It’s often said that scooters are the most convenient means of transport in the capital, especially if you live a little further afield. China also happens to be the world’s largest electric bike manufacturer (and exporter), with an estimated 200 million e-bikes on the country’s roads, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. That means you’ll be in good company should you decide to saddle up, but it also means that there’s a hell of a lot of choice when it comes to deciding which ride is best for you.

Below we’ve listed a few things you should consider below before you drop RMB 2,000-4,000 and join the ranks of China’s e-bike riders.

Battery range

Depending on the model of the e-bike, the range – the distance the battery allows for you to drive it – can vary by quite a margin. For example, a typical smaller e-bike with a basket will have a shorter battery life than a larger model. Usually, unless you’re a waimai driver, covering the entire city on your e-bike, you will typically need to charge it every 2-3 days. The good thing is that batteries are much lighter than they used to be, even compared to just a few years ago. Inevitably, brands also matter when it comes to battery quality, and the top five trustworthy brands are often considered to be Yadi, Lvyuan, Xinri, Aima, and Xiaoniu.

Remember to always take your battery out of your bike – if you don’t, you may soon find that your battery has plenty of range but this time in the hands of a thief.

Size 

The size of your e-bike matters. Before purchasing a bike, you should take into consideration whether you’ll largely be riding solo or if you will often have a second person riding pillion, which can slow down less powerful bikes significantly. There are also foldable e-bikes, which are much easier to secure in your apartment or office.

Price

Below is a rough approximation of prices for the top five e-bike brands mentioned above:

Yadi (雅迪 yǎ dí): RMB 2,700-9,000
Aima (爱玛 ài mǎ): RMB 2,400-7,000
Xiaoniu (小牛电动 xiǎo niú diàndòng): RMB 3,100-20,000
Lvyuan (绿源 lǜyuán): RMB 2,000-7,000
Xinri (新日 xīn rì): RMB 2,000-6,700

Sites like JD.com often run sales on bikes like these with significant savings, so keep an eye out.

Maintenance/repair 

An e-bike will usually last you around 3-5 years with a few minor repairs. After that amount of time, replacement parts may be harder and more expensive to get hold of. However, using an e-bike is definitely still cheaper than relying upon taxis and Didis, and if you use your bike for an extended period of time, it may even come out cheaper than riding the subway – huzzah!

License 

Sadly, the days of buying a scooter on the black market and riding off into the sunset are long gone. Sensibly, the government has since decided to limit the number of vehicles on the street, which means you will need to register your bike upon purchase. If you have no idea how, fear not, just follow our instructions right here.

Safety

Now you’re full-throttle on what to consider when buying an e-bike, don’t forget the most important factor of all: safety. Always wear a helmet, be extra cautious while riding in the dark, slow down at intersections, and never ride an e-bike under the influence!

Wanna drop the ‘e’ from e-bike? Here are four reasons why cycling in Beijing is way nicer than you think.

Photo: Wikicommons

It’s the rainy season in Beijing, and the weather can wreak havoc on your air travel plans. Is it just us or does it seem like with the smallest burst of rain droplets or sign of stray moisture you’re awarded a three to four-hour delay? This is something that we’ve all just come to expect from the moment we book a flight out of PEK, or any other airport in China.

With this in mind, sometimes we also forget that there is a state-of-the-art high-speed train that can send you to all of the major destinations that China has to offer at a fraction of the price. Currently, China has the most extensive and quickly growing high-speed railway in the world, with 15,500 miles of track covering most of the major cities in the country.

We love traveling by train! Just recently, in our beijingkids’ Beijing Dads WeChat group, some fathers were discussing the merits of high-speed train travel and whether it’s worth it to upgrade to either business or first class during your next trip. We, most of the time, associate business class or first class seating as an out of reach luxury, but luckily that isn’t quite the case here. They ultimately concluded that the price difference wasn’t that inflated and the seating space achieved, and serenity of the cabin environment might just cover the cost.

That got us thinking that there is a lot about traveling China’s railway system that we weren’t entirely clear on, even as seasoned expats. We wanted to go over not only some things we love about train travel, but also ways that you can enhance your train experience and some of the most desirable destinations you can be sent in just a couple hours or through a longer overnight ride. 

Essential Info about Train Travel

Currently, there are four train stations in Beijing, three of which offer high-speed trains. You can purchase tickets at these stations, or through Ctrip and other online platforms, but if you are a foreigner the ticket must be picked up at the station you will be departing from. These lines at the ticket booth can get quite long if your trip corresponds with one of the many Chinese holidays. There are also domestic travel agency offices around the city where you can easily purchase and pick up your ticket with a slight fee. This is likely the most straightforward way, and upon arrival at the station, you can go straight to your platform after a painless security check.

Finally, make sure you always have a physical copy of your passport when purchasing tickets and when boarding the train. A passport pick-up receipt domestically on trains can work as well if you are in the process of renewing your visa.

Train Travel with Children

If you prepare well in advance, a train trip with kids can also be fun and who knows, maybe even relaxing since you are able to bypass at least a couple of the issues that plague air travel (flight delays, stringent security, cramped seating). Also, diaper-changing tables are available on high-speed trains, which can also be a very tricky thing to maneuver mid-flight.

According to China rail’s policy, children under 12 years of age cannot travel on a train alone and should be accompanied by an adult. Also, children up to 1.2 m (3.9 feet) in height can travel for free but must sit on their parent’s lap for the entire length of the trip. A child ticket is needed if a seat is required, and depending on the length of your trip you might want to go ahead and purchase an extra seat anyway so that you can both sit comfortably.

One adult can bring only one child (under 1.2 m) for free. If there are only one adult and more than one child, the other children need to have children’s tickets. All children 12 years of age and under, up to 1.5 m (4.9 feet) in height are eligible for children’s tickets. A child’s ticket price is half that of an adult ticket, except for sleepers, which are 75 percent of the adult ticket price. Children more than 12 years old or more than 1.5 m (4.9 feet) tall need to buy adult tickets at the full fare.

High-Speed Train Types

G Category Trains
The fastest and the most state-of-the-art, with top speeds of 350 km/h, running primarily during the day.

D Category Trains
These are the second-fastest trains, used for some long-distance overnight routes, with soft sleepers available.

C Category Trains
High-speed trains running between two neighboring cities, for example, Beijing to Tianjin.

Seat Classes on High-Speed Trains

High-speed trains have four seat classes– second class, first class, superior class, and business class. While the second class is the most basic, business class, and superior class may provide you with an extra amount of comfort during long trips.

Second class

Second Class: Second class seats are the most affordable seats on high-speed trains. They have five seats in a row (3+2). There is not so much space between rows, but the amount is still significantly more than you’ll find on airplanes. Also, there are usually power outlets available in every row so that you can keep all of your devices fully charged.

First Class: With four seats in a row, first class seats are more spacious and comfortable than second class. While these aren’t the most lux seats on the high-speed train, they do provide an extra amount of comfort and serenity if you tend to be a little claustrophobic in small spaces loaded with people eating instant noodles or watching soap operas at an inappropriate volume.

Superior Class

Superior Class: Here, three seats are arranged in a row. Passengers may find the superior coach quieter, with more privacy, as a glass door separates the coach from the other cars. These are great for solo passengers with a little extra money to burn as you can have an entire row to yourself if you play your cards right.

Business Class

Business Class: Business class seats are the most luxurious and are only available on G-category trains. Seats are spacious with two meters (6.6 feet) of space between the rows. There are three seats in a row (2+1), and all seats can recline to a horizontal position allowing for a proper nap.

New Soft Sleeper Class: China’s new soft sleeper cars on D-category trains have already been put into service on overnight high-speed trains between Beijing and Shanghai, and are slowly being rolled out on other routes. Unlike the old-style soft sleeper cars, the new sleeper beds are parallel to the hallway. There are two rows of double-decker sleeper beds on each side of the hallway, and luggage can be placed under the beds for easy access. 

Deluxe Soft Sleepers: Deluxe soft sleepers are only available on a few high-speed trains, such as Chengdu to Shanghai, Chongqing to Beijing, and they are costly. We can dream though.

Dining

Unfortunately, an area where these trains don’t meet our expectations is in the dining category. Food is exceptionally underwhelming and flavorless, even compared to air travel standards. That’s why it’s best for you to purchase all of the food you may need; sandwiches, salads, snacks, and so on before you get on the train. Take on this responsibility of procuring food beforehand, and you won’t be let down by an assortment of sad instant noodles.

Popular Direct From Beijing High-Speed Train Destinations

Here’s a short list of some of the fun places you can visit using the high-speed train. Prices are subject to change, but this should give you a basic idea of what you should expect to pay.

Beijing to Shanghai

Departing from: Beijing South Railway Station

Distance: 1,318 km (819 miles)

Travel time: 4-5 hours

Second class: RMB 533

First class: RMB 933

Business class: RMB 1,748

Beijing to Qingdao

Departing from: Beijing South Railway Station

Distance: 819 km

Travel time: 3-5 hours 

Second class: RMB 312

First class: RMB 516

Business class: RMB 967.5

Beijing to Xi’an

Departing from: Beijing West Railway Station

Distance: 1,216 km

Travel time: 4-5 hours

Second class: RMB 515.5

First class: RMB 824.5

Business class: RMB 1,627.5

Beijing to Guangzhou

Departing from: Beijing West Railway Station

Distance: 2,324 km

Travel time: 8-9 hours

Second class: RMB 862

First class: RMB 1,380

Business class: RMB 2,724

Beijing to Kunming

Departing from: Beijing West Railway Station

Distance: 2,735 km

Travel time:  11-12 hours

Second class: RMB 1,147

First class: RMB 1,877.5

Business class: RMB 3,623

Photos: bbc.com, Adobe Creative Cloud

I think we all go through a phase of wanting to learn some of the staple dishes our parents made. It is in a way your responsibility as someones’ child to maintain these culinary traditions, and pass them on to your brood when the time is right. However, in China this simple act of culinary ethnography comes at a price. At the end of cooking a delicious dish from your homeland, you start to calculate the cost and realize that you probably could have purchased a veritable feast at just about any Chinese restaurant in the vicinity.

Many of our imported goods, for example, things that would usually be considered a staple for us in our mother countries, can be grossly overpriced in the markets of Beijing. The source of these woes can be summed up in the fact that much of what we like and hold dear to our hearts from our native lands would be considered unusual here. Some imports from abroad like whiskey, butter, and even ketchup are now staple items in most households and maintain a reasonable cost, though things like quinoa, maple syrup, and even self-care products like sunscreen have an amazing price tag.

Sometimes these price-gouging techniques are understandable as it is never cheap or easy to ship bulky items in mass abroad, and the taxes on some of these goods must be unbelievable. We decided to do a little round-up of some of these products, so that you can quickly see how much these items are being marked up, along with a couple of tips on how you can get around these steep prices with some locally sourced options, or through going down the rabbit hole of e-commerce.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning (RMB 180, USD 28.64)
For imported spices, especially from the US, be prepared to pay big time. First of all, I would have never expected to see this in a Beijing grocery store aisle, but even more that it would be priced at a staggering RMB 180. Who buys this stuff? This is actually funny for me because I was born in Louisiana, and this guy would be on TV teaching everyone how much “cayenne peppah” they need to be blanketing on their red snapper. Gauging by the amount of dust collecting on this box, this isn’t really a big seller. Maybe that’s because it costs only USD 12 from his posthumously-made website.

Arizona Ice Tea (RMB 16.6, USD 2.64)
Any convenience store of repute will have it, and it will always cost you ninety-nine cents. The price is even printed on the can. We know that this isn’t the most health-conscious drink on the market, but sometimes it feels good to drop four quarters at the register, get a penny back, and then immediately chug your way through a sugary Arnold Palmer (AKA lemonade and ice tea mixture). Does RMB 16.6 sound like a reasonable price for a sweet tea drink to you? That’s double the price! We get that some people will pay the cost, but we will pass, out of principle.

Camp Maple Syrup (RMB 140-200, USD $22.26-31.8)
This is probably the most widely available maple syrup you can find in Beijing. It’s at just about every April Gourmet or Jenny Lou’s in the city, and it always costs in the ballpark of RMB 140-200, depending on the size of bottle you buy. In the states, you can find a decent bottle of Grade A maple syrup for around $10-15 bucks. If you have kids that drench their waffles and pancakes in the stuff, you might want to consider a bottle of the generic, cheap syrup that’s likely factory produced and loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. After all, it’s not worth bankrupting yourself over your weekend pancake ritual.

Tianlay Quinoa (RMB 158-215, USD 25-34)
Wherever yuppies can be found, so can this ubiquitous grain usually placed somewhere between couscous and brown rice or lentils. It is well known that quinoa isn’t cheap, along with the positive and negative impacts it has had on the indigenous people of Peru, as hipster palates are pricing them out of their local grain. I think it’s OK to throw the possibility of indulging in this specialty out of the window, as most of us can agree that RMB 158 is way too much money to be spending on this bland superfood.

Chocolate Cookie Crispy, AKA Cookie Crisp (RMB 64.50, USD 10.25)
Nobody in their right mind should be spending this kind of mullah on a breakfast item with so little nutritional value. Take a couple of steps to the left or right in the breakfast food aisle and grab yourself a bag of muesli or oatmeal. Though also not cheap, it is far more healthy, and won’t leave you with a sugar crash upon arriving at the office or in the classroom.

Planters Deluxe Mixed Nuts (RMB 185, but on sale for RMB 135, USD 29 or $21)
We know why they were selling it for RMB 50 less than it was originally listed for. Nobody was buying! Planters aren’t really the pinnacle of a nutter’s snacking habits. Another thing that you have to remember, we live in a country that has such an extensive nut culture. Pretty much any major shopping area has a store with sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, and more on the cheap and in multiple flavors. Lately, we’ve been ordering almonds from Xinjiang. These need to be shelled but are generously sized and a cheap alternative to the Planters Nuts corporation and their creepy monocle-wearing peanut mascot.

Pint of Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream (RMB 89.50, USD 14.20)
Finally, we look at ice cream. We don’t even like Häagen-Dazs that much, but we guess that it is maybe the most popular imported brand of ice cream that’s currently available in China. We would like to note that just below these pints were the Ben & Jerry’s that are in our humble opinion far superior and a good RMB 20 cheaper. Still not cheap, but will be a far more satisfying way to expand your waistline while watching Friends reruns. Even if you go to Cow’s Creamery, you can expect to spend in the ballpark of RMB 50 for two scoops in a cup. It looks like we’ll be sticking to our Magnum Bars from the xiaomaibu for the foreseeable future, unless the dairy industry of Inner Mongolia starts to up their ice cream game.

Photos: mashed.com, Kipp Whittaker

Beijing’s subway system just got an upgrade both in price and the automated ticketing machines English interface. All subway lines were closed by 9pm on Saturday night of December 27 to prepare for the new pricing system to take effect by 5am of December 28. The new systems are a direct result of the new subway prices that will now have commuters paying per distance instead of the flat rate of RMB 2 despite the distance.

The English interface affects the one time ticket that had for some time stopped working and had most non-Chinese commuters relying on the help of Chinese commuters and the customer paying desk to get their tickets. The only line tested as of now is Line 10 and whether this is to be seen in others lines will be much to look forward adventure. There are two options available to get a one ticket way ticket using the automated machines that is explained in a step by step by our sister publication, theBeijinger here.

Also coming to effect are the four new subway lines that riders can get access to places such as the 798 art district and Chaoyang Park. Get more details about the lines here.

Photo: theBeijinger.com

Beijing’s most popular government-run indoor play area just got a tad more expensive for a three-hour romp. The price of admission at Fundazzle, long held at RMB 50 per child, has been raised to RMB 65. Although we hoped that this meant the employees are being paid more and would no longer look at Fundazzlers like prisoners in a maximum-security facility, sadly that was not the case. The added cost seems to have gone into renovating the toddler play area and re-carpeting the entire facility. In any event, our test subjects found the new digs thoroughly enjoyable and they were peeved when we forced them to leave for lunch.

Our test family detected no signs of changes to the massive ball pit and the huge three-story play structure for children over 110cm. Note, it is still ill-advised for parents to enter the play structure as it is unkind to adult-sized people. Especially if said adult has a sore lower back.

It appeared that work might have also been done on the bathroom plumbing as it was reported that the toilets didn’t stink. For now, this remains unsubstantiated as it is possible that our test parent was suffering from a head cold and therefore failed to detect the otherwise omnipresent smell of stale urine.
 
Alas, there is still no wifi or a nearby Starbucks.

Photos: Christopher Lay