This year’s Beijing news has been good, bad, and ugly. Some of the blogs were written last year and years before but still remained relevant for families searching information on issues such as where to buy toys, rabies shots, online shopping sites, pollution, and more. Here are the ten blogs that caught the attention of our readers in descending order. Happy New Year!

Beijing French School Teens Believed Abroad Malaysian Airlines Flight
The saddest story of the year to hit the expat community was learning that members of the community were on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.  Find out more about who was on board here.

5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao
This was written by one of our interns last year, which was a constant in out monthly top blogs as people searched for alternative online shopping sites to E-commerce giant Taobao. The sites do have an English interface that makes them easier to navigate.

Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops
Well kids outgrow toys faster than clothes! Parents searched our site to find out where to get toys in Beijing for purposes of getting birthday presents, or just to increase playing time. Find the places where to get toys and bookmark the page just to keep going back to it.

10 Things You Might Not Know About The Year of the Dragon
One of the interesting things learning about Chinese culture is the Shengxiao known in English as the Chinese zodiac getting to know which Chinese year of birth you belong to. The most viewed was the year of the Dragon find out if its a good or bad thing to be born in this year. Also, this is a blast from the past blog written in 2012 but still fresh!

The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer
Well this is a blast from the past that has stayed relevant over the years. This was written way back in 2011 and people still find it interesting to find out about Chinese folklore and urban legends that would make good movie creations in this day and age of really good effects.

Smogcast App: Tomorrow’s Pollution Forecast Today
Tomorrow’s dress code is sometime determined with a daily check of the weather report. Whether families need to make sure that air masks are out is what made this app popular. This app review was written last year but remains relevant for those wishing to be prepared for the next days. But sometimes a check in the morning works as well.

What’s That Air Purifier Really Doing for You?
Former beijingkids Deputy Managing Editor, used to work for an air purifying company where she was accustomed to answering queries about importance of an air purifier so she wrote this blog to help clear things up about having an air purifier in smog central.

Dumb and Simple: The Trick to Using Taobao without Alipay or a Chinese ID Number
The roadblock most foreign Taobao enthusiasts found was the payment method that was singularly based on credit cards, Alipay, and/or a Chinese ID card number, which made buying difficult. This step-by-step guide shows the use of a debit online banking method that overcomes the mentioned road blocks.

I Was Scratched by My Dog and Had to Get the Rabies Shot
A dog bite is not the only way to contract rabies but even a scratch is just as deadly. Find out how to go about getting the shots to keep rabies away for those without a vaccination. The good news is you can await it out to get the series of shots when your either scratched or bitten but the bad news is you’ll be either scratched or bitten.

Shunyi Foreign Foster Parent of 11 Disappears, Critically Ill Child at Hospital
The reports about American foster father to 11 ethnic Chinese children, Ray Wigdal hit the press after claims of child abuse rose when one of his foster children was hospitalized. This story evolved to our sister publication getting an exclusive interview with the man himself here in Beijing. 

Photos: file footage

As the holidays near in and the year finally ends, we take a look at the blogs that made the month of November busy on our blog section. These blogs were based on Google Analytics data. The classics that have month after month still managed to capture the interest of our readers are still in this list. Before we start digging through the whole year’s top blogs, here is what November looked like:

Beijingle Bells: The Big, Bad List of 2014 Holiday Bazaars
The holiday season in Beijing comes alive in November as most expats leave for the winter holidays by the second week of December. The charity bazaars are a good place to start looking or even get some gifts for family, friends, and pets. There are still a few bazaars left to check out.

Save the Date: beijingkids’ 4th Annual International School Expo Jan 24-25 at Kerry Hotel
The upcoming beijingkids school fair is going to be held in January 24-25 at the Kerry Hotel. The fair has been known for bringing together the wider community with international and some local schools to help families find information about the Beijing school scene. Find out more by clicking the link above.

Chinese Universities Offering Degree Courses Taught In English
The collaboration between Chinese and English instructing universities has made it easier for students to get a hybrid style education in China while using the class structure, degree formats and grading the same as the non-China based universities but at a lower cost.

PECB Reporting: Honest and Poor or Rich and Dishonest?
The debate title “Honest and Poor or Rich and Dishonest” is one that centers on the core ethics of most professional codes of conduct. When students begin to debate this it becomes one of those engaging and enlightening to hear the pros and cons.

We Just Can’t Get Enough of These Blogs:
The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer
5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao
Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops
I Was Scratched by My Dog and Had to Get the Rabies Shot

2015 inches closers than we might find comfortable but the upside is there’s still time to cross off one 2014 resolution before carrying it forward to coming new year. Lets get straight to the blogs that made to October’s most viewed according to Google Analytics. The popularity of this list was based on the two factors pollution and Halloween which were topics of concern.

Smogcast App: Tomorrow’s Pollution Forecast Today
October recorded higher than last October’s AQI readings over several days (this prompted a scramble by the government to give school children and officials a holiday that is currently underway). Like the daily weather report, getting a smog report become a must do (still is) and finding out how to use the Smog App was clearly outlined in this blog.

Third Session Added for the beijingkids Halloween Costume Party
The annual beijingkids spooky fest sold out so the powers that be (marketing team) decided to add a third session which sold out as well. Check out the Gallery for the five-part photo series.

Big Kids: HIS Parents Share First Day of School Stories
Hope International School started the new school year at the new campus in Crab Island and the new parents had a lot to share with the community is the first day of school blog series. Check out what the two parents from different countries say about adjustment and living in Beijing.

Shunyi Happenings
The blog that keeps the Shunyi community updated on the latest closings and openings, events taking place and the school scene was at it again with news about where to go trick-or-treating and other newsworthy tidbits. This blog is always up every week on Wednesday mornings.

The Usual Suspects…
These blogs have become information fodder for old and new residents also they feature highly on our blog top ten very month. But some appear every other month. In no particular order here are the linked blogs:

The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer
Dumb and Simple: The Trick to Using Taobao without Alipay or a Chinese ID Number
5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao
Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops
I Was Scratched by My Dog and Had to Get the Rabies Shot
What’s That Air Purifier Really Doing for You?

Photos: Archive

Another month bites the dust! As schools are about to reopen and the thrills of the new academic year are set on high gear, let’s first catch up with what was most read on our blogs in July. Highlighted are those that have not featured on the top most read list before. At the end of the blog we are going to have links with those that have withstood months of staying on Google Analytics most viewed list. Added to the list is  a popular magazine article from our 2014 Health Guide. 

Calling All Newbies: The beijingkids 2014-2015 Home & Relocation Guide Is Out
It was the season for the annual expat migration that’s where the recently published beijingkids 2014/2015 Home and Relocation Guide caters for those arriving, making Beijing homey and those bidding Beijing adieu. The feature length articles in the guide look at school selection to building a support network.

Beijing on a Budget: Top Tips for Saving Money In China
Our guest financial blogger gives ten tips on how to survive Beijing as a spendthrift as families save for the future. The simple tips are doable and can make a difference.

Little Chinese “Nerds”
This blog is a blast from the past but still relevant. The popularity of the coined name Zhai Nan and Zhai Nv referring to the boys and girls who stay at home all the time led to various articles written to figure out why this is becoming the norm.

Question Time: The Silly Things that People Back Home Ask Us about China
Traveling back home for the summer to visit families and take a time out is quite an important ritual for most expats. So when people keep asking the same silly questions after years of living here, how do you answer them? Shunyi Correspondent, Sally Wilson gives a little insight.

Buns, Buns, Buns: The Many Ways to Mantou
There are numerous way to eat Mantou, a Chinese favorite, which has parked interest on how to make the most of this simple snack. Find out how versatile this snack can be.

Now Accepting Sponsors for the beijingkids and JingKids Family Health Fair
beijingkids and JingKids present the first ever 2014 Family Health Fair that aims to bring together health-related business and organizations for a day of information sharing with the wider community. There are booths still up for grabs for exhibitors and various sponsorship deals for the September 14 fair. Check out this blog for more information.

Health Guide 2014: Beijing Blues – An expat shares his experience with depression

The second Health Guide featured in the mental health and counseling section an expat sharing his experience with depression. This article is also looks at the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

The blogs that featured last month and this month

5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao

Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops

I Was Scratched by My Dog and Had to Get the Rabies Shot

The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer

Photos: archives

Beijing is just one of those cities that you keeping finding out about food dishes to try every other day. Spring time means more street food vendors peddling their unfamiliar snacks. The more risk taking members of the community will take the time to try out some the snacks while the rest try to find out what those snacks are and how to make them at home.

Popular Beijing snack, wandouhuang (Pea Flour Cake/豌豆黄)is a sweet dense cake made from peas. The snack is made mostly from mashed peas and is yellow in color despite being made from white flour. According to Wikipedia it was a favorite snack of the royal family since the Ming Dynasty. Also, a ceremonial dish eaten on the third day of March, according to the Chinese calendar. This snack can be found in local supermarkets, traditional confectioners and the vendors.

Here is the recipe to try, the recipe below can cook about 8 cakes (each about 6.5 cm diameter).

Ingredients:
1. 1 cup dried yellow split peas
2. 1/2 cup sugar (can be substituted by sweetener)
3. cold water
 
Method:
1. Soak the Peas: Soak the peas with 3 cups of cold water for over 4 hours.

2. Cook the Peas: Drain the peas, then transfer them to a microwave proof utensil. Cover it with lid or kitchen cling film and then place in a microwave. Cook with high power for 3 minutes, take it out and open, stir the peas with a spoon, then cover it and put it back to the microwave, cook for another 3 minutes till the peas are thoroughly cooked.

3. Make the Pea Puree: Measure the cooked peas with a cup and transfer them to a blender or food processor. Add cold water in the blender or processor. Note: 1 cup cooked peas need 2 cups of cold water. Use the blender or processor to make a smooth puree.

4.Thickening the Puree: Transfer the pea puree to a boiling pot. Bring it to boil and then turn to simmering. Constantly stir with a long wooden spoon and be very careful of the hot splashing. After about 10-15 minutes, the puree becomes thick; when you drop a spoon of puree. It is ready for the final step.

5. Finishing with the Mould: Transfer the puree to a mould. After it totally cools down, place the mould in your fridge to settle down; this takes hours.

This recipe is sourced from chinesecookingsite.com

Photo courtesy of zhaoxianmenhu.cn

Another month bites the dust, that means it’s time to bring forth the blogs that people found worth spending their time reading on our site. Google analytics was used to analyze the month’s popular blogs. Having just celebrated Easter, two of the top ten blogs fell in the top 10 category. Five of last month’s top 10 still made it to the list this month. Which were those blogs? Find out more after the jump…

Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops
Written last year, this blog moves two places from third place to first. This compelling blog gives a list of places around town of where to get toys.

5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao
The ever changing Taobao in terms of payment and availability makes this blog a sure hit for people looking to other sites to get their bags, shoes, toys and much more. This was written by one of our interns. It was the fifth most viewed blog in March now, it’s the second most viewed blog.

Beijing French School Teens Believed Aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight
The missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 has still to be located. The news that the plane had crushed taking along members of the Beijing expat community is still something raw. The focus of this blog were the two teenage sweethearts.

The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer

As far as folklore, urban legends and ghost stories goes, this blog compiles a list of the Chinese hair raising stories that have been told over the years.

Easter Celebrations

To commemorate Easter around the capital, our dining and lifestyle editor wrote two blogs that garnered the attention of most of our readers. The first blog was a beijingkids sponsored event at the Fairmont and the other was a round up of the brunches, egg hunts and more.
 

10 Things You Might Not Know About the Year of the Dragon
Learning about the Chinese zodiac is fascinating, this blog was written over two years ago to give insight on what people might not know about the characteristics of the people born on that year.

The rest that made the list are:
What’s That Air Purifier Really Doing for You? (No. 6, this moves from the tenth spot in the month of March)
Smogcast App: Tomorrow’s Pollution Forecast Today (No. 8, this is a review of the app that allows people to know how polluted the following day is going to be.)
Oh Marker, Where Art Thou? Get Your Art Supplies at Beijing International Art Material Center (No. 9, this is a review of the art store in Huajiadi)

Photos courtesy of beijingkids file photos

With the help of Google analytics, we came up with a list of the ten most viewed post in the month of March. Some are new, some are old, some written by the team, others were not. The honors of the most viewed post in the month was written by a Beijing mom. Take a look at the ones that made the top ten.

Missing Malaysian Airlines MH370
The story of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 was worldwide news and hit close to home as the flight was Beijing bound. Friends and family members of the expat community were on-board the flight. The story had more twist and turns, which is currently unfolding. The two stories that made the list are: Beijing French School Teens Believed Aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight and Two on Missing Jet’s Passenger List Found Alive, Victims of Passport Theft in Thailand

Coming to Toytown: Beijing’s Best Toy Shops
The third story that made the list was by written by former Staff Writer, Oscar Holland. He came up with a list to help shop for kids’ toys around town.

Where Are They Now Series
This series made headway in the top spots with two placement, snatching the fourth and eighth spots. This series features the lives of Beijing International School alumni after leaving school. What makes these blogs different is that even though there were posted last year, both blogs featured students from the same school. Find out which one: 21 year old Michelle Chung from Malaysia and 19 year old Hong Konger Helen Leung.

The others that made the cut were:
5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao (No.5)
IB Diploma the way to go for Students in Beijing International Schools (This is sponsored content written by The British School of Beijing, No.6)
Food Goddess: Female Chef Talks About Working in a Man’s World (No.7)
School Choice Fair Updates: List of Exhibitors, Ivy Schools and UCCA Kids’ Corners (No.9)
What’s That Air Purifier Really Doing for You? (No.10)

File photos used

Technically speaking, almost anything these days can be labeled ‘art’. However, what type of art does DJ-ing constitute as? Does a “disc jockey” only spin records around and mash songs together? The definition is a little more complex than that—DJ-ing is when artists and musicians manipulate or mix songs to create a whole new sound. Many DJs seek to create a new sound and style of their own, instead of playing other remixed versions of popular hits.

Evolution of Music-mixing
At first, DJ-ing was only considered a hobby or a form of entertainment. Jimmy Savile held the first dance party that introduced the concept by playing jazz records on repeat. However, the manipulation and mixing aspect of DJ-ing did not emerge until the 1960’s, when the era of disco was born. Hip-hop songs were blended with electronic songs; records were mixed to create a suitable atmosphere. DJ-ing was no longer just seen as picking a song and playing it to a crowd—it became a specialty for DJs to know the type of songs that would get the crowd pumping. By the 1980’s, a whole new genre of music had been created. Creators of electronic and disco music were inspired, and house music revolutionized the music industry. Evolving from this genre, Techno is now a popular genre that serves as a baseline for most dance party music we hear today. With repetitive beats and trance-like sounds, the recent proliferation of music-mixing technology also contributes to the accessibility of this new art form, thereby making DJ-ing all the more popular. New programs and software allows amateur DJ-ers to create their own original mixes, or manipulate various sounds.

Creating Sound
An artist paints, an actor performs, a musician plays, but what does a DJ do? He or she mixes. From the solid heavy baseline to the excessive use of drum machines and samplers, DJs from major cities around the world such as Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Paris and London were influenced by the idea of mixing records around 1985. By the 1990’s, music-related technology progressed to cater the demand of DJs to create more complex mixes. Several high-tech digital sound mixers, including Pioneer SVM-1000 Audio and Video Mixer, gave rise to a whole new culture of disco DJ integration. Today, DJs all over the world are using these digital sound mixers such as Trance DJ Ferry Corsten. Other music artists such as Daft Punk and Skrillex use similar electronic machines with heavy baselines as well. By mixing and blending songs together, DJs can create a new sound.

Artistic Merit
Arguably, the most exciting part about being a DJ is the discovery of a new sound, the excitement of the discovery, and most importantly, the showcase of that new discovery. Relying on experience and knowledge of different songs, DJs can create something new from something old. In this easily accessible method of creation, can DJ-ing still be considered a fine art? An article in Mixmag states that the new motivation for DJs today is the crowd – “no sound means no crowd.” In this sense, DJs can be regarded as selfless artists who create less for their personal means of self-expression, and more to please the people. DJs try to create tracks to evoke an atmosphere that would suit the audience.

Nevertheless, DJs should still be considered artists as artists are generally regarded by their creativity and ability to come up with different ideas, sounds, and pictures. Moreover, DJs constantly strive to create something new, such as music tracks that can appeal to a group of people. In art, there exists no right or wrong; therefore, it all comes down to the DJ and what kind of music he or she wants to make. As this article has demonstrated, DJ-ing is something that is learned over time, not, as many people believe, by simply just plugging in a digital mixer and playing a song. 

This article originally appeared in the March, 2014 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Rebecca Teleni, student at the Beijing World Youth Academy.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo courtesy of audiodj.com

With the help of Google analytics, we came up with a list of the ten most viewed post in the month of November. Some are new, some are old, some written by the team. The honors of the most viewed post in the month was written by a Beijing mom. Take a look at the ones that made the cut.

Passionate About Me: One Mum’s 40kg Weight Loss Battle
Beijing mom Paula Zhou shares her inspiring story about how she became comfortable in her own skin.

Tiger Cubs Strike Back: Top 5 Ways to Evade A Screaming Parent
This is a blast from the past blog. Written in 2011, the post puts a smile to begin with and ends in a state of hysteria.

Where Are They Now: Beijing Alumnus Harrison Kim
A blog series that gives a glimpse of into the lives of alumni of Beijing’s international school after graduation. Harrison was a student at the Western Academy of Beijing.

Kerry Debuts new Adventure Zone for Kids
A welcomed addition of a play area for the young and the young at heart. There are just so many zones to choose from.

A Wallet Work-out! The Directory of Holiday Bazaars
We come up with a list of this year’s Christmas and Charity bazaars that began in early November and will end sometime in the second week of December.

5 Chinese Online Shopping Sites to Rival Taobao
The mammoth that is taobao does have some competition especially from lesser known websites.

Do Try This At Home: Zha Jiang Mian
This is shared recipe to make a traditional beijing dish in the confines of your home.

The Painted Skin and Other Scary Tales: A Chinese Ghost Story Primer
This post looked at the various horror flicks from China make a fun watch for movie night even if Halloween is over.

5 Local Markets for Air-Filtering Houseplants
This post is part of a series that looks at various market around Beijing on where to get the air in the house a little fresher.

What’s That Air Purifier Really Doing for You?
Air pollution is a concern for most Beijing residents both local and foreign and instinctively the first thought is to get an air purifier. But what does an air purifier really do?

Photos courtesy of Paula Zhou, beijingkids, Liangjinjian,
Kevin Dooley  (Flickr)