere. But mostly it’s about teamwork. I’m not even keen on doing interviews like this because there were literally hundreds of people involved last year, from bar owners to donors to — once again! — The Beijing Beatles. And why not get involved — most of us have our sight, and our health, and are lucky to be able to help.

Keep an eye on the Maovember website for more information.

Photo: Maovember/Jim Boyce

this post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on October 8, 2015

From September 3-5, China will celebrate War of Aggression Victory Day, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of what everyone else calls World War II. The country will have three days of holiday during that period. And with that holiday come a whole bunch of temporary restrictions.

Owners of motorbikes and scooters of any kind, and Taobao addicts, may wish to pay particular attention to the information below:

• Tiananmen Gate, the building, is already closed to the public, and will be until after the holiday.
• Beginning Monday, August 10, only gas-powered motorcycles and scooters registered with the police will be permitted to buy fuel.
• Beginning Monday, August 10, all electric bikes without proper license plates and registration will be seized.
• From August 17, identity, license, and registration will be conducted on drivers.
• From August 17, any automobile without proper entry permit for Beijing will be seized.
• From August 20, automobile use in the city will be restricted to on the odd-even license plate ending basis.
• From August 20, motorbikes and motor scooters with 京B license plates will not be permitted within the Fifth Ring Road.
• From August 20, delivery vehicles, including tricycles and vans, will not permitted between the hours of 6am and midnight. In other words, don’t plan on moving house or ordering anything that requires delivery between August 20 and September 3.
• On August 22 and 23, Tiananmen Square and the Wangfujing area will be closed to the public.
• On September 2 and 3, Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing, and Qianmen will be closed to the public.
• As we previously noted, Beijing’s two major airports, Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) and Nanyuan Airport, will be closed from 9.30am to 12.30pm on September 3.
• Primary schools in Beijing will not begin classes until September 7. For international schools, please check with your school for relevant scheduling information.
• High schools in Beijing will not begin classes until at least September 7. For international schools, please check with your school for relevant scheduling information.
• China’s stock markets will be closed September 3-6.

Enjoy the holiday! Or, take our advice and go to Japan.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 6, 2015

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed Wednesday night that a piece of aircraft wing found on Reunion Island came from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, CNN reported.

The announcement comes almost 17 months to the day that MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. While the confirmation indicates that the plane crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean, and that the 239 passengers and crew are likely dead, it answered none of the other questions remaining about the incident, such as why the plane flew so far off its intended course.

"’I didn’t hear facts. I didn’t hear the basics. I heard nothing,’" said K.S. Narendran, husband of one of the missing passengers, "’and so it leaves me wondering whether there is a foregone conclusion and everyone is racing for the finish.’" CNN reported.

The three-meter section of wing washed up July 29 on Reunion Island, a French possession in the western Indian Ocean, 2,000 kilometers east of the African coast, and thousands of kilometers west of the suspected site of the crash off western Australia. Australia continues to search for MH370 wreckage underwater.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Until the wing debris was discovered in late July, not a single piece of wreckage, a single drop of oil, or a solitary life jacket had been found.

One hundred fifty-two of the passengers were Chinese, most of them from Beijing. A number of Beijing-based expatriates were also aboard, including most members of a French family, a couple traveling without their children, and a businessman on his final flight to Beijing before completing a move to Kuala Lumpur.

Satellite pings indicate the plane may have taken a course to the southern Indian Ocean and continued until it ran out of fuel or was forced down.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 6, 2015.

One year ago Sunday, Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH370 disappeared en route to Beijing. The psychic scars have yet to begin to heal even as most in the city’s expat community have moved on.

Most affected in this tragedy have been local Chinese, who made up the bulk of the passenger list, and news reports from Monday morning indicate that about 30 family members showed up at the Lama Temple Sunday to pray and entered in pairs while others waited outside.

But Beijing’s expat community was also hit by MH370. Two teen students from Lycée Français International de Pékin (the French School) and their mother are among those missing, as are the parents of a former grade school student at BCIS. The partner of a former expat staff member at WAB who long called Beijing their home is also among the missing.

In many ways, Beijing’s naturally transitory expat community has moved on and put the incident behind them: none of the schools planned memorials marking the occasion.

Most expat relatives of MH370 passengers have since left Beijing. Ghyslain Wattrelos, the father and husband of the French expats that are among the missing, now lives in Paris. The children of missing BCIS parents Bai Xiaomo and Muktesh Mukherjee eventually moved to Mumbai to live with their grandparents. Sarah Bajc, a former Beijing expat teacher at WAB and partner of the missing Philip Wood, is now based in Kuala Lumpur.

But while their connections to Beijing have been severed, they have not been silent. Bajc and Wattrelos in particular have been among the most active voices in pushing for a resolution of the mystery of what happened to MH370.

Bajc has been perhaps the most persistent English voice in the MH370 dialogue. She regularly writes on the “Finding Philip Wood” Facebook page (VPN required), which she founded. On Thursday she posted a link to a documentary about the heartbroken family members, along with the caption “we cannot forget …”

And on Friday she linked to a recent news article that described the family members’ struggles with “ambiguous loss,” along with her pointed criticism of the investigation and her fears of a cover-up. She has voiced similar criticisms throughout most of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Wattrelos is distraught about how quick the authorities appear to be moving on. In an interview with The New York Times published on Friday, Wattrelos took issue with the Malaysian government’s recent announcement that the disappearance was an accident, and that the passengers relatives could now finally apply for compensation and death certificates.

He was quoted as saying: “How dare they say it was an accident, just like that? They would not be offering us death certificates if they didn’t know that my wife and children are dead. That’s the part I believe. But if they know that much, what else do they know? And why aren’t they telling us?”

Wattrelos has also been quite persistent with tributes to his lost loved ones. He recently posted a link to a story about the missing flight on his Facebook page, writing that: “We cannot pass up the anniversary without reacting.” But there has been another milestone that Wattrelos was even more intent on commemorating: his missing son’s birthday. On February 2, Ghyslain wrote a long, heartfelt tribute to Hadrien. In it he described celebrating Hadrien’s birthday in Beijing the year prior, adding that it was the last time that the entire family had been together.

Wattrelos’ anguished comments have been far less frequent than his statements of anger. On late Friday afternoon Beijing time he took to Facebook again, posting a link to an interview that he had given to a French newscast, where he questioned the integrity of the investigation for the missing flight. 

The New York Times noted that Wattrelos has banded together with Bajc and a few of the other MH370 relatives to compel a whistleblower to reveal any details about the search’s flaws. They raised USD 100,000 for the effort last year, using the money to hire private investigators, and hope to begin a similar fundraiser soon. Wattrelos adds: “If we offer a million, maybe someone will speak up."

Meanwhile, relatives of the missing flight’s Chinese passengers have been far more prominent. This is not surprising because of the sheer number of Chinese passengers onboard, making up two-thirds of the manifest. A recent New York Times article described a handful of the MH370 passengers’ wives, mothers, and sisters that have embraced Buddhism, "making ritual treks to local temples to pray for safe return" of their relatives.

Some of those devout family members have made even further pilgrimages, according to the Malaysian Insider that reported on several Chinese family members that recently visited Kuala Lumpur’s Thean Hou temple to pray. That article also recounted the trails of Li Hua, who grappled with a stroke and considered suicide after learning that his daughter was among the missing.

A Time Magazine story, meanwhile, delved into not only the grief, but also harassment that many family members have faced because of their tenacious push for answers in the unsolved incident. The Time story also described a MH370 WeChat group, which the relatives use to vote on how to respond to officials, adding that the group’s members have been monitored by the authorities, who aim "to discourage activism."

The relatives’ troubles are compounded by the recent announcement from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (whose government is heading up the current phase of the investigation, in the nearby Indian Ocean), when he said over the weekend: “I cannot promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever.”

While many of the relatives are no doubt dismayed by the prospect of never having an answer about their loved ones’ whereabouts, at least two of those family members have a different take on the tragedy. The sister of one of the missing passengers recently told The New York Times that: “My mother is waiting for her daughter … to return, though tears roll down her cheeks every time she raises a rice bowl. In a way, no news has been good news.”

Wang Zheng, the son of that missing relative, added: ""I cannot fall, because I don’t want my parents – upon their return – to see I am collapsing and languishing. I must take care of myself, take care of my family, and I must stand tall and pursue the truth as we are waiting for them to return."

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on March 9, 2015

Photo: The Rocket

Contrasting views of Ray Wigdal, the foster father of an eight-year-old girl who died Sunday night and ten other children who are now in protective custody, have emerged, as his whereabouts remain unknown.

Early Chinese media reports on the situation indicated that Wigdal, a US citizen, may have been in China for as long as 30 years and speaks fluent Mandarin. One of the volunteers who assisted with caring for the 11 children whom he had adopted described him as being "nearly 60."

Wigdal has little apparent social media activity online, but his Facebook page identifies him as having "Worked at God," implying a religious calling, and having attended Cedarville University in Ohio, which describes itself as "an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist university." Several online church circulars refer to blessings to be sent to Wigdal, who was identified to be doing missionary work in China.

Inquiries by the Beijinger indicate that Wigdal is a familiar face around Beijing’s expat communities centered in Lido and Shunyi, as he and the children spent much of their time in public places such as Pinnacle Plaza and the Lido Hotel. Residents of the downtown Qijayuan Diplomatic Compound say they were frequent visitors to the playgrounds and fields there as well.

Although few report a close relationship with the man, many have had casual encounters with him and the children. Reports have him alternately doting and harsh, while the kids are described in far-ranging terms from happy and playful to hungry and unkempt.

This much appears clear: Widgal for the past 10 years has been providing foster care to an increasingly large number of children, moving frequently and often staying in two-bedroom accommodations in Beijing. 

Wigdal appears to have spent most of his time taking care of the children and did not have a regular job – news reports indicate that he relied on donations and charity to pay life expenses and corrective surgeries for the children. A number of Chinese and expatriate volunteers assisted him with their care.

One comment left on an earlier report in this story presented a picture of a caring father. "I met [Wigdal] a few years ago in Christmas Day at the Old Goose and Duck with all 13 of his foster kids. He brought them there for a Turkey Dinner and the guy did not consume any alcohol. He doted on the kids and taught them how to play Foosball, Shuffleboard, shoot pool and throw darts," said thebeijinger.com commenter.

"From my recollection, he clearly cared for those kids. It’s inconceivable to me that he abused those kids in any way unless he lost his mind or something," the commenter added. "Ray was devoted to those kids."

However, many witnesses contacted by the Beijinger indicated that Wigdal was short-tempered with the children in public.

"I remember he was short with them, but man, a dozen kids – who wouldn’t be short?" said on expat parent. "I got the impression that his heart was in the right place but like many priests or nuns I’ve known, not the most patient … [What Widgal] was doing was tough work and not glamorous or fun at all."

Another source added that the kids would often turn up at Jenny’s supermarket in Shunyi to ask for expired bread. “A few times when they had sold out all the bread, Ray got really mad and started yelling at the staff demanding they gave the children bread or something else,” said the source.

Widgal’s almost entirely text-free website rayschildren.org displays 10 years of images and portrays a father caring for his infant foster children. Group shots are numerous and the kids’ lives seem filled with trips to the Great Wall and other tourist attractions, as well as playing in familiar Beijing locations such as Pinnacle Plaza, the Lido, ISB and Qiajiayuan.

From the pictures one can see that birthdays were celebrated regularly with cakes and gifts and the children are almost always pictured smiling and doing typical child activities like riding bikes and doing homework. At other times they are taking baths and undergoing medical checkups.

Many of the pictures show the children’s pre-surgical cleft palates and post-surgical care and feeding; Wigdal is often bedside at the hospital, bottle feeding the children, hugging or kissing them.

Numerous people who saw Wigdal and the children at the Pinnacle Plaza Starbucks reported that the kids looked well. "[They] didn’t look abused/malnourished/unkempt. Always doing homework etc. in Starbucks," one of several Twitter posts read.

However, others say the children were frequently begging and seemed to cower in the face of their guardian.

One person who claims to have seen the children at Pinnacle Plaza nearly every day says the kids’ situation had worsened over the past year.

The last the witness saw them, in September, she asked the children where Widgal was. “They were terrified to speak; and the older boy kept telling them in Mandarin to stop answering my questions and was clearly nervous; looking around and moving his hands in and outside of his pocket.”

The source said that many in the community shared similar concerns about the children, as they were frequently seen asking for food or money around Pinnacle Plaza. The kids inexplicably claimed to be students at a nearby international school, which the source could verify was not true (previous news reports indicate the students were all home schooled and had received no formal education beyond that).

Some who have had encounters with the children suspect that Wigdal had ceased to be able to offer adequate care to the children as his flock of foster children grew beyond his means.

 “This is probably a ‘good guy gone bad; something happened along the way," says one witness. "Deep inside I hope he is the nice guy looking after 10 children out of love and compassion." However, seeing the condition of the children was enough to compell her to contact the US embassy about the case.

Some or all of the 11 children were brought to Wigdal over the years, from origins unknown. Media reports quoting volunteers said the children had all been abandoned at birth, presumably due to birth defects.

It remains unclear whether Wigdal legally adopted any of the children. Earlier news reports say an Chinese elderly volunteer, identified as "Granny Guo," 76, helped Wigdal take care of his foster kids and had told reporters that she was unaware of Wigdal processing any proper paperwork to formally foster or adopt the children.

Another report added that since most of the children Wigdal had been caring for were abandoned, they lacked any legal Chinese documents such as birth certificates or IDs that would be necessary for proper registration. Without this paperwork, adoption of the children by a foreigner through legal channels would prove even more difficult than the already rigorous procedure.

Authorities now caring for the children are attempting to establish their identities via DNA testing.

In the meantime, the whereabouts of Wigdal remain unclear. He did not visit Phoebe in the hospital during her stay from late November until her death over the weekend, though volunteers say he had sent money to the hospital to help pay for her care.

The Beijinger is following up on several leads in the hope of hearing from Wigdal to get his side of the story; if anyone has contact with him please have him contact us at info@thebeijinger.com. All correspondence will be kept confidental.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on December 9, 2014

Photos: Rayschildren.org via theBeijinger

[Update Dec 8, 3:25pm]: Updates throughout. News reports are now saying Phoebe died last night at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics.

An eight-year-old girl at the center of what authorities suspect might be child abuse died last night at 8pm, according to Chinese reports in The Mirror.

The girl, known as Phoebe, was brought to the Capital Institute of Pediatrics on November 24. She stopped breathing on her own around 7pm Sunday night and passed away at 8. Suffering from an intestinal obstruction and kidney problems that began some time in September, this was her third trip to the hospital since the injury. 

Volunteer caregivers who have assisted Ray Wigdal, identified as the American foster father of the girl and 10 other Chinese children ranging from two months to 17 years old, told reporters that her injuries were the result of a bicycling accident; however authorities suspect the girl’s injuries may have been inflicted by Widgal, as Chinese media reports claim that the girl told the hospital staff she had been hit by him.

Wigdal is reported to have been in China for over 30 years, speaks Chinese fluently, and has been raising orphans from infancy since at least 2004, with most of the children abandoned by their natural parents because of birth defects such as cleft palate.

Wigdal’s whereabouts remain unknown and he did not visit Phoebe since her admittance November 24. Volunteers said he was informed immediately about her death, but none would reveal how he knew or who told him, nor what his reaction to her death was.

News reports say a Chinese elderly volunteer, identified as "Granny Guo,"  76, helped Wigdal take care of his foster kids. She said that Phoebe was adopted by Ray in 2006, but since she was not there when Phoebe first arrived, she had no idea how he ended up with Widgal. Like Wigdal’s other adopted kids, Phoebe did not have a Chinese name and no one knows who her biological parents are.

Among the 11 adopted kids, Phoebe impressed Mrs. Guo.

“She was the smartest and the best behaved,” Guo told The Mirror. “Except for one child, who is autistic, all the other kids are very smart — but Phoebe was surely the smartest.”

Guo said Phoebe loved jigsaw puzzles and the Rubik’s Cube. “Often it took her just a few moves [to finish a Rubik’s Cube], “ Guo told reporters.

Guo also told reporters that Phoebe was the best behaved of the 11. She loved grapes but she never rushed to grab too much for herself when the kids were sharing a snack. She was always satisfied with whatever she got. Every time the kids fought or played pranks on each other, Phoebe never joined them. She always simply sat there, watching and laughing. 

Reports from 163.com last night state that Wigdal was interviewed by police on Sunday. Beijing Police released no further information on the matter, including whether or not they had detained him.

Chinese media reports have gone sensational with headlines that have presumed Widgal’s guilt, such as 163.com’s use of the headline "Chinese Girl Tortured by Foreigner Stops Breathing (被老外虐待中国养女停止呼吸)".

However, Granny Guo was quoted as saying that Phoebe’s initial injury, which doctors say came from blunt external force, dated from September, a time when Wigdal was in the US  – and therefore it was impossible for him to have caused her injuries.

A woman identified as Ms. Zhang, one of the volunteers, said that Wigdal had "almost collapsed," although it is unclear whether this occurred before or after his meeting with the police. "He said that raising children is a part of his life and he can’t believe the situation has developed into this," Zhang told The Mirror Chinese newspaper.

The report also says Wigdal called the children via one of the volunteers Sunday night, saying, "No matter where you are, I’m still the boss."

The other 10 children were taken into protective custody by Beijing authorities and children protection staff on Friday, December 5, with reports coming from a trusted American source familiar with the case saying  "the kids were safe and treated kindly and with great patience and compassion."

It remains unclear whether Wigdal has legally adopted any of the children. "Granny Guo" told reporters that she is not aware of Wigdal processing any proper paperwork for fostering or adopting the children.

However, one report added that since most of the children Widgal has been caring for were abandoned due to birth defects, they lack any formal Chinese paperwork such as birth certificates or IDs that would be necessary for proper registration.

Police said they planned to use DNA testing to attempt to establish the children’s identities.

Authorities have stated that in order for Wigdal to claim any of them from protective custody, Wigdal will have to prove that he is their legal adoptive parent.

For updates on this developing story kindly click here.

Photo: The Mirror via theBeijinger

Additional reporting/translation by Patrick Li

We ask our readers to support their favorite restaurants every year in our Reader Restaurant Awards, favorite bars and clubs in our Bar and Club Awards, and favorite burger in the Burger Cup. But this time, we’re asking you to support the Beijinger and vote for us in the first Expat Life Awards, held by networking organization FCGroup.

The Beijinger is nominated for Best Expat Magazine and Best Expat Website. Beijingers can vote in a host of categories including dentist, Chinese language school, hospital, real estate agency and more.

The FCGroup organizes networking events in Beijing every Tuesday, organizes monthly day trips and larger events once per quarter. Voting in the Expat Life Awards ends September 5, with the awards event on September 21 at 6.30pm at the Hilton Beijing.

To vote, click here to start the survey. Thank you for your support!

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 25, 2014.

Photo: the Beijinger

So when Conde Nast Traveler, the rather prominent global travel publication, released its list of "The 2014 Friendliest and Unfriendliest Cities in the World," I thought, "oh no." I figured Beijing would not be on the first part of the list, and was afraid it might be on the second. Sadly, I was correct both times.

Melbourne and Auckland tied for world’s friendliest cities – imagine some sitcom rendition of "You go first. No, you go first. Hee hee hee," between the two as they vie for the top slot down under. But there is Beijing, the sixth-unfriendliest city in the world, seemingly less friendly than Frankfurt, Germany, at number seven, but more amiable than Marseilles, France, at number five (Johannesburg, South Africa, was rated unfriendliest).

"Though many readers find Beijing ‘fascinating’ and ‘beautiful,’ others believe that its ‘terrible pollution’ dulls the city’s many charms. ‘It’s a smoggy, crowded city that detracts from the amazing sites,’ one reader said, while another complained about its ‘dirty streets and hideous traffic.’ For a guaranteed smog and traffic-free experience, might we suggest going off the beaten path entirely?"

Maybe we should see it as improvement. TripAdvisor users voted Beijing second-worst city in the world for friendly locals, best taxi service, and friendliest taxi drivers. Only Moscow was worse in those categories. Still, the same site’s users said Beijing was their fourth-favorite city worldwide. Win some, lose some.

Conde Nast Traveler and its readers aren’t always so unfriendly to Beijing. Earlier this year, they named The Temple Hotel to the 2014 Hot List of The Best New Hotels in the World, and in July 2013 included Janes & Hooch on its list of Best New Bars in 20 Cities.

The lists are all subjective, but the reality is that tourist arrivals in Beijing continue to drop ten percent per quarter.

‘Til Tuesday, one road flat safe.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 7, 2014.

Photos: The Beijinger