Ever since its founding in 2006, jingkids has been an essential part of expat family life in Beijing. We cover education, activities and hotspots for the whole family, restaurants, health and wellness, events, and local news to not only keep you and your family informed but also help you make the most out of your Beijing experience.

Tomorrow (March 1), the jingkids editorial team will be doing our very first live stream on our WeChat video channel at 11.30.

Got questions about places to go? Dining recommendations? School choice? Relationship advice? Ask us anything you want to simply share what’s on your mind. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Images: Pexels, Mina Yan

The digital hemisphere has been rampant with all things green and sustainability-focused, and now it’s time to honor Earth Day and align that stream of consciousness of yours with everything zero waste and green. The emerging concept of green consumption is of a practice that is strongly influenced by consumer values, norms, and habits and is closely related to the wonderful notion of sustainable development.

How can we better safeguard the environment through our consumer behaviors? How can we impact climate change, our ever-polluted seas and oceans, and skies in a positive way? It all starts with small but significant individual and collective habits. Start ‘Green Buying’ and go and get some inspiration at this year’s Eco Spring Fair.

Earth Day is a global event each year. As global ecological awareness grows, individual agency to help support environmental protection has also developed throughout the world – in towns and cities, and local hubs.  Earth Day, depending on where you are in the world, is a day of political and civic participation. Whether its planting trees, cleaning up your local area, making a pledge to take sustainability measures in your home and communities, every act has great purpose and no matter how minute, culminates with the endeavors of others to produce real change.

The Bookworm has invited 35 vendors from across the city and from the local communities of fine artists, handicraft makers, fashion designers, organic food vendors, charity groups, and more to stop by and show us how one can produce and consume the green way. Support Earth Day, while celebrating the wonderful things our community has to offer and positively contribute to the campaign for further ecological awareness in Beijing.

The Bookworm Eco Spring Fair, Apr 21
Ages 16+. Free. Noon-6pm. The Bookworm, Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District. 北京市朝阳区三里屯南街4号

Photos: Pixabay, poster courtesy of JC Zhang and The Bookworm

The Riviera Club House will be hosting yet another family-friendly Sunday market full of all the usual favorites and more.

The weather is getting colder, but this one is worth wrapping up and getting everyone out to do some New Year browsing, selecting, and sampling. There are offerings for both parents and the little ones, with fashion and accessories, and a bouncy castle. There will also be other fun and varied activities for the kids to participate in, and a wide selection of local foods and wine to tantalize the grown-ups.

Stock up on seasonal and fresh foods, while you peruse the carefully selected products from community vendors offering beautifully crafted gifts and artisan goods. There is always a little something for everyone at the Riviera Sunday Market, which takes place once a month in the lobby area of the Beijing Riviera Country Club in Shunyi. It’s worth making this a regular staple for family weekend outings.

Riviera Sunday Market, Jan 13
Free. January 13. 11am– 4pm. 1 Xiangjiangbeilu Beijing Riviera Country Club (18701371080)北京市朝阳区京密路香江北路一号香江花园俱乐部

Photo: Julia Chen

China’s north is often credited as the holder of traditional values, especially the original inhabitants of the capital, the infamous Beijingers. So it was especially shocking to hear the results of a recent study that placed Beijing men on par with southern men, and above the nationwide average!

What study could have resulted in such a comparison, you ask? Well, it wasn’t smoking, drinking, or even overworking. No, the study surveyed whether men would be willing to hand their paychecks directly over to their wives.

On average, over 70 percent of Chinese men said they would gladly hand over their payroll cards to their wives, while close to 13 percent added that they would only do it if it made their wives happy. Of these, 72 percent of Beijing men said they would hand over all their cash to their wives — not bad!  Looks like the Middle Kingdom capital is more forward than we thought — no Chinese versions of Nora here!

The survey was conducted by zhenai.com, a popular Chinese dating website, and sampled over 100 of their members.

Interestingly enough, Beijing women turned out to be more eager to control household finances than the stereotypically financially savvy Shanghainese women, with 92.3 percent and 82.7 percent, respectively.

Read more about the details at the source.

As one married to a Chinese man, I must wonder, why isn’t my husband in line with these statistical trends? He needs to get with the program already!

Photo: Flickr by CafeCredit under CC 2.0

Previously, we reported how China lacks pediatricians, causing rural and small town residents to flock to big cities for treatment. Now, we discover that the top ten Beijing hospitals with pediatric departments have been rejecting children with “common ailments,” such as cuts and skin problems.

Beijing Today reports that several parents have been bounced from one hospital to another when seeking treatment for their children. Trial and error suggests that if your kid has minor scrapes, cuts, skin infections, and eczema, don’t take your child to one of the top ten Beijing hospitals.

Hospitals that rejected children included the following:

• Children’s Hospital and Capital Institute of Pediatrics
• Second Hospital of Beijing
• Xuanwu Hospital
• Anzhen Hospital

China’s shortage of pediatricians extends to the capital as despite how the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning requires hospitals above level two to offer outpatient pediatric services, most hospitals do not have pediatric departments. According to Cui Hong, the director of pediatrics at Beijing Friendship Hospital, practicing pediatricians make avoiding law suits a priority by choosing to deal with only internal medicine, leaving outpatient pediatrics unmanned.

Updated:

Based on the 2016 appraisal report on the top medical care centers released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning. The report ranks medical centers based on service capacity, efficiency, safety and specialization. Find the list below of Beijing’s top ten hospitals below:

1. Beijing University Third Hospital, No. 49 North Garden Rd, Haidian District

2. Peking Union Medical College Hospital, No. 1 Shuaifuyuan, Wangfujing, Dongcheng District

3. Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 95 Yongan Rd, Xicheng District

4. Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 45 Changchunjie, Xicheng District

5. Peking University First Hospital, No. 8 Xishiku Dajie, Xicheng District

6. Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, No. 8 Gongti Nanlu, Chaoyang District

7. Peking University People’s Hospital, No. 11 Xizhimen South Street, Xicheng District

8. Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 6 Tiantan Xili, Dongcheng District

9. Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 2 Anzhen Rd, Chaoyang District

10. Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 82 Xinhua Nanlu, Tongzhou District

Photo: Flickr

Recently, a worn-down hutong passageway was put up for sale at RMB 1.5 million (USD $227,000). Unfit for living, one might wonder why anyone would bid for it, not to mention buy it for such an outrageous price. When you realize the No. 29 Daer Hutong is in the district of Beijing First Experimental Primary School. The buyer of said hutong could register their household (hukou) and have their child study at the highly ranked primary school in Xicheng district.

Vicinity Policy

The current “vicinity” policy where school places are given based on address was first introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2014, creating a competition for the homes surrounding top ranked schools. Needless to say, home prices have been skyrocketing ever since.

In April this year, Beijing’s individual districts released new policies regarding primary and middle school admissions.  Haidian district has adopted a “six years one seat” policy, which means that a single address can only be used for one school seat every six years.  Xicheng district requires that the hukou registrant has been living at the address for a certain number of years before a child qualifies for a seat.

Did we mention the above only applies if you have Beijing hukou? Shijingshan district has ruled that Beijing resident permit holders (“green card”) no longer qualify for education as Beijingers do. Fengtai district requires employment and housing status proof if  applicants don’t have Beijing hukou.

Competition is Tough

To give an idea of why property prices have risen out of control and why even rental costs have gone up (for non-Beijingers), let’s look at some statistics.  In 2015, Beijing’s primary schools had 160,000 registered students, of which 100,000 were local Beijingers, and 60,000 kids did not have Beijing hukou.  Based on the China Education Newspaper statistics, the top 25 primary schools are in Dongcheng, Xicheng, and Haidian districts, which only accepted 5,000 students.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

With the investigation and removal of the allegedly toxic running tracks at Baiyunlu campus of Beijing No.2 Experimental Primary School, authorities had also investigated school classrooms in a follow-up air quality test.

However, the parents who reported the issue are dubious of the results. After all, despite the symptoms reported by the parents of over 40 students, the government had found the toxicity level of the running track to be normal. The school removed the track in spite of the negative result.

Beijing Municipal Education Commission announced on June 14^th that the air quality test conducted by China National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC) showed that the school facilities did in fact meet quality standards for national environmental monitoring and synthetic playgrounds.

Parents are not convinced. They had hired a third-party laboratory, Shenzhen EMTEK Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen Lab), to test 16 classrooms in the school, six of which were the same rooms that were tested by CNEMC.

The Shenzhen Lab results showed an excessive amount of formaldehyde in all sixteen classrooms, wherein the music classroom had 2.83 mg of formaldehyde per cubic meter (of air)—11 times that of the CNEMC test results and 22 times above the recommended amount.

It turns out the two institutions use different testing methods and references, resulting in vastly different results.  CNEMC uses a technical method for determining formaldehyde in the air, which was established in 1995.  The Shenzhen Lab uses a more common testing method: the 2014-enacted Methods of Environmental Tests in Public Venues.

Both testing methods are allowed according to the National Standards of Indoor Air Quality, so a testing institution can determine which one to use. In this case, the question is why did CNEMC choose a testing method more commonly used for factory workshops than for public venues when a classroom is, by definition, a public venue?

The Beijing Education Commission has ordered all (school) synthetic sports fields inspected and has halted the construction of playgrounds until new guidelines are released.  Said guidelines will be created with the cooperation of quality-control and environmental protection departments as well as professional organizations. The new guidelines will be more stringent on the details of the manufacturing, construction, and assessment of playground safety.

Photo: Public Domain

Beijing’s very own healthy foods community organization, Farm to Neighbors, convened its first Jamie Oliver Food Revolution event last week.  If you recall, beijingkids attended the Farm to Neighbors Call to Action meeting on May 19^th, the official Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Day.  We wrote about the volunteers’ brainstorming session led by Farm to Neighbors, as each attempted to envision how they could educate the local Beijing community.

So what is Farm to Neighbors’ led Food Revolution aiming to educate us on?  Exactly what they have always been teaching us about:

• Food education (especially on nutrition and healthy eating)
• Where our food comes from (how it’s produced)
• How the “public health crisis” (of growing percentages of obesity in younger and younger children, along with other food related illnesses), is not just a Western concept. Most importantly, how eating right can prevent the onslaught of obesity and various related conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease (the number one killer in developed countries).

Specifically, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (JOFR) is a public call to action, encouraging everyone to petition schools on changing food policies in cafeterias (school lunches), etc.  However, Erica Huang, founder of Farm to Neighbors, emphasizes that the local version of JOFR is not a public call to action, for obvious reasons. Instead, the goals of the entirely volunteer-based movement are to educate the Beijing Chinese and international community on the fundamental points of JOFR.

The first Food Revolution event of the series took place on Sunday, June 19^th, a month after the initial planning meeting. It was hosted by Farm to Neighbors and the Beijing Mindfulness Centre (BMC) at the YOGASUMMIT (at the Grand Summit, above the regular Farm to Neighbors market).  The bilingual workshops were on Mindful Eating Practices, with a kids’ session (ages 6-14) and an adult session, lasting two hours in total.

The goal of the children’s workshop was to help children experience slowness, learn how to establish a relationship with food, and understand the differences between Hunger, Appetite, and Emotional eating. BMC states that by mastering mindful eating, children will grow up with the long-term benefits of reduced anxiety and depression, as well as a better relationship with parents, teachers, and peers.

The session began with tasting little bits of food very, very slowly. While the kids’ savored their tiny portions of dark chocolate, cucumber, and carrot (all from the Farm to Neighbors market), Dalida Turkovic, founder of BMC, explained the origins of the food they were eating. Using enlarged photos, Turkovic described how the food is grown, processed, and made into what’s on the kids’ plates. Children were surprised to learn that chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which are large and grow on trees!

The purpose of the mindful eating practice session is therefore not just to slow down while you eat and really taste what is put in your mouth, but to also observe and think about where one’s food comes from and how it’s made.  By learning such habits, children will eventually be able to make better food choices.

For our readers, Turkovic has a few recommendations on how to inspire mindful eating at home:

1. Establish your own mindful eating practices.
2. Be playful and make it fun!
3. Keep it simple.
4. Avoid a punishment and rewards approach.
5. Let your children know that “emotions are like the weather”. Talk openly about emotions and help them notice that they are constantly changing.

Sound advice, and similar to what a nutritionist recommended to us previously on inspiring healthy eating habits in our children!

The next JOFR meeting in the Farm to Neighbors’ series is titled: The Future of Foodie, and takes place on Friday June 24, from 2:30-4:30pm at The Hatchery. The RMB 20 entrance fee includes a drink from the Hatchery. For more information, follow the Farm to Neighbors WeChat, which now provides news blasts on the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution movement (including a summary of the recent Eat Stockholm Food Forum) and find out more about how Farm to Neighbors can help revolutionize your eating habits!

Photos: courtesy of Farm to Neighbors (WeChat), Jamie Oliver Food Revolution

I wrote about Chaonei 81 (short for 81 Chaoyangmen Neidajie) in my October 2015 article, but I didn’t actually get to explore the famous haunted house until my boyfriend and I noticed that the gates to the compound were open on Halloween.

At first glance, access to the house seemed closed off but we found a large, open window at the back to climb through. Though I put on a poker face, I’m glad someone else was there because I got the serious heebie jeebies on the first floor.

According to a New York Times article from 2013 (VPN needed), legend goes that Chaonei 81 was once occupied by a Kuomintang officer. When the Nationalists defeated the KMT in 1949, the officer left his wife or concubine behind as he fled to Taiwan. In her grief, she hung herself from the rafters of the French Baroque-style house and has haunted the place ever since.

The property’s current owner, the Beijing Catholic Diocese, contends there was never a KMT official. The NY Times article reports that a representative from the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (the organization that oversees the Beijing Catholic Diocese) told a local newspaper in 2009 that the mansion was originally built as a language training center for foreign missionaries in 1910. In 1930, it was renamed the California College and also started teaching diplomats, businessmen, and scholars.

However, some historians dispute this claim and say Chaonei 81 originally served as the private residence of the French manager of a railway construction company. On the eve of the Communists’ arrival in 1949, they say the house was controlled by the Irish Presbyterian Mission – hence Chaonei 81’s current connection to the Beijing Catholic Diocese.

Any attempts at historical accuracy were overshadowed by the 2014 release of The House that Never Dies, a 3D horror blockbuster based on the legend of Chaonei 81 that drew throngs of thrillseekers to the house (VPN needed).

Soon after, the management barred access to the house out of concern that the dilapidated floors couldn’t support the weight of so many new visitors.

Chaonei 81’s inclusion on a historic preservation list means it can only be renovated, not torn down. But despite the house’s central location, no one has undertaken what would surely be a very costly – and perhaps still taboo – restoration project.

When we got around to the back of the house, there was an open window giving into a room with graffiti on the walls:

We heaved ourselves over the frame and entered the doorway leading off to the right of the room.

The first floor was very dark. The floorboards creaked under our feet; we were very careful about where we stepped. The creepiest bit was the pitch black staircase leading down to the basement, but I refused to go any further out of "safety concerns."

The atmosphere on the second floor was noticeably different; climbing the old wooden stairs was like emerging from a fog. We took our time admiring the graffiti and examining details of different rooms.

From an architectural standpoint, the third floor was the most interesting. The centerpiece was a light-filled loft with high ceilings, a brick wall, and wooden rafters. The room directly faced the southern portion of the Nanmencang residential compound, a standard xiaoqu that many of my friends have lived in; the two types of housing couldn’t be more different.

The high ceilings and wooden beams continued through the rest of the floor, where we encountered – perhaps unsurprisingly – a quote from Twin Peaks.

As we climbed out of the window at the end of our tour, we encountered two young Chinese women. "Is it scary in there?" they asked. My boyfriend and I looked at each other. I nodded solemnly. "Yes, it’s a bit scary," I said. They spoke to each other in hushed voices and huddled closer. They didn’t go in.

A Word on Safety
Not only would Chaonei 8 absolutely scare the tar out of young children, it’s inaccessible to strollers (or indeed, anything without two strong legs and arms to climb over a window frame).

If you decide to visit with older kids or teens, keep in mind you’re exploring at your own risk. Several hand-painted signs advise people against going inside the house. We stepped very lightly and slowly over the floorboards, but some parts (especially on the first floor) still felt very precarious.

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