In today’s day and age, it seems like every week there’s a nifty new app that will gives you the lowest price on groceries, access to better shared cars and taxis, and translates languages more quickly and accurately. But there are some true essentials that lead the pack, which are pretty indispensable for maximising life here in Beijing.

JSS
Designed with expats in mind and focusing on high-quality English customer service, JSS offers same-day grocery and food delivery from expat-friendly restaurants and grocery stores like Jenny Wang’s. JSS truly tries to connect with its customers, which is why it launched its Brand Ambassador program.

Sherpa’s
Sherpa’s provides a food and grocery delivery service but only works with top-quality restaurants, which means a less wide range of options compared to its Chinese-language counterparts but mainly consists of western-friendly selections. Sherpa’s couriers are trained to ensure a quick, courteous, and correct delivery.

Meituan
Meituan is one of several local food and grocery delivery apps that gets the job done when you’re in a pinch. They generally deliver within the hour and offer a much wider range of restaurants and grocery stores than the earlier two expat-friendly English language apps, if you can navigate its Chinese interface. Plus, you can also rent the yellow Meituan shared bikes using this app!

JingDong (JD)
In the realm of shopping, JD is great for household products and groceries, where you can find almost everything from spinach to stereos. It’s a Chinese-language app but if you can figure it out, it could save you lots of time and effort searching for a brick-and-mortar store for what you need.

Weidian
This is WeChat’s answer to TaoBao, which offers listings by small local business owners with artisanal crafts, foodstuffs, or supplies. Sustainable brands started by expat entrepreneurs such as The Bulk House, KIYANI Botanics, Greeniche, Dancing Yak Handicrafts and The Green Room are some examples of stores you can find on it.

TaoBao
TaoBao is so ubiquitous that it needs no introduction. And if you were first introduced to BaoPals – the English language expat-friendly version of the local app – you really should try TaoBao because of its easy image search function, which we explain in this article here.

Xianyu
A sister to TaoBao, Xianyu is the secondhand version of the popular shopping app and offers plenty of gently-used, practically new clothes, furniture, and other goods. This is great for kids’ stuff which they tend to outgrow quickly. This article tells you all about it!

Dazhong Dianping
Dazhong Dianping or simply Dianping, is essentially what I call the Chinese Yelp, which offers guides for lifestyle and entertainment including restaurants, hotels, cinemas, through business listings, ratings system, and comments section. You can check the app for reviews and recommended specials before you choose a restaurant, helping you and your family to avoid unpleasant surprises. Additionally, paying through the app usually grants you a discount.

Dear Translate
This is editor Mina Yan’s pick of all the free translation apps that are out there right now, and there are a lot. It has a camera translate function that quickly translates the text in front of you and also has an awesome conversation translation function. Best of all, of course, it’s free!

Pleco Chinese Dictionary is probably the best offline Chinese – English dictionary. It integrates dictionaries with an amazing amount (over 110,000) of frequently-updated entries and example sentences with Pinyin, document reader, flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input, and a live Optical Character Reader (OCR). It also includes audio to help your pronunciation and displays stroke order diagrams showing you how to draw each character.

Tell us which apps you can’t live without here in Beijing (aside from WeChat and Alipay…) in the comments below!

KEEP READING: 5 Free Learning Apps to Help Level Up During Summer

Images: Pexels, Vivienne Tseng-Rush

When the kids ask what’s for dinner you can never go wrong with pizza. And when it comes down to deciding who’s got the city’s best pie, we’ve all got our own opinions. Thin crust vs. deep dish? Classic margarita vs. pineapple and durian? Round vs. square? Who’s to say what makes a pizza great? The Beijinger can! The annual Pizza Cup is back but due to COVID-19 restrictions, there wasn’t enough time to fit all the regular food events into Beijing’s six warm months, and since no one wants to eat pizza outdoors in the cold, the PIzza Cup is a bit different this year.

This year’s Pizza Cup is going to be decided with a Final Four Taste-Off indoors in the cozy confines of Boxing Cat Brewery, this year’s official beer sponsor of the cup, on Dec 19!

At the event, you will be served pizza from all Final Four contestants, drink beer, and make merry – but this is key: only those present who have tasted all four can choose the ultimate champion for 2020. It’s time to call the sitter and plan for a night out with just your grown-up friends and a lot of pizzas.

This year’s event is sponsored by JSS Food Delivery, the premiere food delivery app for Beijing and Shanghai, which features a fully bilingual interface. You’ll find using it a breeze – and you’ll also find a wide selection of popular restaurants, including ones you won’t find on other delivery platforms. All voters in the Pizza Cup will receive an RMB 30 coupon from JSS for any pizza order, and those attending the Taste-Off will receive even more valuable discounts and goodies from JSS.

Grab a slice, decision 2020 is on!

Book now to reserve your seats, as only 500 seats total are available for this exclusive event. We’ll be selling tables of 6 and tables of 4, with a very limited number of single seats available at the bar.

Each table will receive:

• Whole pizzas from the Final Four (leftovers are yours to take home)
• Craft Beer from Boxing Cat
• Beijinger beer mugs for everyone
• Hipster Pizza Cup 2020 beanies/ski hats for everyone
• Discount pizza vouchers from JSS for everyone
• and other surprises!

So gather your pizza-loving peeps and book your table for one of the following times:

Early Bird Lunch Session: 11am-1pm
Late Lunch Session: 1:15pm-3:15pm
Mid-Afternoon Session: 3:30pm-5:30pm
Early Bird Dinner Session: 5:45pm-7:45pm
Late Dinner Session: 8pm-10pm

Tickets will go fast, so book before you regret it for the premiere pizza event of 2020.

SCAN TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR THE 2020 PIZZA CUP TASTE-OFF

Scan with WeChat. Payment must be made with WeChat pay

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How the Pizza Cup 2020 Works

This year, we start off Pizza season with the annual Pizza Cup – our initial seeding list features 100 choices where you can choose those worthy of placement in our 32-slot World Cup-style elimination bracket. Voting starts today (Nov 27).

The list starts with last year’s Top 100. We eliminate those that have gone to the Great Pizza Oven in the Sky (RIP) and added all the newbies who have opened since our last Pizza Cup in November 2019.

The pies go head to head (or crust to crust) until but four remain… and that’s when we’ll leave it up to the 500 diners that have booked a seat for the taste-off.

So don’t miss out on the chance to try all four of Beijing’s best pizzas, choose the winner, and have a great time.

Here are the dates to remember:

• Friday, November 27: Preliminary Seeding Round is announced
• Friday, December 4: Bracket featuring Beijing’s Top 32 Pizzas is announced
• Thursday, December 10: Sweet 16 is announced
• Monday, December 14: Elite 8 is announced
• Thursday, December 17: Final Four is set
• Saturday, December 19: Final Four Taste-Off

 

Your Pizza Cup Taste-Off Questions Answered

Q. I am unable to attend the event but I would like to vote in the Final Four. Can I do that?
A. No. Final Four voting is available only to those that attend the event and try all four pizzas. However, we welcome everyone to vote in the earlier rounds of the Pizza Cup.

Q. Which four pizza establishments will be serving their pizza at the Taste-Off?
A. This is all dependent on the previous rounds of the Pizza Cup, where our readers vote for their favorites. We will not know the Final Four until the day before the event.

Q. What toppings will come on the pizzas?
A. We will be serving the most popular combo from each of the Final Four. Because we will not know who these four contestants are until the day before the event, we cannot predict what the toppings will be.

Q. Will there be vegetarian / vegan / halal / kosher / gluten-free options available?
A. While there is a chance one or more of the pizzas will meet one or more of these dietary criteria, it is unlikely that they all will and there are no options for ordering special menus.

Q. I don’t drink. Will there be non-alcoholic choices available?
A. Yes, soft drinks will be offered for those that choose not to drink.

Q. Can my child come for a discount?
A. While we welcome families to attend the event, the prices are the same for adults and for children. In other words, the prices are by the seat, rather than by the age of the attendee.

Q. What about my infant that will sit in my lap or stay in a stroller?
A. We recommend that you do not bring infants to the event, as it will likely be crowded and noisy. If you choose to, you will need to buy a ticket for them as well.

Now then, all these questions are making us hungry! Time to grab a slice and get those voting fingers all greased up and ready for the ballot box.

KEEP READING: What Makes a Family-Friendly Restaurant?

Images: Uni You, UNSPLASH