Looking for engaging, informative, and fun videos for families in Beijing? Did you know that jingkids International also has a thriving WeChat Channel where you can find everything from local events and kid-friendly activities to dining recommendations and community news?

Check out our latest videos and be sure to follow the account.

Simply scan the QR code below to follow our channel and never miss an update.

Images: Freepik, jingkids

It’s the start of a new school year and going back in style is a must. Here are a few suggestions from Taobao to keep your personal fashion statement…interesting.

KEEP READING:  Where Beijing’s Teachers Get Their Back-to-School Class Supplies

Image: Unsplash

Watch the video here.

Beijing woke up to a sandstorm this Monday. At first, it looked like just another “bad air day,” as I tell my kids. Then my oldest noticed that the air is yellow, and that’s how we clued into our first sandstorm.

According to China Daily, dust from southern Mongolia traveled south, blanketing our streets until Beijing issued a yellow alert, the second-lowest severity level and the strongest in nearly a decade.

But how to explain it to kids? CoolKidFacts.com says “A sandstorm is caused when there is lots and lots of wind. The wind whips up heaps of sand if by magic and carries it away for [kilometers and kilometers],” (and that’s how it got from Mongolia to Beijing). “They can be quite something to see. The clouds that carry the dust can be huge, and rise to over 305 meters, with wind speeds of at least 40 kilometers.”

Although it might seem alarming to kids, a sandstorm is a good time to remind them how quickly winds can change and how to protect their lungs by wearing masks properly.

Don’t play outside, keep your air filters on high, and have fun indoors until the air is clearer and the sand has subsided.

For more helpful facts and hacks about living in Beijing, just follow the Jingkids International WeChat Channel. Scan our QR code and let us know what you need to know!

Sources: China Daily, CoolKidFacts.com
Images: Anna Pellegrin-Hartley, Cindy Marie Jenkins, Mina Yan, Uni You

Notice anything different on our WeChat lately? We’ve got videos!

Aside from our daily written blogs about all the fun things to do around Beijing we recently decided to add a WeChat video channel to our features as well. Scan the QR code below to follow us. While blogs are great, there are some things that are just better explained by a quick video – like how to get a taxi faster during rush hour or info on Beijing’s cultural tours.

Our plan is to make a video channel that’s both informative and entertaining for your life here in Beijing.

Let’s grow the Jingkids channel together.

KEEP READING: Hi, Mom. I Laughed So Hard I Might Have Peed a Little

Images: Jingkids, pexels

• –        If you’re holding your phone in your hand on the subway, make sure you stay clear of the doors when the subway arrives at a stop. Some pickpockets make a grab for your phone right before the door closes, so that you have no chance of chasing after them.
• –          Keep your bag tucked close and make sure you can see all zippers and openings.
• –          When the bus driver or ticket seller suggests passengers to keep their belongings close, it usually means that they’ve spotted a pickpocket on the vehicle.
• –          Same goes for subways, but a little vaguer in this case since you can’t be sure which car the thief is in.
• Beggars will walk through the subway cars, usually with a mike and amplifier, singing or explaining his or her tragic situation while displaying their injuries and disabilities. Some women will have babies in their arms, trying to seek compassion from the passengers. The hard truth is, these people are usually under some sort of organization and more will come swarming towards you angrily trying to get more (usually on the streets instead of the subway). If you want to help them, give them non-refundable food rather than money. Usually it’s all right to just walk away.
•  

Photo by ‘Li Yong’ Flickr

There are expats in Beijing, and there are expats in Beijing. The Shunyi breed of expat is a completely different animal to the expat who works, lives and breathes in the middle of the city. If it were all up to me, our move to Beijing would have turned out something like this:

We would live in a high-rise apartment block in the middle of the city, where locking up the house for a quick trip out or an all-summer-long escape from Beijing would mean turning one key in one door. We would have enough balcony space for our dog, who was making the move with us from Switzerland. Our children would have gone to a small international school. And we would be living fairly close to my husband’s office.

I would only need to find an ayi to come two hours a day at most, because we would be in a flat small enough for me to handle. If the company driver would not be able to take me to do my errands, no bother, I would walk or pop into the nearest subway station. I would spend all my free time out in the city, soaking in what Beijing had to offer. My nearly seven years of living away from home was seamless in this way. No helper, no driver – no problemo.

But then we were hit with the ruling on large dogs. which limited our real estate search to beyond Fifth Ring Road. It crossed my mind to not take the dog along, but the rest of the family wouldn’t hear of it. So, all of my Internet searches shifted to Shunyi. All the while, I was mourning the loss of the opportunity to live where it was gritty, vibrant, and real.

However, Shunyi has its blessings; I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth. But let’s face it; in many ways, this enclave isn’t really Beijing. That’s why I like to go to less laowai-explored places, eat with the locals, and chat them up despite my bungling attempts at speaking their language.

There are a lot of good things about living in Shunyi. It is a great place for families, the school facilities are mind-blowing, we’re spoiled by the amount of space, and there are plenty of people who are willing to help you figure out your unnecessarily complicated villa.

When a video entitled Beijing State of Mind, at once a parody of and tribute to Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” started making the rounds, I received the link from several friends who thought I would like it.

I loved the tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Beijing. It reminded me of what I don’t have, so watching it made me a little bit wistful. But it also reminded me that I am quite lucky to have the best of both worlds right here in Shunyi; I can pop into the city whenever I want to feel the vibe and soak up the culture, then get back on the highway and return to my comfortable reality. Everything is good; it’s all a state of mind.

Photo by Dana Cosio-Mercado

Dana is the beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent. Originally from the Philippines, she moved to Beijing in 2011 (via Europe) with her husband, two sons and Rusty the dog. She enjoys writing, photography, theater, visual arts, and trying new food. In her free time, she can be found exploring the city and driving along the mountain roads of Huairou, Miyun and Pinggu.

Collage made from a mashup of photos by Flickr user kalmyket and Wikimedia Commons

When our daughter was born in a local Shenzhen hospital, I didn’t give much thought to how the staff bathed her each morning before placing a flotation ring around her neck and carefully placing her in a deep bathtub so she could float in the water. She really didn’t appreciate how she was bathed as evidenced by her crying, but as soon as they placed her in the tub, she would calm down and happily float around with her arms and legs dangling in the tub.

Since then we have learned that this technique, although popular in China, is not particularly good for the baby’s spine and it is discouraged by western doctors and chiropractors. No doubt we have permanently damaged our daughter, though she still enjoys immersing herself in a pool.

At Beijing United Family Hospital, where our twin sons were born (six months and neither one has moved out yet, so we must be doing something right), the boys also got bathed regularly, but again their cries made it clear it was not the most relaxing experience for them.

Chinese hospitals, international hospitals, it doesn’t seem to make much difference when it comes to bathing newborns. They must always cry. That’s what I thought until I saw a video of nurse Sonia Rochel bathing a couple of babies at the Clinique de La Muette in Ramsay Santé. It is the most profound moment of a newborn in water I’ve ever witnessed and undoubtedly made the child feel like it was back in the mother’s womb the entire time. At one point the infant even falls asleep while being bathed. I’m not one to gush over babies, but this is one video any person with a child will enjoy watching a few times and make parents of newborns sigh with envy. You can find it on YouTube here or Facebook here. If you want to know more about Sonia herself and her techniques, she has a new website on bathing babies and newborn massage www.soniarochel.com.

photo by Flickr user: kevsunblush