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Beijing at a Glance

Public Transport and Education in Beijing

This sign will probably be part of your daily commute!

Public Transport

Buses in Beijing aren’t exactly the preferred mode of transport among foreigners. They move rather slowly with a speed of fewer than ten km/h during a traffic jam, and most of the signs are in Chinese only. Merely the name of the bus stop might be transcribed in pīnyīn.

The sheer number of bus lines may lead to confusion: 1-124 are routes in the city center; 200-299 are night buses, and 300-501 are limited to the suburbs. Even if you don’t want to use an overcrowded bus for your daily commute, lines 1 to 8 are more comfortable double-decker buses that might be suitable for a sightseeing trip through the inner city.

The Beijing underground system (dìtiĕ), on the other hand, is fast and reliable, albeit still pretty crowded. (The crowds can also attract gropers who sexually harass female passengers.) Every few minutes, there’s a train on all of its 15 lines (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, Batong, Changping, Daxing, Fangshan. Yizhuang, Airport). Do remember, though, that the subway closes at midnight and doesn’t reopen until after five am. If, at first, you don’t know how to use the ticket machine or how to purchase a pre-paid card, the Beijing City Government has a useful online tutorial here.

For shorter distances, riding a bike is a viable alternative. However, do avoid the Ring Roads, major thoroughfares and busy streets without bicycle lanes.

International Schools

For expat children in Beijing, international schools are often a better fit than the Chinese system of education. Older kids in particular would have to surmount a huge language barrier, and the Chinese curriculum might not provide them with enough preparation for Western universities in certain subjects.

International schools often unite nursery, kindergarten, primary and secondary school under the same roof. They address the needs of all age groups and also have lots of previous experience with the educational, psychological, and emotional situation of expat kids, who may suddenly have to change schools in the middle of term or miss their friends back home.

On the downside, international schools are very expensive. Depending on the school and the age of the child, annual tuition fees can amount to almost tens of thousands of dollars per child. On the other hand, many international schools in Beijing offer an outstanding education, with teaching in the respective national language, English, and Chinese for non-native speakers. Furthermore, students are often able to leave school with an international university entrance certificate, such as the International Baccalaureate.

In Beijing, there are international schools catering to the American, Australian, British, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Scandinavian expat communities. Your child might also attend a small embassy school or be admitted to any international school, regardless of your family’s nationality.

Shopping

For obvious reasons, smaller grocery stores mainly stock Chinese brands and food products. However, there are a number of department stores and store chains that sell imported (often Western) food from abroad, which is, however, more expensive than local products. Non-Western imports are often found in residential areas popular among a particular expat community. For instance, there are quite a few Korean shops in Wanjing, Beijing’s “K-Town”.

“Expat-friendly” shops with several branches across the city include Walmart (Wò'ěrmǎ), Carrefour (Jiālèfú), and Jenny Lou. You can furnish your new place at IKEA Beijing in Chaoyang and go shopping for books in the university district of Haidian. Another tip for literature-loving expats in Beijing is The Bookworm in Nan Sanlitun Road, an English-language bookshop, lending library, bar, restaurant, and event venue. Unlike Beijing’s smaller shops, where cash remains king, such bigger stores accept payments by debit card or credit card. At the so-called friendship stores, which are targeting tourists and expats, you can only pay with hard currency from abroad, though.