What do you do when you’re met with a blank sheet of paper or an empty screen? No matter what medium you use, your age, or where you are in the creative process, artist’s block (more commonly applied to and known as writer’s block) always seems to hit when you least expect it. So, what is art block, and how can we overcome it?

Like writer’s block or a creative block, art block is when the flow of creativity is obstructed, and the artist is left staring blankly at a page. Art block shows up at different times for different people depending on the variables in their life. For example, self-doubt, harsh criticism, or comparing yourself to others might all lead to art block.

And though art block may not be avoidable, there are various ways to deal with it.

Reimagine one of your old pieces

When I’m hit hardest with art block, I find it helpful to go through my old artwork and pick one to redraw. This not only gives me an idea of what to draw but also helps me chart my improvements over the years.

A redraw I did July 2021 (left) of an old piece from November 2020 (right)

Don’t be afraid to take a break and let your mind rest

If you can’t come up with any ideas or entirely lack motivation, don’t force yourself to create something. I know how frustrating it is to stare at a blank page, but sometimes taking a step back and letting your mind rest will allow you to return with renewed vigor.

Ask a friend to give you a creative challenge or find a prompt online

Often times I have found myself sitting for hours trying to come up with ideas, but sometimes if you let your friends give you a completely random idea or prompt, you might be surprised by the final product. Even when the end result isn’t what you hoped for, talking with friends and letting yourself create something completely random will help rest your mind and let you return to drawing with a fresh perspective.

Experiment with different supplies and mediums

If you’re a digital artist, pick up a pencil and try something more traditional. If you’re a traditional artist, try digital art (yes, Microsoft paint counts). Whatever it is, shake things up a bit! Go out and buy some new supplies or look through the supplies you haven’t used in a while. Sometimes taking a break from the norm will help you break free from the shackles of art block.

Art block isn’t something that will go away after you recite a magic spell, but hopefully, these ideas will help equip you to slay the dragon that is art block. Remember, art block happens to the best of us, and ultimately, it helps us grow one way or another. So, the next time the dragon rears its ugly head, you’ll know how to defeat it.

Keep Reading: A Perfectionist’s Guide to (Slightly) Imperfect Bullet Journaling

Photos: Feifei Xu, Unsplash

WeChat groups can get a little crazy. First you’re in just a couple–one for your friends and another for your family–and next thing you know you’re in event groups, parenting groups, work out groups, and all sorts of other community-related groups that simply can’t be combined for one reason or another. The groups are useful, so you don’t want to exit, but what to do?

1. Read WeChat Top Articles
WeChat has a “Top Stories” tool that shows you the WeChat pages trending at the moment. Many of the links will be bilingual (Chinese and English), but if you can read Chinese it’s actually a very useful feature. Not only can you gain access to the latest news and events in Chinese, but you can also see what’s popular in Chinese pop culture. To access Top Articles, click on Search and you’ll see the gray words, “Top Articles on WeChat” in the middle of the screen.

2. Save your important groups on top
WeChat allows you to keep your important go-to conversations “sticky” on top so that you won’t miss any new messages. If you get a lot of wechat messages, whether in groups or individually, it’s possible you’ll end up missing a few key messages. Keep those family and work chats on top to prevent it from happening!

Tip: If it’s someone you don’t necessarily want to keep “sticky”, but you need a reminder to message or read up on later, start typing a reply, but don’t hit send! The draft message will move that conversation right under your stickies so you can reply later.

3. Tag someone in conversation

When you’re in a large group and you want to respond to one person, or get someone’s attention on a topic they might be interested in, you can tag them with the @ sign.  To do this manually, you just have type @ and select a name from the list. However, if you’re in a large group, it might take too long to find the name in the list.  Instead, find the person you want to tag in conversation, press and hold their name, and the @ sign with their name will pop out by itself.

4. Mass forward in one go

To send multiple messages from a chat (group, or private), press down on your message, select “more”, and then tick all the messages you want to include in the collection. You can forward it to another wechat private message, group, or even send by email!

5. Delete Space-consuming files

If you click on the information button for any contact you’re in conversation with, or group, you’ll find the link, “Chat Files”. This is where you’d go if you were looking for a specific file, WeChat link, or photo. But it’s also where WeChat stores anything you’ve sent within the conversation, taking up precious space in your device. To delete, click on “Select” on the upper right hand corner, and then you can choose which files you want to delete for good.

Tip: If you don’t want to keep any of the files from your conversation or group chat, go to “Me” -> “Settings” -> “Manage Storage” and delete conversations that are taking up the most space. If you’re really strapped for space, you might also consider deleting all your special emoticons.

6. Save for later

Even when you don’t have internet connectivity, or your data/Wi-Fi is slow, you can still add parts of conversations, links, or anything posted on WeChat to your “Favorites” list. To bookmark, just press and hold on the message. You can also add tags to your favorites so that you can categorize them and review them more efficiently later. I, for example, have a “video” category which my two-year-old has already learned to press so that he can find his favorite videos on WeChat.

Note: The Favorites function takes up space in your device, and there’s a maximum amount of space allocated for Favorites, after which you will no longer be able to add stuff.

7. Transfer WeChat data to another device

When you change devices and you want to hold on to all those photos, music, links, and chat histories saved in your current device, you can use WeChat’s “migrate chats to other device”.  To use the function, go to Me-> Chat -> Migrate chat files

Photo: Pixabay (geralt), Jessica Suotmaa

Do you have trouble finding people in your WeChat contact list? Do you know a bunch of people with the same first name? Can you not differentiate the Jessica from work from the Jessica from salsa class from the Jessica who’s a friend of a friend?  Do you forget who’s who once your contact changes their profile picture into motivational quotes, childhood photos, and pictures of cute animals? Can you not find your Chinese contact’s Chinese name no matter how many times you scroll through your contact list?

If you answered “yes” to even one of the above questions, you need to reorganize your contact list!  By categorizing your contacts, you’ll save time in looking for contacts and avoid sending messages to the wrong person (which I’ve done, regretfully).

So, how can we go about categorizing contacts? WeChat has given you quite a few built in tools:

Click on your contact’s information page, tap the three vertical dots on the top right corner, and select “Set Remarks and Tags”.

Once there, you’ll see the name of your contact, as your contact lists, under “alias”. What I do, is I rename the contact as I see fit, usually with the following formula:

Company name + Nickname/English first name + Chinese name/last name

e.g., London College of Fashion Josie Josephine Suotmaa 

With long company names, I’ll usually use an acronym:

LCF Josie – Josephine Suotmaa

Once you’ve changed your contact’s alias, you can add tags, the real “categorizer”.

The tag you assign a contact is more important for managing your WeChat privacy than for organizing your contacts since you likely only need one method of organizing (in this case, labeling using the alias).

The description tag is useful for work contacts and networking events. It’s at the bottom of the “remarks” page, so I don’t usually get to it, but when I do, I’ll add little details, such as:

• where they used to work
• the names of their partners/spouses/kids
• the projects their interested in
• why I added them in the first place

WeChat also allows you to “star” your favorite contacts at the top of your contact list to keep them “sticky on top”.

Here, you’ll see that I’ve added a mobile phone number (really useful if you change phones often, or if your phone ever dies and you need to find a contact number). I usually add work contact numbers to their wechat ID so that I can see their faces when I’m trying to find them in a crowd.

I’ve also added a description, “husband”, and a photo of him to remind me what he looks like (just in case I forget). This function is very useful if your contact doesn’t ever put their face in their profile picture.

You can also use the photo attachment feature to organize business cards. Just take a photo of it, and attach it to the wechat contact. Note: takes up memory.

How you categorize and organize your WeChat contacts depends entirely on your style and preference.  I use one WeChat account for everything from private, family conversations to work related things, preferring to keep it all in one place. As such, categorizing contacts is especially important for me.

I also like to keep all related contacts together on my contact list, so as to remind me who knows who from where. For example, a group of people might’ve all worked at one company, but now work elsewhere, but I might not change their company name because I prefer to remember that they all know each other very well.

With names, it’s just confusing when everyone has the same name, and I’ve never been good at remembering last names unless I’ve signed up coworkers for something. I have a popular name (Jessica), so I remember what it was like sitting in class and having a Jessica S., a Jessica R., a Jessica T., a Jessica Y…if I didn’t see them every day, I might not remember who each of them are!

That’s why adding the name of the organization or company is so important! All it takes is adding their company name in front of their name:

e.g., beijingkids Jessica

Sometimes, I might just delete their on screen name entirely and type in my own version of their name. The reason is that special characters (such as flags, flowers, palm trees…), Chinese characters (I’m illiterate), and cute emoticons at the front of their name will put them somewhere unpredictable in my contact list.  Chinese characters are the most random for me, and I don’t want to spend up to ten minutes scrolling through hundreds of contacts only to miss it because I’m not sure which set of Chinese characters is the one I’m looking for.  The special characters will send your contact to the bottom of your list, but then you have to remember who’s at the bottom rather than just select the alphabet corresponding to their name.

So again, the formula is:

[COMPANY NAME] [ENGLISH NAME] [CHINESE NAME IN PINYIN] [CHINESE CHARACTERS]

So, using my own name (if I had a legit Chinese name) as an example:

BJK Jessica Ruijia 蘇瑞家

Now, all I have to do is remember where everyone works at, and it’s easy to find coworkers and contacts. Next time someone asks “Do you know anyone at XYZ company?” You can easily check.

Hope that was helpful! How do you categorize your contact list? Share whats worked for you!

Photos: Pixelbay (Edwardpye), Jessica Suotmaa

There are three types of people in social media: people who are all business, people who share everything ten times a day, and people who are in between.  The anti-social, anti-sharing, and anti-media people don’t count.

People who are all business have a social media strategy and operate like corporations. They have multiple accounts, often creating fake Facebook accounts for themselves while keeping their personal one private and unsearchable.  They apply the same strategy to WeChat, creating one, two, maybe even three accounts. These days, you need to attach your WeChat to a phone number, so these are the people who walk around carrying three iPhone 6 pluses that look exactly the same. You probably never noticed that they have more than one phone.

People who share everything ten times a day? We all have at least one of such people in our friend circles (I hide their moments for the sake my sanity), but they’re the ones who post a good morning post, a photo of their coffee, a quote or song that inspired them on the way to work, a photo of their lunch with a location tag, a photo of their gym workout gear, photos of dinner with location and people tags, and don’t forget all the interesting links and articles they managed to find in between all their other posts. These people don’t usually filter their posts, but just post spontaneously when they feel like it. Later, they might regret their post and delete it, or change the privacy settings (not possible on WeChat, yet), so if you see something interesting, take a screenshot of it before it disappears!

The people who are in-between these two extremes are probably the most “normal”.  Being in between doesn’t mean you don’t post at all, or that you never post any promotional posts for your company or friends, it just means that you pace your posts or target specific people (who might actually be interested in what you’re sharing). What this means is that if you have kids, you would limit sharing a kid-post to everyone about once a week to everyone (public) or at least to the people who don’t have kids. You could, however, share more posts about your children to a specific group of people who you know have children as well, or family, or close friends.

You could do the same for work related posts, event related posts (only posting events that would interest a specific group of people), and personal commentaries (e.g., political opinions). You have to decide what criteria you use to categorize your contact list so that you can properly set your privacy settings, though, which is usually the most difficult part.

“Don’t Share Moments”

When I first began using WeChat, I didn’t set up tiered privacy settings. I lived in a black and white world where I had friends, and then I had people I didn’t really know (acquaintances). With my simple way of thinking, I thought I could just hide my moments from the people who were not my friends. Naturally, those people would then block me from seeing their moments (or just put me in a red group). Eventually, we would just delete one another because we never talked and had nothing to share with each other. Don’t be like I was. Never hide your moments unless you suspect the person adding you is a scammer or something. Sometimes, you think you’ll never see that person again, but just by occasionally seeing their updates you can get to know them better, realize you have mutual acquaintances, the same political beliefs, or share the a favorite restaurant.  You might comment when they need assistance, or have a question, and they might help you–and then, guess what? You’ll make a friend.

You should still have a different levels of privacy set up on WeChat, though. WeChat is a social networking platform, but just as you wouldn’t go about making friends with everyone the same way, you should also control how you’re presenting yourself on WeChat. It might take some trial and error, but here we show you the key ideas to get you started.

Step 1: What are tags?

Tags are a categorization tool that help you search for contacts in your list and allow you to send a message to an entire group, e.g., “work”.  However, for the purposes of this guide, a tag is a tool for managing privacy settings by grouping your contacts.  For example, you can create traffic light colors: “red”, “green”, “yellow” or you can create tags that are more straight-forward, such as “work safe”, “public”, or “classmates”.

You can give each contact as many labels as you want, but this will complicate your privacy settings as it will make it more difficult to prevent them from seeing things. My recommendation is to only give each contact one single tag to make it more manageable.

However, this method will cause most contacts to have more than one tag as no one fits well into a single box, which complicates your privacy settings.  Hence, I recommend categorizing your contacts another way, and using the tags for grouping for privacy instead.

Step 2: What tags shall I use?

“Traffic Light”

For beginners, I would recommend a system a friend told me about. He said that in addition to the separate work WeChat he has, he utilizes a tiered privacy system like a traffic light: red, yellow, green.

Red: “Stop and think before you post!”

The highest privacy where you only share things that you wouldn’t mind broadcasting publicly (like a blog). This is especially the case if you have public moments set up (where everyone can see your last 10 publicly shared moments). If you have to stop and consider who can see what you share, what consequences may come out of it, and whether someone will be offended–then you should choose red for high security. Tag people you barely want to share moments with as red.

Yellow: “Wait, and think about what you can post!”

A medium setting where you might share dinner outings or selected updates with your colleagues, for example. If you feel like sharing more with these people, but still don’t know them well enough, or feel comfortable enough, sharing everything with them, tag them as yellow.

Green: “Go for it!”

The most public setting where you share anything you feel like sharing, usually only open to people who are less “picky”. Tag your best friends as green!

Note: you might be tempted to post “green” content to “public” (untagged groups), but here’s two reasons why you shouldn’t:

1. Non-grouped content will go into your public moments, if enabled.
2. Sometimes WeChat will glitch and new contacts will not be tagged when you accept them, or your changes will not be saved immediately (especially with data), in which case they can see everything that you’ve shared in “green”.

Step 3: Decide who gets which tag

The key to grouping for privacy is consistency. Not only do you want acquaintances who are mutual friends to be in the same group (under the same tag), so that they will see the same set of moments, but you also want to share the right content to the right group, consistently. People will find out if you share more with certain friends and less with others. You’d be surprised how often someone will message someone else behind someone’s back with “did you see what she posted?!”…Don’t give them reason to talk.

In addition, it’s a good idea to have certain networks, such as a company network, under the same tag for the same reason.

Step 4: Remember to select a tagged group when posting on moments
It takes a while to make it habitual, but until you do, just delete moments that you forgot to privatize.

FAQ
How long does it take to change the privacy settings for all your WeChat contacts?
Depends on how many contacts you have.

Does every contact have to be tagged? Can’t some contacts just see everything?

No, and yes, but if you leave certain contacts untagged, then when you post, you have to remember to select exceptions (“Share with everyone except”) rather than inclusions (“Share with these groups”).

For example, if you have a significant other who is not in any of your groups, and then you share a photo taken at a work function with your work group (“yellow”), then your significant other won’t be able to see it. Instead, share to everyone except certain groups (select “red”, etc.), then just ensure that every single contact is tagged in a group.

What if I never feel like posting to my “red” group?

It’s understandable to wonder why you should ever post in this group, but people who never post, or only post a link once every few months, have obviously grouped others. If you have no moments, or very few moments, your contacts know what you’ve done and will either return the favor or end up deleting you (in other words, failed networking).  You want to share a good mixture of links, useful things, events, food, and maybe even family. Remember to post just often enough for them to remember you exist, but not so much that they tire of your updates and opt to hide your moments.

What if I change someone from yellow to red? Will they know?

When you change someone’s tag/group, it won’t affect past posts, but it will affect future posts. Your contact will not suddenly be unable to see something you had previously shared with them, but they will not be able to see new updates for that group. So, whether they notice they’ve changed levels depends on how well you manage what you share and how much they care.

Photos: Pixabay (ShonEjai), Pixabay (jjuni), Jessica Suotmaa

Quite a few people from the community have reached out to us, asking for a WeChat Wallet guide.  At first, I was a little puzzled as to why such a guide would be necessary, but I was reminded that I have had my WeChat ID for years now and it is set up differently from the newer versions.  Apparently you have different functions if you registered for WeChat later, and if you have an international version of WeChat, especially attached to a foreign phone number (rather than a local one, or in my case, no number at all).

To test the theory, I have borrowed a relative’s (much newer) WeChat and decided I’d use her WeChat to set up WeChat wallet. Only, I discovered that she didn’t even have WeChat Wallet under “Me”! After doing some research, I have concluded that this is a relatively common problem with foreigners who use a non-Chinese version of WeChat and don’t have it connected to a local number.

So, I followed the guides on the internet and I can attest that changing the language to Chinese, exiting the app, and re-logging in did not work. Note: I even tried changing it to different versions of Chinese and it still didn’t work.

What did work was receiving a red envelope, closing WeChat, and reopening it. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Open a red envelope in a group chat, or request a friend to send you Lucky Money. It can be as little as RMB 0.01, but I accidentally sent ten cents.

Step 4: Press “Wallet” to see all the wallet functions. The wallet should stay in your menu from now on and will not disappear.

Step 5: Now you can use your existing balance by having friends transfer money to you, or by opening Lucky Red Envelopes.

Actually, for the longest time I didn’t add any cards to my WeChat wallet, but simply relied on my husband transferring funds to my WeChat when I needed it. I have also received payments via WeChat, and whenever friends and I went out to dinner, I’d pay cash and have them transfer their share to me so that I’d have some funds in my wallet.

However, a few months ago, I finally caved in and attached a bank card. My next post will be a step by step guide on how you can also attach a Chinese bank card to your WeChat wallet!

Photo: Flickr

I held back letting the kids watch TV for as long as I could, until I couldn’t.

We came to Beijing a few months ago and moved into a house that unexpectedly had one too many problems. Fortunately my mother-in-law was with me at the time to help me take care of the two babies while I ran errands. Unfortunately though, the unfamiliar food and the putrid pollution were really starting to take its toll on her. I knew I needed to give her a daily break, even if just for half an hour (a task the Ayi couldn’t help her with since the kids didn’t like her yet). The easiest solution that came to mind was “The Screen.”

There are scores of sites detailing the bad effects of TV on very young children, and naturally I fell in line and did my best to limit my children’s screen time. It was sadly a task easier to implement back home than in Beijing, and so I decided to give in.

My husband stopped short of bringing out the champagne glasses when I said I was giving in to TV. “Twenty minutes max!” I added. Like a proud child, he invited me to sit by him on the couch as he clicked away on the tiny remote control of our Xiao III Mi Box—probably the best thing about the apartment—introducing me to the different programs and functions available. Though I have to admit that the different services I saw amazed me, there was really only one category that interested me.

The cartoon selection.

?

Getting there was easy. First, we click on the 电视猫视频 icon.

Then 分类.

Then we choose 少儿.

There are four options visible. The one most left usually has something to do with a celebration (e.g. New Year’s, etc.). The second one is where your favorites are stored; the third one has the entire collection of cartoons while the fourth one is for music. He entered the second option and showed me the list of programs. I gave him a smirk relaxed into a half-smile. “Ow-kay… kids! Come watch with Daddy!” I started for the kitchen to do the dishes while my mother-in-law took our infant to play in her room while she rested (she is also not very pro-TV). My eldest daughter was squealing excitedly until the show finally started.

“I’ll be right back,” I told her. But it was too late to expect a reply. She was zombified.

As I was drying the dishes I heard my eldest daughter start crying. “MOMMY!”

I went back into the living room and stared at my daughter, who was by then bawling. I looked at my husband and then immediately looked to the TV. I laughed.

“I don’t know how!” My husband explained to my daughter. “Wifey, fix this!”

A screen had appeared, and it said that time was up and we had two options: either we end the program now or we end it AFTER this particular show was done. I explained my daughter’s options to her. Naturally, she wanted to finish the show.

She still cried after finishing the show even though we had already struck a deal earlier on, but that didn’t matter. What mattered to me more was that our TV had a parental control option, allowing me to control the program my daughter could watch and how much time she could watch it. I didn’t notice it earlier because it was hidden behind the time on the lower right.

Since then, I’ve stopped hesitating from letting my kids watch TV. I let them watch some programs or some songs within a certain time limit (20 minutes in our case). My mother-in-law has gone back since then, but this newfound freedom has allowed me to do so much without worrying that I will let time slip by or that screen time will become a fight. The kids are happy, I’m happy, and yes, maybe now we can bring out the champagne glasses.

LOCATION
Where’s the nearest _________?
最近的_______在哪儿? Zuìjìn dì ________ zài nǎr?
• subway station 地铁站 dìtiě zhàn
• bus stop 公车站 gōngchē zhàn
• ATM 提款机 tíkuǎnjī
• convenience store 便利店 biànlì diàn
• hospital 医院 yīyuàn

INFRASTRUCTURE
What year was this building constructed?
这个房子是哪一年间的建的? Zhège fángzi shì nǎ yī niánjiān de jiàn de?
How many square meters?
有多少平米? Yǒu duōshǎo píngmǐ?
Which direction is it facing?
这个房子的朝向是 ______ ? Zhège fángzi de cháoxiàng shì ______?
Is the elevator 24-hours?
这儿的电梯是24小时的吗？Zhèr de diàntī shì èrshísì xiǎoshí de ma?
How many entry points does this residential compound have?
这个小区有几个入口？Zhège xiǎoqū yǒu jǐ gè rùkǒu?
Have there been problems with insects or vermin?
这个房子又没有过虫蛀问题? Zhège fángzi yòu méiyǒuguò chóng zhù wèntí?
Does this residential compound have round-the-clock security?
这个小区有24小时的保安吗? Zhège xiǎoqū yǒu èrshísì xiǎoshí de bǎo’ān ma?
Does this apartment use community heating or independent heating?
这里是区域供暖还是按用量计算? Zhèlǐ shì qūyù gōngnuǎn háishì àn yòngliàng jìsuàn?
Is there hot water in both the kitchen and bathroom? If not, can you have a plumber redo it?
厨房和卫生间有热水吗?如果没有，你可以请人安装吗？Chúfáng hé wèishēngjiān yǒu rèshuǐ ma? Rúguǒ méiyǒu, nǐ kěyǐ qǐng rén ānzhuāng ma?
Is the hot water available 24 hours?
热水是24小时的吗?  Rèshuǐ shì èrshísì xiǎoshí de ma?
Is the hot water heater gas or electric?
热水器是使用煤气还是电? Rèshuǐqì shì shǐyòng méiqì háishì diàn?

THE BASICS
How long ago was the apartment renovated?
上次装修是什么时候？Shàngcì zhuāngxiū shì shénme shíhou?
Will you clean it before I move in?
我搬进来之前你能清理一下吗？Wǒ bānjìnlái zhīqián nǐ néng qīnglǐ yíxià ma?
Can this room be repainted?
能粉刷一下这个房间吗？Néng fěnshuā yíxià zhège fángjiān ma?
Can I hang things on the walls?
墙上可以挂装饰品吗？Qiángshàng kěyǐ guà zhuāngshìpǐn ma?
Can you remove this?
你能把这个拿走吗？Nǐ néng bǎ zhège ná zǒu ma?
Can you buy a ________?
你能买一个________吗？ Nǐ néng mǎi yíge ________ ma?
How old is this item? Can it be replaced before I move in?
这个用了多久了? 我搬进来之前你能换新的吗? Zhège yòngle duōjiǔle? Wǒ bān jìnlái zhīqián nǐ néng huàn xīn de ma?
Can you provide more furniture?
能提供更多家具? Néng tígōng gèng duō jiājù?
Write it down. Put it in the contract.
写下来吧。在合同上标出。Xiěxiàlái ba. Zài hétóng shàng biāochū.

MONEY
How much is the rent?
房租多少钱？Fángzū duōshǎo qián?
Who pays the agency fee?
谁交中介费?
Shéijiāo zhōngjiè fèi?
Who pays the property management fee?
谁交物业费? Shéijiāo wùyè fèi?
How to pay the gas bill? 在哪儿能交煤气费?
Zài nǎr néng jiāo méiqì fèi?
How to pay the electricity bill? 在哪儿能交电费?
Zài nǎr néng jiāo diàn fèi?
How to pay the water bill? 在哪儿能交水费?
Zài nǎr néng jiāo shuǐ fèi?
Whose name is on the phone account?
在电话账户上是谁的名字？Zài diànhuà zhànghù shàng shì shéide míngzi?
Who pays the heating fee? 谁交暖气费?
Shéijiāo nuǎnqì fèi?
TV – how many channels? Is the fee included?
电视有几个频道? 是含在房租以内吗? Diànshì yǒu jǐ gè píndào? Shì hán zài fángzū yǐnèi ma?

Listen for:
The payment method is …
交款方式是… jiāo kuǎn fāngshi shì…
(1) monthly 月付 yuè fù
(2) quarterly 季付 jì fù
one month’s deposit, three months rent
押一付三 yā yī fù sān
(3) half-yearly 半年付 bànnián fù
• deposit 押金 yājīn
• normal wear and tear
正常磨损 zhèngcháng mósǔn
• rechargeable card IC卡 IC kǎ
• pay at the bank 银行 yínháng
• meter reader 抄表 chāo biǎo

BUILDING MAINTENANCE
If this breaks, who is responsible for fixing it?
如果这个坏了，谁负责修理？Rúguǒ zhège huàile, shuí fùzé xiūlǐ?
Where is the property management office? What’s their phone number?
物业办公室在哪? 电话号码是多少？Wùyè bàngōngshì zài nǎr? Diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshǎo?
Can you recommend a ____________?
能推荐一个__________? Néng tuījiàn yíge ________?
• handyman 修理工 xiūlǐgōng
• plumber 下水道修理 xiàshuǐdào xiūlǐ
• locksmith 锁匠 suǒjiang  
• electrician 电工 diàngōng

CHECKLISTS

The Shell
Ceiling for signs of leakage
Walls for stains or cracks
Flooring for unevenness or holes
Size of the windows and whether there is cross-ventilation
Screens and locks on all windows (look for rips in the screens)

Security
Whether the windows have bars (on a lower-level apartment)
Whether the front door has a solid lock

Furnishings
Amount of storage space
Whether your current furniture will fit in the apartment (and through the door)
Mattress for firmness

Electrics
Functionality of all appliances (stove, fridge, hot water heater, air conditioner, washing machine, cable TV, microwave)
Number of electrical outlets in every room
Phone/broadband jacks
Cellphone reception inside the apartment
Lighting fixtures for brightness (and whether light bulbs can be easily replaced)
Speed and power of all fans
Location of fuse box and the electricity meter
Location of the radiators

Bathroom and Kitchen
Amount of cabinet space
Location of the main gas valve and water valve
Location of gas meter? Electricity meter? Water meter?
Water pressure and functionality of the showerhead
Sturdiness of the faucets (do they leak? do they need to be replaced?)
Amount of counter space
Drainage speed in all sinks and tubs
How well does the toilet flush?
Does the toilet seat need to be replaced?)

Outside
How much natural light does the apartment get?
Is the neighborhood noisy?
How close is the nearest street? How soundproof is the apartment?
Location of garbage cans and recycling bins
Location of bike racks

Photo: Andrew Turner (Flickr)

This article originally appeared on page 26 of the 2016 Home and Relocation Guide. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

In anticipation of my departure from Beijing this summer, I’ve been slowly getting rid of things through expat forums, clothing swaps, and donation drives. Clothes, bikes, household appliances, books, and craft supplies have all found willing recipients, but I’ve been stumped about what to do with old devices.

A Baidu search turned up Aihuishou (“love recycling”), a Shanghai-based customer-to-business platform for selling old mobile phones and other personal devices. Founded by two Fudan University graduates, the site has been profiled on chinadialogue and received C series funding from the US.

The premise seems simple enough. Users o to the website, type their device brand and model into the search bar, answer some questions about the state of the device, and make an appointment to either drop it off in person at one of Aihuishou’s service points or have an employee come over and assess it in person.

The obvious drawback is that the website is only in Chinese, but the interface looks very easy to use and Aihuishou reportedly offers higher buyback prices than competing services and street vendors. Even if you have limited language skills, it should be simple enough to get through with the help of someone who can read Chinese.

Let’s say you want to resell an iPhone 5. On the front page, click on the Apple logo or click on the dropdown menu labeled 旧机回收 (“old device recycling” jiuji huishou):

“Mobile phone” (手机回收 shouji huishou) is the second option in the dropdown list.

You can also type the device brand and model straight into the search bar:

Once you find the right device, you’ll get a series of diagnostic questions to assess the resale value of the phone:

The questions are different for each device. In this case, they include where the iPhone 5 was bought, storage capacity, serial number group, and warranty status.

The next page assesses for any damages or malfunctions: whether the phone turns on and off normally, whether the battery works normally, whether the Wi-Fi has any issues, etc.

The last page continues along the same vein and asks about the phone’s casing, screen, and repair history.

The first thing you’ll see on the next page is the estimated resale value of the phone – in this case RMB 530 – followed by a list of service options.

There are three options: go to one of Aihuishou’s service points (there will be a map of Beijing with a list of locations), have a service agent come to your house, or send the devices through kuaidi.

Once the devices have been assessed and, if applicable, the estimate price readjusted, Aihuishou will give you the money through WeChat Wallet, bank transfer, or in cash.

Note that you get an extra RMB 30 if you show up in person at a service point and an extra RMB 5 if you choose to get paid through WeChat Wallet.

Both in-person resales and house calls require an appointment. The transaction can only go through if the total resale value of the device(s) amounts to at least RMB 50, so this is the perfect time to get rid of your whole family’s e-waste in one fell swoop.

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, education, travel, environment, and culture. Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, The Independent, Midnight Poutine, Rover Arts, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Visuals: Screenshots by Sijia Chen, main photo by Zak Mensah (Flickr)

I’m not a hoarder by nature. But being an expat for the last 10 years and having coordinated 4 major moves, my views on “stuff” have shifted.

I save things.

If you ask my husband, sometimes I do so inexplicably. I save Christmas cards, packing supplies, small trinkets, magazines, anything that comes home from school, including an unending stream of what my children insist are artistic masterpieces. I can’t always see the creative genius, but they’d be heartbroken if we didn’t save every one, so I do.

I save containers in various shapes and sizes for, well, container emergencies like, “I need to make a diorama tomorrow,” or “There’s an egg drop competition.” or “Don’t you have a bag the perfect size for my collection of…?” And so on.

I’m also not the most organized person and holding onto things for longer than typical is my way of making sure nothing goes missing. From these revelations it might seem like I really am a hoarder or at least have tendencies in that direction, but I am saved from admitting this to myself by the fact that, every few years, we move and we are allotted a strictly enforced weight limit for our goods.

So we must purge, purge, purge before we leave.

Our next move is just months away. Our three years in Beijing are the longest we’ve ever lived anywhere since we picked up our lives and joined the expat throng and, consequently, our pile of possessions is a lot larger than usual. Mentally, I started the purging process long ago. I’ve thought my way systematically through each room and closet, taking stock of everything we’ve crammed in over the last 36 months and making lists of what can go, what can stay, and what should be sent to storage.

This was an unexpectedly emotional process, but I tried to be rationale, pragmatic, and keep the sentimentality to a manageable level. I thought I was making progress, gearing up for the inevitable sorting and donation runs, and so I shared my brilliant assessments with my husband.

I rattled off the no-brainers first, the items we could not possibly ever need or want again, then moved on to the more subjective areas – outgrown children’s books and games, nostalgia clothing we’ve held onto, but haven’t worn in years, gifts we’ve never used, but can’t seem to part with because they were gifts, and even things I’d prefer to keep if I had the luxury of limitless weight and space.

I glanced at my husband as I neared the end of this list, eager for his approval. But, his eyes were narrowed, his brow furrowed, he was just not in agreement with my carefully crafted plans. He was clearly not pleased. When I took a breath, he swooped in and item by item offered reasons why every single thing I mentioned had to be kept.

I was dumbfounded.

Didn’t he understand how much mental time and energy I had put into this? Didn’t he understand I too loved our things, I the keeper of tins and toilet paper rolls and a devotee of the phrase “just in case?” Did he not appreciate the effort involved in actually getting rid of this stuff in favor of just letting the movers pack up and paying an enormous bill when we went way over our weight limit? I was doing us a favor taking on this mammoth task and saving us money!

He, however, was steadfast in his objections, but I was formidable. I pointed out many of our beloved effects were taking up space and would serve someone else better. I reminded him there are myriad mechanisms available in Beijing for painlessly divesting ourselves of those things we hold dear, but are just excessive.

I convinced him we had more stuff than any family of five needs, and we could be content with less. A LOT LESS! And then I showed him the 6 large garbage bags full of stuff pulled from just my side of the closet in a single afternoon and finally the lights came on. He saw the fruits of my mental calisthenics and miraculously began to purge too.

We’re at the beginning of this process, but we’ve begun. We’ve done our homework and have plans to visit various charities with weekly drop-offs. I’ve got my advertisements ready to post on some online resources, and I’ve noted the dates for our office, school, and church rummage sales and toy drives.

We’re offering first dibs on everything to our Ayi and the other ayis in our building. And, slowly, we’re making headway. I’ll miss some of the things we’re parting with, but many I’ll forget about instantly and wonder why I ever thought we couldn’t live without them.

Except for maybe that one University sweatshirt shoved way back in the corner. That one I might keep, just in case!

6 Resources for Purging:

1. Roundabout
2. Operation Blessing
3. Bethel
4. Lion Club
5. Freecycle Beijing: FreecycleBeijing@yahoogroups.com
6. Beijing Mamas: beijing_mamas@yahoogroups.com

Photo Courtesy: Linsey Crisler