It’s no secret: Beijing is massive and getting from point A to point B as a functioning adult is tough some days. Doing it with kids…on the best of days…nightmare! For most of us, getting around requires my least favorite form of travel – Didi. It’s expensive, it’s slow, it pollutes the air and in my case, induces motion sickness. So here are a few alternatives. None of them are particularly creative but all of them will save you money, time, and could even reduce the amount of vomit you need to scrape off some stranger’s back seat.

Old-School Walking: Like I said, not creative but it has worked for thousands of years. If it’s not a yucky AQI day or pouring rain, it will help your family get their steps in and provide some much-needed fresh air. Pro tip: To pass the time, play a focused game of I-Spy. Decide what your family will look for before you leave the house. Younger kids can see how many red items they pass for instance, while older ones can try to spot as many different flags as possible. Enjoy getting around outdoors while you can. In the winter, when temperatures dip below zero, it’s simply not an option. So take advantage of the capital’s beautiful spring and fall weather. Heck, even balmy summer afternoons or evenings are an excuse to get outside and move, albeit in shorter spurts. Just make sure you put on your SPF!

Scooters and Bikes: They’ve been an iconic part of Chinese life for more than a century and by far the fastest way to navigate the city! I found foldable scooters for kids on Taobao for as little as RMB 45. There are also tons of baby bike/scooter seats a mere click away. Just please make sure they have a helmet and I’m begging you: Don’t put them in the basket of a rented bike while weaving in and out of traffic. Check out this article on cycling with kids for some great safety tips.

The Subway: Okay, not my favorite – especially in the middle of the sweaty summer heat. But, if given the choice between sitting in rush hour traffic with a potty training child for an hour or doing a 20-minute subway ride, I know what I would pick. The subway is also fun for kids. They love the trains and lights and maps so take advantage of the inexpensive adventure.

Public Bus: Did you know that Apple Maps has integrated public buses into its navigational system? A colleague of mine followed instructions on the user-friendly app and seamlessly boarded, alighted, and transferred buses from downtown CBD all the way to her home in east Beijing. She prefers buses to the subway because she loves the passing scenery and fresh air (the windows are usually open on the bus unless it’s raining). Also, you can pay your bus fare with a simple tap using Alipay!

Final Thoughts: The number one reason I hear parents say they take a taxi is not because of the kids, it’s because of kid stuff. We live in the middle of a major city, not the desert! So ask yourself, do we really need three water bottles, four snack options, half a dozen toys, a full liter of hand sanitizer, and the Nintendo Switch for a one-hour trip to the park? A friend of mine used to have a house rule that if the 3-year-old couldn’t fit it in her mini-backpack it couldn’t come. Occasionally they would need to buy a bottle of water or some extra SPF, but I never knew her to be woefully unprepared. 

No matter how you get where you’re going remember we’re expats, travel is kind of our thing, so make it fun! Explore some new options of getting around the city; it’s really is as easy as riding a bike. *wink 

KEEP READING: Beijing Students Say the Darndest Things!

Photos: Unsplash

Stay Cool, Go Back to School with beijingkids

It’s that time of year again… when kids pick up their schoolbags with a weary sigh, and parents breathe a secret sigh of relief. Another school year has begun, and beijingkids will be there as always to document all the joys and challenges ahead for the city’s international school community. If you’re new to Beijing then welcome! China’s capital is a busy, exciting, and vibrant place to be, if sometimes an exhausting one. Check out our website at www.beijing-kids.com and join our WeChat official account. (What do you mean you’re not on WeChat? You’ll need to be to get the best out of life in China.) On our website right now you can find out how to save money on school supplies, and get advice on the transition from primary to secondary school, as well as Taobao bargains to get you through the August heat. (What do you mean you don’t use Taobao?…) And throughout the year we’ll be bringing you all the latest news and top tips so you can get the best out of life in the city. That’s why we’re Beijing’s essential international family resource.

Longer Days and Facial Pays on Beijing’s Subway

Beijing’s subway system is an efficient way to get around a sometimes traffic-choked city, though it can get uncomfortably crowded during the rush hour. However, early closing times can sometimes leave us stranded, and reliant on Didi. Fortunately running times have now been extended on lines 1 and 2, which now operate until around 12.30am. On the Airport Express Line, however, the news is not so good. Experiments with facial recognition technology are intended to make it easier to travel: no need to even wave your phone at the barrier, a friendly camera will recognize you and add the fee to your personal account. However all this is bound to raise further concerns about the spread of surveillance in China. The choice of the Airport Express Line is an interesting one, as this will disproportionately capture foreigners, and there has been no information about whether it will be possible to opt out and buy tickets the old-fashioned way. However, with Alipay and WeChat Pay gradually replacing cash, we face a future where the government will know everywhere you go and every penny that you spend.

Hiking Ban for Beijing’s Landlords

Beijing’s landlords are notorious for their dodgy practices, such as suddenly announcing a huge rent increase. Now at last the city authorities have proposed new regulations which might curb some of their more excessive behavior. The regulations will forbid any rent hikes unless they are agreed by both parties, prevent landlords from making structural changes to the property during the lease, and set new rules about deposits. All good news for the city’s renters – all we need now is for the regulations to be implemented…

Zaijian to Jialefu

Carrefour, Europe’s largest retailer, has been a godsend for many international families in Beijing, with their supermarkets stocking affordable imported western treats. Sadly the French company has begun the process of withdrawing completely from China, having sold 80 percent of their business to Suning. At the time of writing there was no visible change in our local store, but over the coming months shoppers might need to start looking for a new source of fromage de chèvres.

Witness the Birth of a Genius at UCCA

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is widely regarded as the twentieth century’s most important artist, over his long career having experimented with many different styles while always remaining distinctively himself. This month offers an unprecedented opportunity for Beijingers to see how he developed his talent. Birth of a Genius features 103 works from Picasso’s first three decades, including paintings and sculptures, with the earliest having been created when he was only a child. The art comes from the collection of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, and has been specially chosen by the museum’s Head of Collections for display in Beijing. The exhibition, which has been described as “the most significant exhibition of work by Picasso ever to take place in China,” can be seen at UCCA in the 798 Art District until 1 September. Tickets cost RMB 188 (holidays) or RMB 158 for adults, and RMB 138 for students.

Clampdown on Profiteering Preschools

Changes to the rules governing private kindergartens recently caused concern among international families and teachers. Parents were told that the kindergartens had been forced to reduce their fees, and therefore could no longer afford foreign teachers. This led to speculation that further restrictions on international schools might follow. However, the move appears to be part of a clampdown on profiteering by kindergartens on compounds, to make local childcare affordable for all parents. The kindergartens in question were often given the space at low or nominal rent, and education authorities are unimpressed at the tendency to jack up fees. Kindergartens which own their own settings are unaffected, and we have no reason to believe that any changes with regard to international schools are planned.

This article appeared in the beijingkids July-August 2019 Teen Takeover issue

New Rules to (Hopefully) Make the Subway More Civilized

A trip on the Beijing subway can be… interesting at times. However new regulations promise to make it a slightly more pleasant experience in the summer heat. Eating, lying down, and playing loud music without headphones have all, thankfully, been outlawed. Selling or marketing on the subway has also been forbidden, which should put a stop to all those people asking you to scan their QR codes. Offenders will lose social credit, and eventually this can lead to them being banned from using the network, unless they recover their status by volunteering for the subway. We applaud any move to make traveling around Beijing more civilized; it just remains to be seen whether the new rules are actually enforced…

New Toy Store Puts Magic Back in Shopping

Parents across Beijing will be getting ready for an assault on their wallets, now that iconic toy store FAO Schwarz has now opened its doors at the China World Center Mall in Guomao. The new store, even larger than the original in New York, aims to bring the magic back to toy shopping. “FAO Schwarz is focused on creating a theatrical experience, where there will be many demonstrators to interact with children and parents in store,” the company’s Chinese partner said. With 2,600 sqm of teddy bears, robots, dolls, cars, and Lego, there’s something for everyone… and for the child who truly has everything, there’s a USD 25,000 crystal-studded miniature Mercedes Benz.

A Season of Change… and a New Career for You?

Summer is always a season of change in Beijing, as it’s the time when many families leave and arrive. If you’re heading off to new adventures, then we wish you the very best of luck, and hope your time in this city has been a productive and fulfilling one. If you’ve just arrived – welcome! Whether you’re here for the long haul, or just for a couple of years, you’ll find this an exciting, unique, and sometimes challenging place to live. But we at beijingkids are always here to help, whether it’s finding the new fun places to play, or guiding you through the difficult days. You can find us at events or contact us on WeChat, and we’re always delighted to answer your questions or share your stories. With the brilliantly talented Niicole Bonnah stepping up to take over as Deputy Managing Editor, we need new writers too, so if you’ve got a flair for writing and a zest for Beijing, get in touch – you could become part of the team!

This article appeared in the beijingkids June 2019 Home & Relocation Guide issue.

Photos: Fang Yifei, Uni You, the Beijinger

Nine months after the same feature was first offered to Android users, Beijing commuters who own iPhones can finally use their devices to pay their fares when entering the Beijing Metro.

Phones are scanned for proximity, so the phone’s screen isn’t required to be facing in a particular direction

The new feature was implemented Friday in Apple’s latest iOS 11.3 update for its iPhones and Apple Watches that allow pre-installed hardware to be recognized by public transportation fare systems in Beijing as well as Shanghai.

Here’s how it works: After downloading the Beijing Metro Transport Card (一卡通) app from the Apple store (here), users will be given an option to bind their Beijing transport cards to their Apple Pay account, through which they can recharge their cards online with amounts between 10-500 RMB. After having their devices take on the identity of their transport cards by holding them physically next to each other (shown below), users can simply swipe their iPhones at subway gates to enter.

NFC technology was first introduced to the public in 1997

READ: Pay Beijing Metro Fares With Mobile Phone QR Codes Beginning in May

Using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, commuters need just to place the iPhone in close proximity to the fare scanner when crossing subway turnstiles. Although the iPhone does not to be online for it to work, it does have to be powered on.

Beijing and Shanghai (shown below) are the latest Chinese cities to allow subway commuters to pay for fares using their iPhones, joining the debut of Hangzhou and Guangzhou last year.

iPhone users can charge a maximum of 500 RMB to their virtual transport cards

As long awaited as the new iOS update will be to iPhone users, Apple’s latest announcement arrives days after the Beijing Metro said it will introduce QR phone code payment in May that will allow commuters to pay fares directly with e-payment systems and rid them of any need for transport cards.

As if to emphasize that Apple’s efforts are “too little, too late,” the Beijing Metro have said they will be phasing out NFC technology in favor of the new QR scanning technology at a later unspecified time.

More stories from this author here.

E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
Twitter: @Sinopath

Images: Weibo (1, 2, 3)

Beijing’s sprawled-out transportation hubs just became more connected with Thursday’s opening of a new express line that will whisk passengers from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station in just 15 minutes.

Commuters will be able to get directly across town without any stops in between for the low cost of RMB 8 for a hard seat ticket.

As convenient as the new line is, it is entirely inappropriate for sight-seeing since it is Beijing’s one and only underground train line, running for 10 minutes in total blackness before emerging aboveground just before arriving at Beijing West Railway Station.

And, to be clear, service is currently only available for westbound trips from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station, and not the other way around.

Although commuters may want to avoid train stations due to their line-ups and security checks, the express train from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station turns out to be the fastest method of transportation for traveling between those two destinations.

Public buses between the two train stations may cost just RMB 2, but will require up to 50 minutes to complete their combined average of 14 stops; meanwhile, the existing express bus that links the two transportation hubs is actually more expensive at a cost of RMB 10.

The new express line also performs well when compared to the Beijing Metro, which will require commuters to ride three subways (Lines 2, 4, and 7) and make their connecting transfers in order to complete the 32-minute-long trip.

The K7751 will be making the westbound journey up until year’s end when a new intracity express train is set to begin operations, completing trips between Beijing West Railway Station and the eastern suburb of Tongzhou in just 42 minutes.

The 38.8-kilometer-long express line will have stops at the still-incomplete Yamenkou Station, Beijing West Railway Station (Line 7 and 9), Beijing Railway Station (Line 2), Beijing East Railway Station (future CBD Line), and Tongzhou Railway Station.

In other railway developments, train service from Beijing Station to some destinations in Shandong and Dongbei will cease operations during parts of October and November. And for more positive news, train passengers are now able to pay for their train tickets using WeChat.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath
E-mail: charlesliu1@qq.com

Images: Sohu, BJ News

A new Beijing express train that will allow commuters to travel from Beijing West Railway Station to Tongzhou in just 42 minutes is set to open before the end of the year.

The Municipal Development and Reform Commission approved the construction of the new urban-suburban auxiliary line yesterday as a way to relieve pressure on public transportation systems such as Line 1 and 6 on the Beijing Metro.

The suburban railway line will run east-west through the heart of the city, stretching a total of 38.8 kilometers.

The line will consist of five stations (listed from west to east): Yamenkou (in Shijingshan), Beijing West Railway Station (Line 7 and 9), Beijing Railway Station (Line 2), Beijing East Railway Station (future CBD Line, currently located next to beginning of the Batong Line at Sihui Station), and Tongzhou Railway Station.

City planners say commuters will be able to travel from Beijing Railway Station in the downtown core to the eastern suburb of Tongzhou in just 25 minutes.

The new line is expected to become operational in just a few short months because it will reappropriate existing transportation infrastructure and facilities. The suburban railway line will make use of pre-existing lines such as the west suburban line, the underground crosstown line, and the Beijing-Harbin line for its stretch towards Tongzhou station.

Out of the five stations planned for this line, only Yamenkou will require new facilities; for this reason, the suburban railway line will temporarily not be offering service to its western terminal station when it opens this year.

The new line is the first of many suburban railway projects to be determined by the state and not the city. According to plans, Beijing’s future cross-city transportation will consist of seven north-south lines and three east-west lines.

In other transportation news, Beijing finally began testing its very own maglev subway train on August 5.

The wheel-less S1 Line runs for 10 kilometers to the west of Beijing, starting at Pingguoyuan Station on Line 1. Unlike its predecessor in Shanghai, the Beijing maglev train was developed using domestic resources that resulted in last summer’s unveiling of a maglev in Changsha. Designed to run at a medium speed, this technology is touted as being more environmentally friendly due to its noiseless operation and smaller energy requirements.

Images: Lianjia, Weibo

Your morning commute just got worse: a new study says the air quality on the Beijing Metro is so poor that long-term commuters have an increased risk of contracting heart disease or cancer.

A study released by the Rock Environment and Energy Institute on Thursday said the average reading of PM2.5 taken inside Beijing subway trains can double those taken above ground at the same time, reported the SCMP.

The study found the Beijing Metro to have an average PM2.5 level of 127 micrograms per cubic meter during warm seasons, almost twice the PM2.5 level outdoors. During Beijing’s smoggy heating season in the winter months, PM2.5 levels in the Beijing Metro averaged 154 micrograms per cubic meter, 50 percent higher than those recorded above ground at the same time.

Researchers recommended subway passengers wear air filter masks during their commutes to protect them while also encouraging authorities to improve subway ventilation, reported the SCMP.

To conduct the study, researchers asked volunteers to take readings on portable monitoring devices on 10 major subway lines between October and April, usually during the crowded Friday evening rush hour.

According to the study, Beijing commuters that ride the city’s subways over a 16-year period face an increased risk of death from heart disease by 1.83 percent and lung cancer by 2.42 percent.

Peking University public health professor Pan Xiaochuan was quoted as saying the results were “trustworthy,” although he noted the projected health impact was based on a Western model that may not apply to China.

Meanwhile, an April report that found PM2.5 levels on Toronto’s subway system to be 10 times those recorded above ground were refuted by public transportation officials, complaining that a comparison with Beijing caused “unnecessary harm.”

“It’s most regrettable that a comparison to the air quality on the TTC was, in certain media articles, made to that of Beijing, one of the planet’s most polluted cities,” said Toronto Transit Commission CEO Andy Byford.

The poor air quality of the Beijing Metro has been raised before, but with much less accuracy. Back in 2014, reports that the air in Beijing’s subway system is 16 times worse than the air outdoors were found to be untrue. Instead, the Beijing Youth Daily conducted a single day of tests to find that the air quality on the city’s subway is just a mere five times worse than the air above ground.

If you don’t wear an air filter mask while riding the Beijing Metro, maybe now is a good time to start. Because even if your fellow commuters don’t, you’ll always notice that the driver at the front of the subway always happens to be fully protected.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath
E-mail: charlesliu1@qq.com

Images: RT

The smartphone has transformed expat life, giving us access to information and services wherever we go. Here are a few of the most useful apps to help you survive and thrive in Beijing.

WeChat

Forget Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp – in China, WeChat is king. Beijingers use it for networking, sharing and gossip, and even pay their bills on it. Get used to the idea of scanning QR codes instead of exchanging phone numbers. It also has WeChat Wallet (click here for a set-up guide), a portable payment system where you can top up your phone, pay utility bills, order a taxi, or book a table for dinner.

Alipay

WeChat may dominate social media, but when it comes to website payments, the competition is Alipay. It’s more than just a Paypal equivalent — you’ll see more locals paying for their shopping and dining with their smartphones than with cards. Go to pg 43 for details on how to set up Alipay.

Pleco

Whether you’re serious about learning Mandarin or just want to get by, Pleco is an outstanding language app for Chinese. The basic package is free, but you can buy and download other added functions. Particularly useful is its feature to read characters with your phone’s camera. Pleco even indicates the tones for characters, with a crafty color coding system.

Baidu Translate

Need to translate short words or long paragraphs? Baidu Translate is a must have for that. Its handy camera function can help you decode daily things in a world full of Mandarin, from operating your washing machine to replying to messages sent by your Chinese contacts.

Air Matters

Brace yourself for polluted days in Beijing. If you want to know how dirty the air you breathe is, Air Matters is the harbinger of bad news. You can opt to put the current air quality index reading as an app notification.

Apple Maps

From simple searches to transport options, Apple Maps is a viable tool to help you survive daily commuting and traveling in the city. Just don’t forget to close the app after using it, or else your mobile data might be drained by the app’s real-time use of Global Positioning System (GPS) location services

MetroMan Beijing

This handy subway app includes a search function and will tell you which stations are close to you, as well as a map of the whole subway system. It also gives users estimates about travel time and distance, number of transfers, and prices.

Three apps we wish were in English

Baidu Maps

Even if Google Maps can bypass the Great Firewall, it just isn’t accurate in Beijing. GPS location is “offset,” meaning that it’s out often by hundreds of yards. Baidu Maps is an up-to-date counterpart of Apple Maps, and offers 3D searching, traffic information, street view, and more – as long as you can read Chinese.

Taobao

Taobao, its upmarket sister site Tmall and wholesaler Alibaba are at the heart of the Chinese obsession with e-commerce (though newcomer JD.com is taking them on in the cities at least.) But while the Taobao app is less intimidatingly busy and complex than the website, it’s still for the fluent and/or determined only.

Didi

Just a year ago, we had Uber cars circulating the city. But after a mega merger between Uber and Didi, the car-hailing game in Beijing has changed, making taxi hailing a much more difficult way of traveling compared to just riding a bus or taking the subway.

This  article originally appeared on p 32-33 of beijingkids May 2017 Home & Relocation Guide.
Download the digital copy here.

Back in the summer I decided I was going to ride my bike to work every week because I needed time to exercise. I enjoyed the rides until I got hit by a car and then almost hit by a car several times in that same week. Probably I was being too gutsy with my rides, but either way, I was spooked.

To make it to work on time for morning meetings, though, I needed to start taking the subway. I could have chosen to go very, very early, or just deal through rush hour.

Although I like early morning bike rides, I’m not naturally an early bird (with riding, it’s either ride early or bake in the sun). I actually quite prefer sleep, so I opted to sleep in and suffer through pretending to be a sardine in a human sized-can.

The benefits to traveling during rush hour is that the trains come more frequently, and for my “rural” line, that can chop off between fifteen to twenty minutes off my wait.  I travel from Daxing and go through one of the busiest connection points in the city, where line 5, line 10, and Yizhuang line all meet.

Cautions: I wouldn’t recommend rush hour for people who clench up or have flashbacks when touched. I also wouldn’t recommend this for parents traveling with kids, a stroller, or pregnant ladies. The time saved just isn’t worth the danger of possibly getting crushed in these delicate times of life.

Tips
1. Easy Exit. Learn which cab is closest to your final subway exit and get on that cab every time so it’s an easy exit. I have my route to work completely learned.

2. Arm Up. If you want to stay close to the door and not get pushed by the in-flow of people, you should stand at the side rail right next to the doors with your back facing the door. No one will push you – but if they do, just hold on to the side rail like you’re about to lose your life.

3. Find Breathing Room. The most packed cabs are typically the middle and front cabs on Yizhuang line, but that’s not always the case on other lines. Learn what cabs are most bearable for your commute.

4. Stand Your Ground. There are these jerks every morning who force themselves on to the cab even if people are making a woven human wall. They turn around and force themselves into the cab. You can either push back with your back, or you can lock them in the eye and give them the death stare. The people who do this avoid me when I give them the death stare. I’ve heard other women say “Don’t touch me,” but I find that a bit silly when we’re all clamoring over one another.

5. Stay Busy. There are plenty of things you can do on the subway commute if you have data on your phone. You could listen to music or podcast, read a book, check and respond to email, interact on WeChat, Facebook, or other social medias, and write blogs. In rare situations, I’ve been able to sit down and work on my laptop, but I haven’t charged just for those situations. It’s nice when that happens, but in reality, I typically just use an easily hand-held notebook since I think better with a pen and paper compared to typing notes on my phone.

6. Xia Bu Xia. If you’ve found yourself in the middle of a cab far away from the door, start to move toward the door one stop before. When everyone starts to leave on the stop preceding yours, pretend like you’re leaving too, but stop short of the door. You can also move forward during the ride by asking “下吗？“ (xià ma) Are you getting off?

7. Mooove. If you’re going through a transfer station and herded like cattle, go down middle lanes and then merge on sides.

8. Leg Work. If you have the choice of going up stairs or escalators, don’t go up the escalators unless you’re tired, have luggage, or the left lane is clear for you to go up. You can ask a few standers to move over easily if they stop in the moving lane of the escalator, but it’s harder when it’s two rows of standers. Otherwise, walking up stairs is always faster.

9. Sitting Down. Speaking of being tired and luggage, if you look really sick, someone might feel sorry for you and give you a seat, otherwise luggage makes a nice makeshift seat. If this is just your normal commute, look for people who are looking at the blinking station lights. It gives them away that they’re looking to exit the cab soon.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

More stories by this author here.
Email: vanessajencks@truerun.com
Twitter: @vanessa_jencks
WeChat: vanessajencks