In anticipation that my daughter’s middle school will request a negative COVID-19 test within seven days of school restarting next week, we went to get tested. We chose the testing center across from Ditan Hospital, located not too far from Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) and the French International School of Beijing (LFIP) in Laiguangying, northeastern Chaoyang District.

You can watch a video of our experience here:

This is by no means the only place to get tested, but its location makes it convenient for those living in neighborhoods near WAB, French School, Harrow Beijing (HBJ), and The International Montessori School of Beijing (MSB). It’s also not too far from Lido, Wangjing, and the villa district of Shunyi.

The testing facility is located across the street and slightly south of the main gate of Ditan Hospital (marked with a star on this map).

While you can get a COVID-19 test in the hospital itself (via the emergency room), we went to a commercial testing facility across the street from the hospital, located in a series of temporary prefab housing units placed on a dead-end street.

No appointment was necessary and the staff there were efficient, courteous, and helpful, even if you do not speak any Chinese. The testing facility is run by KingMed Diagnostics, a private company that set up there towards the beginning of the COVID-19 era earlier this year.

All testing is done without the need for going indoors. Glass half full: safer. Glass half empty: freezing cold.

Testing runs 7 days a week from 9am to noon, then 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Unfortunately, it’s closed Jan 1-3, but other firsthand accounts of testing, including at Beijing United, are similar and they are open this weekend.

You remain outdoors during the entire process, and it runs like clockwork. When we arrived, there were 25 people already in line. It took us 30 minutes to get tested, which means they are testing at a rate of about one person every minute.

While waiting in line, staffers will come by to register you and collect your payment via WeChat. You’ll need to scan a QR code and fill it out in Chinese; if you don’t need a fapiao, all you will need to do is enter your name (in all capitals, they told us), and your cellphone number. The test costs RMB 120 and your results will show up in your Health Kit in WeChat the next day.

At the head of the line, you’ll once again be asked for your name and cellphone number, as well as your passport number.

After registering, you’ll receive a test tube that you bring around and hand to the person in the hazmat suit wielding an extra-long Q-Tip.

You’ll then follow the people in front of you who are lining up in front of what appears to be a drive-through window. Stand in line, hand the staff member your test tube, pull your mask down, and say “ah”. A swab around the back of your throat and you’re done.

Presuming you input your passport number correctly in both your test and also your Health Kit, your negative result will pop up in the Health Kit the next morning. If you test positive, I’m guessing you’ll know that too, if not from the app but from the group of people wearing hazmat suits that will inevitably gather outside your door.

The result should turn up in your Health Kit the next morning; if it does not, use the KingMed WeChat mini program to access your report.

If for some reason you get no result in your Health App, you can download a copy of the test result from KingMed’s WeChat mini-app. Here’s how: find them at WeChat ID: KingmedServices; log in using the name you used at testing plus your cell phone number. Enter the account and you’ll see “Services” in English. Click on that and then click on the item that has the little flame icon next to it (新冠速查). There you’ll find the result.

The testing facility is a little tricky to find and is not well marked, but in recent days has been obvious due to the line of people that has formed in front of it. It is located across the street and slightly south of the main gate of the hospital (on the east side). Look for a small two-story brick guardhouse and the entrance is just on one side of that.

Finding the testing facility — located on a dead-end street across from Ditan — is a bit tricky. The entrance is just on one side of this two-story brick guardhouse.

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Photos: Michael Wester

Where to turn when you need the latest information on COVID-19 testing centers? If none of the options outlined in our sister site the Beijinger work for you, it’s to WeChat groups you go! That was especially true starting on Christmas day last week, when many Shunyi residents, workers, and school staff were instructed to get tested because of their proximity to the new cases.

It was in one of these Shunyi-specific groups where I learned that Beijing United Family extended their hours from 8am-12pm until 4pm daily, including the weekends. I called to make an appointment, got in line with my Health Kit, registered on their app while in line, paid my fees, and got my throat swab. That was around 3.30pm on Sunday and my results were in overnight, including in my Health Kit.

It wasn’t a fancy testing site, but it was efficient.

Now, I had just gotten a test as a precaution and to see if BJU would be a good place for my kids to get it before they return to school, but for many Shunyi residents, it was compulsory for either their place of work, or residence, or both. BJU clearly has their system mastered, with all nurses or staff helping us every step of the day. When my Health Kit wouldn’t allow me to log in again, they quickly swept me into an office to complete a short questionnaire. When I had a few questions about the paperwork along the way, I was answered promptly.

So how did these popup testing sites work for Shunyi families? Once people found the right location, it went pretty well.

The Shunyi community leaped into action, finding their way to various popup testing centers. They were not without some bumps in the road; however, thanks to folks in “Safe & Sane in Beijing” groups and “Shunyi Questions Answers & Info,” lots of the troublesome parts were solved by group efforts. We asked some residents about their experiences and how it went for their family’s testing.

Kim, Aaron, and Lachlan C (age 5), live in the Shunyi neighborhood of Tianzhu. Their family was one of the many who rushed to get tested so the parent/teachers and students could return to school next week. They all received a throat swab at the location called P6, a parking lot across from the Shunyi Bus Station. “It was open to the public and the information was shared by my school as well as in community WeChat groups for foreigners,” Kim related to beijingkids. “We waited in line for about one hour. They had bilingual assistants (foreigners) from the local community there to assist. It was super easy.”

Another Shunyi family who wished to remain anonymous brought their 15 and 17-year-olds for testing, again due to the school and Bureau of Education’s requirements, but their first location kept them in line for over an hour. A Chinese friend had found that testing spot through their management office, but their experience was less than ideal, said the family’s mom. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. But they only had one machine to register foreigners, and so it just slowed the whole process, and knowing that we were going to then have to line up in a much longer line to actually get tested was frustrating… I kept searching while we were waiting as I was frustrated by the long wait and saw that someone posted the International School of Beijing (ISB) location, and we ran over there. From that point, I did everything myself. I speak Chinese, which made it easy, but there were some English speakers around.”

The second location, across the street from ISB, went much faster for our second family.

A third family with children under the age of eight were required by their compound in Shunyi to get a test, and the mom recalls that with younger kids: “the testing itself wasn’t bad but it was still a tad uncomfortable for the kids. They said, “It hurt my throat.” It was better than a nasal swab – that’s for sure! There were tears when they had the nasal swab test done in Thailand; this one felt so much better than that.”

Both families expected their results to come in 24-48 hours, but Kim’s arrived via text message within eight hours and one of the third family’s members had their results fairly soon after, but are still waiting for the other three. They all warn that the locations where they tested now seem to be closed, it’s best to check your local WeChat groups to learn the latest spots for testing, as it’s all moving quite quickly.

According to the Beijing Municipal Government’s press conference yesterday (Dec 28), as of 3pm that day, 1.2 million tests had been administered and over 900,000 results returned, with no new infections discovered.

To join the Shunyi Questions, Answers & info group, please add WeChat ID: pj_weichat and tell them beijngkids sent you!

For more general information on Beijing, join the Safe & Sane in Beijing groups by adding WeChat ID: mwinchina and ask to be added into the Safe & Sane group.

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Photos: Cindy Marie Jenkins, Shunyi families