When I was growing up, the end of the year was always all about celebrations. I come from a small family so we found every and any excuse to party with our friends. Nowadays, the holiday season brings back fond childhood memories of my mom’s roast chicken and rekindles my hopes and aspirations for the year to come.

In this December issue, we take a look at the ways people are giving back to the community and helping those less fortunate. I’m excited to share the story of our little grassroots group who have been helping a small number of homeless people in Beijing and all the ways students at Beijing’s international schools are giving back to their community.

The end of the year is a time for charity bazaars and holiday fairs. An all-time bake sale favorite has always been adorable tasty cupcakes. Chef Lily Zhang from Theatre Tea shows us one of her easy cupcake recipes
(p. 28) that can be used all year round. Food brings people together and one of the best ways to make memories as a family is by sharing a great meal together. The Zaugg family spent an afternoon at one of our favorite family-friendly restaurants, Casa Talia. And for those who love to throw extravagant holiday parties at home, we’ve found Beijing’s most trusty catering services to turn you into the hostess with the mostess.

January 1 and Beyond gives you a glimpse at New Year’s traditions across cultures and time and as 2019 comes to an end, it’s time to make some resolutions for the new year.

From the beijingkids family, we wish you a happy holiday season and 新年快乐！

— Mina Yan

This article appeared in the beijingkids December 2019 Giving Back issue

My dad reading me an amazing story

When I was little my dad was Superman. He was the tallest man in the world, he wore the coolest clothes, he could fix any toy, and I knew I could always sweet-talk him into buying me snacks and candy whenever I wanted. I was daddy’s little girl and I had him wrapped around my pinky. Then I started middle school. My parents got divorced, and suddenly I saw my dad less and less. It took years before I was even willing to attempt to mend our relationship. Our father-daughter relationship didn’t sour overnight and it’s not going to be rebuilt in a day. We’re still working on it with every visit, video chat, and silly meme sent over WeChat. It took years but my dad’s starting to get his red cape back.

In this Beijing Baba issue, we give Beijing’s dads some much-deserved love and attention, and get a bit of insight into some unconventional lives of dads in the city. Jack Smith is a loving husband and father of twins by day, but by night he’s Elizabeth Stride, beautiful, fierce drag queen. Smith shares his story (p. 49) and tells us about the challenges of being a parent and a drag performer. We also touch on the family dynamic of a newly single dad and his relationship with his now ‘roommate’ son (p. 54).

We give one Beijing dad a total makeover (p.14), transforming his early morning bedhead into a runway-ready look for winter that rocks. Chef Nick shares the holiday dessert recipes that he makes for his little girl (p. 26). And a few of Beijing’s musicians prove that they can still rock on after having kids (p. 16).

When it comes to education, male teachers from Canadian International School Beijing, British School of Beijing, Sanlitun, and Beijing City International School share their views on how men are now defining their place in early childhood education (p. 34) as positive role models. Those valuable life lessons we learned as children stick with us our entire lives. Beijing’s dads share some valuable advice that their dads passed on to them (p. 44).

These are just a few of the topics we tackle in this issue. Flip through for more advice on life and parenting in Beijing, school news, and fun things to do with the family.

Scan the QR code below to check out our November issue.

This article appeared in the beijingkids November 2019 Beijing Baba issue

One of the first things people comment on when they come to Beijing is the food. There’s no denying that it’s a great place to be a foodie. There are so many different types of cuisine you can find here from every corner of not only this massive country but also around the globe.

After being in Beijing for seven years, I can credit much of my own interest in the culinary arts to three things: First, working with city magazines for the past six years and having the opportunity to try new and different restaurants very frequently. Two: there are so many foreigners working in the food industry here that it’s almost impossible to avoid talking about food and the best places to indulge. Three: finally learning my way around the kitchen when I realized the mulah you can save if you don’t eat out every night.

Cooking for me has become a way to share with my Chinese family, my mother’s recipes that she received from her mom, and her from her mom, and so on. At some point, these dishes that my mother made, like gumbo or red beans and rice, which I casually took for granted growing up began to take on more meaning for me. If I didn’t start learning how to prepare these to perfection, then maybe they would be lost, or my son would miss out on this part of his family’s history.

I know for sure that many families and even professional cooks share this sentiment, which was also likely their motivation to get cooking in the first place. This relationship around families and food was our reason behind doing this issue and also the cover feature “If You Can’t Stand the Heat…” (p46). Here we explored how professionals in the restaurant business balance this stressful career with their parenting responsibilities, and how they teach their kids to understand the importance of what happens in the kitchen.

In this Family Foodie issue we not only share some of our favorite new and old international dining venues that Beijing has to offer (p50) but also round up the top Chinese Provincial Government Restaurants (previously featured in the Beijinger) and explore recent food fads that run the gambit of delicious, vapid, and downright strange (p24).

It’s this and more featured in the pages ahead that will hopefully help you experience Beijing’s foodie scene more comprehensively, and know that if there is anything that you are craving, there’s a good chance that the capital city has you covered.

This article appeared in the beijingkids September 2019 Family Foodies issue

Photos: Ray Town

The teens have seized control once again! Since we started doing this in 2017, this has become one of my favorite issues of the year. This is also what I feel sets beijingkids apart from the other publications in the city focused on family life and education. The Teen Takeover is also the one issue we do annually where the focus is deep collaboration with Beijing’s international school students, making it the perfect opportunity to experience exactly what’s on their minds.

But, what is on the minds of international teens in the capital? You might think it’s all T Swift, bubble tea, or the new fall line at Uniqlo. While these things are likely in their mental stratosphere, in this issue, they go beyond these critical items and drop some knowledge about what’s important to them in these complicated times and in this very unique place.

Within the pages of this Teen Takeover issue, you’ll find simple tips for getting into shape even if you are a busy international school student (p26), recipes that will allow you to occasionally divert from your waimai habit and act a little more sustainably (p30), and finally we’ll journey to the dusty heart of Gulou for a deliciously creative set of hamburgers at Side Street (p34).

Make sure to also check out Homeward Bound (p52) from Lian S, of the German Embassy School. She wrote about the horrors of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and the role this one network of animal lovers are playing to help these pets find loving families in countries around the world.

For many of our writers, the one thing that’s just over the horizon is college. This year, we were bombarded with news at just how much a role money and privilege pay in getting into top universities. And, while this may be of no surprise to many, it was only a matter of time before this cash trail would send the story to Beijing. Rylie X from Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) jumped at the opportunity to share her feelings on the matter and how privilege often trumps academic ability on the journey towards higher education.

We ultimately aren’t the only game in town, providing an outlet for student writers. I would like to use this moment to give massive props to independent publications like UNIT-E and INKBEAT Arts, who are also cultivating the next generation of creative writers and reporters. We also try to poach these groups for potential writers, every year when we tackle this issue.

Also, we would like to say that this issue would be nothing without the help of faculty from Beijing’s international schools. They are instrumental in providing us access to their talented student writers and giving us the space needed to help develop the following pieces for our readership. If you or anyone you know, young or old, are interested in contributing to beijingkids, feel free to send us your pitch at magazine@beijing-kids.com. While we may be a trusted resource for Beijing-based families, we are nothing without our readership. We value your generosity in consistently sharing your experiences and wisdom with us, and, of course, your feedback.

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

This city has so many nooks and crannies to explore, that it’s really up to you to determine how deeply you dive into the Beijing experience. But where do you begin, or continue if you feel like you’ve exhausted everything? Luckily you have us to push you and the fam in the right direction.

Personally, when I first came here as a student, I started my journey on foot. After class, I would always get lost walking around, then eventually find a taxi driver and mutter “Dongzhimen” to bring me back to my neighborhood. I didn’t have a smartphone with a map and no concrete idea of how this city was planned. I kept myself within the Second Ring Road for the most part. But it was everything within this Second Ring Road that made me fall in love with this city. I had never experienced anything like the hutongs. Everything from the funny piles of rubbish, men walking with their bird cages, and the various smells (good and bad), filled these neighborhoods with the exotic charm I craved as I explored these streets and narrow alleyways.

When I started working with the Beijinger a year later, the city opened up to me even further. This opportunity provided me with a mix of exploring the new and the old, as I was forced to still wander the hutongs looking for interesting local fare, but also check out the latest and greatest openings in the F&B (food and beverage) scene. In addition, I was responsible for a column that would send me journeying through the subway networks to remote areas of the city so that I could check out the landmarks and highlights of these far-flung stations. I loved my job, and everywhere it took me; including that fateful night where I first met my wife-to-be!

Now that I’m a father, I’m still exploring. When my son came along, he brought me to new and more family-focused experiences. While this might not seem as fun as going to the latest speakeasy or kaiseki restaurant, I can honestly say that my life now is no less exciting. Despite the past seven years I have spent in this city, I am still no Beijing expert. The journey of exploration continues, which is comforting because new elements of life in the capital are revealed to me almost daily. There’s always more, and it’s never dull, whether it be a distant park, obscure museum, or tasty hidden hutong restaurant.

As a city with a population of 21 million people and over 3,000 years of recorded history, Beijing has plenty of stories to tell. Part of our job working at a magazine like beijingkids is to share this info to help inspire you and your family to get out there and experience some of these adventures on your own. So now the ball is in your court! How will you define your Beijing adventure?

This article first appeared in the beijingkids April 2019 Exploring Beijing issue.
Photos: Yifei Fang

Picking a school is like picking out the perfect pair of socks. Actually, I take that back. It’s nothing like picking out a pair of socks. You don’t need to endure years of financial planning, research, and understanding of what goes into the making of a good pair of socks in order to pull the trigger and make a purchase. At most, you’ll need a keen sense of style, and at least just something that covers a majority of the foot. After all, who cares if a couple toes poke out from the bottom?

Schools are also not “one size fits all”. Many parents spend a lot of time and money on making sure their child attends an “elite” school, when this might not actually be the best option for the child. So, it’s important to know what kind of learner your child is, and which curriculum that will ultimately benefit this type of student. Neglecting these characteristics could be setting your child up for disaster.

With every School Choice Guide that beijingkids produces, we hope to bring families closer together through this task of picking the right school. It’s not just about the difficult choices that are ahead of you, it’s also a chance to get to know your child, and what his or her interests are academically and socially. While superb academics always remain at the forefront of this journey, schools are much more than this, and in many ways can be your child’s main window on life and the community at large here in the capital.

In this issue, we’ve examined a range of topics to help you make a more informed decision, including some straight talk from parents in Beijing’s expat community, telling us what they wish they’d known before selecting a school. We’ve created a primer for those of you who will soon be attending open houses at campuses across Beijing, and talked to some parents who opted out of the school system and instead embarked on their own homeschooling journeys. For this School Choice Guide, we also wanted to go beyond your standard “what parents need to know” article, and find out what your child needs to know. In School Shift, former international school student Lydia Qu interviewed a handful of seasoned international students, to gather some helpful tips on how to adjust to a new environment.

Also, in case you didn’t know already, the School Choice Guide is your essential resource for navigating our upcoming Jingkids International School Expo, a must-attend event not only for those of you who are pondering a change in schools, but also for anyone that wishes to stay up-to-date on the future trends of education, and how curricula are being adjusted to help prepare young people for a future filled with uncertainties. Get over to beijing-kids.com to learn more.

We hope to help make this journey of school choice a little bit less daunting. We know that this issue is limited, in that there is no perfect formula for finding the right school for your child… yet. (We are working on it.) Until that comes along, here is the most comprehensive guide to school choice that Beijing has to offer.

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2019-2020 School Choice Guide.
Download your e-copy here.

Photo: Fang Yifei

In the spirit of the holidays, the beijingkids editorial team decided to explore the charitable efforts that are being made to help promote giving and community in and around the capital. On our journey, we met many kind and thoughtful people who share the important sentiment that it is more rewarding to give than to receive. This is a difficult concept for many, in a world that can seem very often “me first”.

Time is one of the most important gifts you can be giving this holiday season. No, we aren’t talking about going out there and buying a wall clock and gifting it to all of your acquaintances in Beijing. That would actually be a big no-no, and not bring the cheery effect that you are likely shooting for. The gifting of a clock symbolizes that you crave the untimely demise of your chosen recipient. The gift of actual time, however, whether it be your attention or your physical and emotional presence, is something that will be remembered and can be given easily to family members or people in your community if you just put forth the effort.

How many times have you heard that cliché phrase “time is money”? How often do you scroll through inspirational messages on social media stating how time is the one thing that money can’t buy back, so you need to make full use of it? While these statements are definitely saying the obvious, time is too often wasted on menial things that don’t really matter in the long run.

Time is one of the most important gifts you can be giving this holiday season. (Here are the print and alternate covers of this month’s issue.)

While we support you running off to the nearest orphanage on a regular basis to help out and donate much-needed supplies, the gift of time is also something that can begin at home. As many parents already know, undivided attention is one of the essential things you will need to be providing if you want to maintain healthy relationships with everyone in your family. We all know how easy it is, especially after a busy day in the office, to just plop down in front of a TV and shut your brain off for a few hours while binge-watching your favorite shows. Frequently, we also let work get in the way of precious moments in the evening or weekends meant for family, as we are all only a WeChat message away from the office at any given moment. Do yourself a favor and make a concentrated effort to find a balance in the upcoming new year.

This issue of beijingkids is focused on charity and goodwill in the capital, and the people who decided to sacrifice their precious time to show that they care and to help improve an area of life for people that are being neglected or falling through society’s cracks. This holiday season, plan your time wisely and make being present a priority over those big presents that will eventually pile up and slowly fade into disuse. Use the weeks ahead to get closer with your friends, family, and community, and finally, make memories instead of shooting off to the nearest mall to shop for them.

This article first appeared in the beijingkids December 2018 Charity and Goodwill issue.
Photo: Fang Yifei

While I’ve been at beijingkids, it seems like every couple of days we encounter a new maker either setting up shop, joining the local pop-up flea markets, or even selling their wares via WeChat. It was getting to know these makers through our columns like Talking Shop that inspired us to cover this trend of expat movers and shakers deciding to present their products to the masses.

What is it about Beijing that makes this arguably daunting task of creating a business seem doable? After all, this city isn’t always the most convenient place for newcomers, and even longtime expats can struggle to cope with paperwork and bureaucracy. A simple trip to the bank can be enough to send you on a downward spiral of self-doubt and serious existential dread. I’m not speaking from first-hand experience (cough, cough), but I’ve heard stories.

This issue is a tribute to those who have braved the business waters of China

This entrepreneurial spirit has been a factor in making many countries the melting pot of cultures that they are today. While for many of us, our cultural and geographic heritage will make it impossible for us to be considered Chinese in any sense, we can at least hope to positively influence the cultural landscape of this place we live in with our own ideas and unique offerings. Whether it be our sweet confections, beautiful handmade objects to decorate our homes or to accessorize, or simply through providing unique experiences, the products being developed by expats living in Beijing are all a part of the story of this particular place and time.

This issue is a tribute to those who have braved the business waters of China, or at least gave it the old college try. This is something that we at True Run Media can strongly relate to, as we too have our roots in entrepreneurialism. Since our modest beginnings over a decade ago with the Beijinger, we have grown to four separate publications, including beijingkids, JingKids Beijing, and Jingkids Shanghai. At the heart of our company are a husband-and-wife duo, Michael Wester and Toni Ma, who have shared in not only the same successes as many of these entrepreneurs out there in the scene but also the same hardships.

In these pages, you’ll find not only profiles of some prolific makers currently doing their thing, but also stories of expat moms who decided they weren’t satisfied with the trailing spouse label and wanted to pursue their own goals. We even received some pro tips on brand development from the founder of Halo Hummus. Another important point, explored through our Schooled feature, is that entrepreneurship isn’t only something for adults to learn and practice, it is also an area that needs more focus in schools. For this article, we reached out to Julian Fisher, Senior Partner in Venture Education, and educators from the SE21 program at Dulwich College Beijing (DCB), to learn how the foundational concepts of business were being introduced in Beijing international school curricula. We were deeply impressed, and somewhat jealous, about just how far ahead of the curve these students were.

While we don’t expect everyone to drop this magazine and start a business immediately, we hope that this issue at the very least informs you about the possibilities and the excitement that could come from such a venture. However, if you do end up catching the entrepreneurial bug, the most important lesson to take from these pages is not to be afraid to fail, as failure is one of life’s greatest teachers.

This article appeared in the beijingkids November 2018 Beijing Makers issue
Photo: Fang Yifei, Lens Studio

For me, mental health has always been something I knew we all had, but didn’t really consider it to be something that needed to be maintained in the same way as physical health. Even physical health is a thing that I tend to neglect at times, especially when looming deadlines murk up the horizon, and weird diets and lost sleep become the norm.

I often wonder how much our parents considered these things. I’m sure the tendency was more to pack things away until the metaphorical suitcase finally burst, spewing out dirty laundry all over the interior and passengers of an MPV during a stressful road trip to visit the grandparents.

Life has changed considerably from when baby boomers first entered the workplace. There were definitely no work-related WeChat groups demanding your attention at all hours of the day, or never-ending streams of news on social media platforms that you feel like you need to sift through to remain current. Don’t you miss those days of just writing emails, and having a 24-hour timeframe to respond?

Modernity is stressful. We are always connected, and it takes a lot of effort to block out the noise and focus on the things that truly matter, and which give you happiness. In addition to that, the environment here in Beijing can have its own triggers.

Though I love this city and all of the learning experiences it has given me, it is becoming more expensive, and the quality of life isn’t entirely keeping up with the costs of living, especially if things like international schools or multiple visits to the hospital are taken into consideration. This can easily add to a parent’s anxiety.

Support for your mental health is no exception. Help in this city is costly, and likely unavailable for many families. This is unfortunate, especially when you discover just how common life challenges like depression, anxiety, or debilitating stress actually are.

One important thing we have learned from making this issue is that mental health should be treated no differently from physical health. We should ideally have checkups, as frequently as physical checkups. Thinking about our overall psychological well-being shouldn’t be reserved for when times are at their worst, and should ideally work in a preventative way.

Sadly, though, in Beijing resources for both expats and locals aren’t readily available for that level of care. But then there are other ways that you or a loved one can find support. The most important is through friends and family. These people are your first line of defense against mental illness, as they know you best and can tell when you are struggling. Also, group meetings held by organizations like CandleX and Beijing Mindfulness Centre have proved to be an invaluable resource for many expats in the city.

While we understand that we are only scratching the surface on the topic of mental health, these pages may at least be useful in helping you figure out when and why support is needed, and where to find it if you do. This is an area that requires more development and discussion in order to keep it in the public view and reduce stigma, and ultimately we hope this magazine can be read as a step in that important direction.

This post appeared on the beijingkids October 2018 Mental Health issue.