Moving to Beijing, China soon due to an amazing expat assignment? Here are 40 things to know before moving your American family to Beijing as expatriates.

Moving and Living In Beijing China

as an American Expat

Beijing – 北京

Beijing is the world’s most populated capital city. Formerly known as Peking, Beijing is located in Northern China and has 16 districts total that surround the city with a population of approximately 22 million people.

The expat community is huge and diverse and amazing! You literally will meet and hopefully become friends with people from every continent whilst on expat assignment in Beijing, China.

What are the people like in Beijing?

Amazing and annoying all at the same time — just the same as in North America! I found the Chinese people to be incredibly helpful, accepting, nurturing and very open to experiences. Everyone loved my babies as if they were their own and wanted to hold and kiss my kids!

But, the biggest issue I had was the level of politeness. I find that I am probably more proper than most people in my own country, so in Beijing, I was really an oddball to everyone with my pleases and thank yous. I at first thought Beijingers to be abrupt and abrasive until I figured out that they just did away with niceties. Once you embrace the fact that you didn’t need to say please or thank you for anything — because believe me — no one was telling me thank you or saying please for anything — I was much better.

The other major issue I had was personal space — around me — there is NO SUCH THING as personal space in a city filled with 22 million people! That is all I can say. Just get used to it - people are everywhere - all the dang time - and they do not care if they are touching you at all.

Is Beijing a safe city to live?

Did you read what I typed that every mom wanted to hold and love on my American babies? Well, I literally felt so safe in Bejing, walking around all by myself or with my kiddos. If I got lost, every person I asked would literally do whatever they could to help me. Above and beyond to help me! It was amazing. Day or night. The only issue I ever had was with the taxi drivers because they never wanted to pick me up when I had my kiddos with me. They don’t want their white cloth-covered seats getting dirty, so that was super annoying to me because I had little ones and it was hard for them to walk if I didn’t have a stroller with me.

What’s the weather like in Beijing?

I found the weather to be exactly the same as the weather in the midwest, but without the rain and without the snow. It did rain, but not as much and it did snow, but not as much as in my home town of Chicago. We have a lot of grey skies in Chicago, so the grey skies of Beijing were pretty normal for me. However, we do not have a high level of pollution that Beijing experiences and that was new for my little family.

What’s the food like in Beijing?

Well, this is not the place to be a picky eater I can tell you that for sure. I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for probably the first 2 months because I didn’t care for Chinese food in China. It is vastly different than Chinese food in the United States. Local restaurants are very economical if you like local fare. I tried numerous restaurants all over Beijing and was able to find some local favorite over the year we lived in Beijing. Due to the expat community, there are so many other options if you do not want local cuisine. Bejing has tons of US and Euro restaurants available. You will find American, Mexican, Indian, Italian, Pancake House, Japanese, Mongolian . . . literally, anything you want to eat can be found in Beijing. But DO try the local cuisine - you will find some of your favorite restaurants.

Is commuting easy in Beijing?

I think that I was perhaps very fortunate that I had a driver whilst residing on expat assignment in Bejing. I can’t imagine having to drive in Beijing because there were massive amounts of traffic. Taxis are plentiful and easy. I had my Chinese language cheat sheets that I would just read to my taxi driver and be good to go. There is an amazing subway system that took me a bit to navigate, but after I figured it out. I was going everywhere by subway.

Where to Live in Beijing?

We lived in a furnished apartment that serviced to an expat community long term or short term. I felt I had a leg up on anyone else going in looking for everything all on their own. The apartment service employees were magnificent and really catered to the residents. I don’t know what I would have done without the employees, they were amazing. Our apartment was not cheap, but it was full-service and we lived in an expensive district, Dongcheng. Obviously, like any big city, each district or area you want to live can be more or less expensive. It is no different in Beijing. We selected this area because it was close to where my husband worked in Beijing, close to my son’s school and we really wanted the full city experience.

Before Arrival in Bejing, China

1 Check whether your passport is up to date

2 Check you have all legal documents (not copies), marriage license, birth certificates etc

3 Get a multiple-entry visa

4 Get your official documents ready, stamped and scanned

5 Find an apartment or house to live

Here are my journals from when we were an American expat family living in Bejing, China:

January 2005

This month is filled with immensely enjoyable projects like cleaning up after Christmas, sorting, sifting and enduring a full physical, while pregnant (and having a strange Dr tell me basically how stupid I was to be moving to China with a baby in my tummy-I later miscarried) and no less than 10 vaccinations, Joy! My husband takes a trip to China to look for an apartment as we begin to divide our life in half ~ one-half Chicago, one half China 

February 2005

We bid "farewell" to family and friends and wait for our visas to clear. My husband is all cleared to work and live in Beijing, along with our two children. However, my husband and I were unable to locate our actual marriage certificate(we only had a copy) and therefore we were in a desperate hurry to obtain another. We married in Jamaica and obtaining documents quickly from this country was no easy feat! We even took a trip to the Cook County Court House to remarry as a remedy! Alas, this was not allowed.  The weather in Chicago is still cold.

After Arrival in Bejing, China

6 - Never drink tap water - NEVER

7 - Invest in air purifiers - yes you need multiple

8 - Buy a new Cell phone - Chinese SIM

9 - Purchase new hair dryers and curling irons and any other small appliances you will need (toasters etc) (and don’t even bother bringing your US small appliances)

10- Carry Your Passport With You - (I know this may seem dangerous, but super safe in China!!)

March 2005

On March 5, we fly out of Chicago to Tokyo, and then drag ourselves into Beijing at midnight. Not the easiest trip to make when you have a 17-month-old who wanted nothing but OFF THE PLANE!! Poor little Miss daughter was a miserable mess on this flight and quite literally banging on the doors for a quick escape.  Hubbie goes straight into work and I have to balance two small children in a strange city with a driver who speaks very little English. We are living in the Apartments, a fully furnished apartment complex.

East Gate has continental breakfast service (Chinese style) in the morning, English speaking staff 24 hours a day, a health club (with the coldest swimming pool on the planet), and a wonderful play area for the children on the 31st floor. We spend many hours here. We move into our much bigger apartment after a week and await our shipment from the states. We shop for groceries at a local Chinese grocery store, Carrefour (French), and get our first taste of the hustle and bustle of Beijing citizens. The store is incredibly busy. We are confused and lost looking for anything familiar. The sights and smells are amazing. We are able to locate some things that we need and make essential purchases. Hubbie’s colleague takes him to the local German butcher where the expat community shops for meats. We are most happy! We eat at a few local restaurants near our apartment, ordering from pictures, not knowing what we are about to consume. After a few weeks of this, we give up and stick to restaurants that we are familiar with. There are many throughout the city and easy to find. TGIF’s is, of course, our favorite. We find many others that cater to the needs and taste buds of our children as well.

11 - Always carry diapers, toilet paper, tissues, and hand sanitizer *ALWAYS, I can’t stress this enough. There is filth everywhere, the toilets are literal garbages or a simple hole sometimes and there is NEVER toilet paper anywhere! And forget about diaper changing tables - they do not exist)

12 - Get a subway card

13 - Explore the local markets and wet/food markets - buy local and eat ground to plate-like the locals

14 - Learn Basic Chinese - YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW BASIC CHINESES

15 - Try loads of local cuisines, especially Peking Duck - don’t give up, keep looking for restaurants that will become your favorites.

Learning the Chinese language is daunting, but fun. It will also open up some doors for you and give better access to the city. I took private lessons in my home for 6 months and it was worth every yuan! I focused on basic Chinese first. But more or less needed it to get around in taxis, ask directions, order food in restaurants and basically pay for anything I needed.

April 2005

The weather in Beijing is getting warmer and I am able to explore the streets and alleys with the children and a map, me pushing them in the double stroller. This is an anomaly in Beijing, along with us being Americans. We receive many stares and smiles as we explore the areas around our apartment. With my trusty map, I am able to locate three grocery stores, Jenny Lou’s & April Gourmet, within walking distance, which caters to the expat community. I find Doritos, Heinz ketchup, cleaning products with American Labels (yeah), and for my son, his beloved green-salted chips (Lime Tostitos).

I also find a place for the children to play, FunDazzle, a cavernous indoor playground. FunDazzle has a huge two-story jungle gym, trampolines and the largest ball pit you will ever see! There is also a toddler area with small cars, swings, seesaws, and toy houses. My children want to go there every day. We finally received our shipment from the United States. Now we can finally start really living! We spent Easter at a beautiful restaurant, The Orchard, with other expat friends. We all enjoyed a wonderful Easter brunch and the children enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt. We receive care packages from home from Grandma and Grandpa that are especially welcoming and comforting to the children.

16 - Get Familiar with local Customs - and indulge in them!

17 - Take those selfies everywhere - your time will pass much quicker than you realize

18 - Get used to the crowds - le Sigh - I don’t know if this is really possible.

19 - Get a bike and ride everywhere you can to explore Bejing - so much easier than taxis!

20 - Discover China's rich history at historic attractions throughout the city - visit every dang place possible!

May 2005

The weather in Beijing is nice and we are able to play outside almost daily. We continue our walks to familiarize ourselves with the city. My children make new friends as we get ready for the summer. We spent Mother’s Day weekend at the Grand Hyatt and the children had a grand time swimming in the amazing indoor pool done up like a tropical grotto complete with palm trees.

My husband continues to work amazingly long hours. We begin to pack and sort again as we are moving from one apartment to another in a different tower. The original apartment is above a nightclub. Each night beginning at 11 PM promptly, the bass starts to vibrate our floor until 3 AM. We are unable to sleep and functioning on fumes during the day. My husband travels to Shanghai on business for one week. We fill our time with playing outside and going for walks and to FunDazzle.

21 - Get a hair cut - it is amazing, literally, you will be so mad at all US hairdressers!

22 - Visit the Olympic Park site 

23 - Visit Maliandao Tea Market - even learn how to make traditional hot tea

24 - Visit the Silk Street Market

25 - Visit Beijing World Park

June 2005

We are in our new apartment in a different tower, better we think, and happier and sleeping nicely through the night. It is the beginning of a long, hot summer. My children are thriving and making new friends. My husband travels to Shenzen on business and a colleague from the US brings a bag of goodies for us! We shopped at department stores and markets. We scoured and purchased hundreds of DVDs and CDs.

We went to Wangfujing Street (we did not partake in any of the local delicacies which include snake and scorpions and frogs legs-BLECK!), enjoyed American breakfasts at Grandma’s Kitchen and Steak and Eggs. I went to the local fruit and vegetable markets, a wet market, which is an open market for meat, fish, poultry, fruit, and vegetables. I went and scoured fabric markets and took the children on a rickshaw ride. We visited the dirt market, Panjiayuan. Panjiayuan is the mother of all local markets. There are antiques, heirlooms and curios, furniture and almost everything in between. I continue my grocery shopping trips to Jenny Lou’s – oh, what I would have done without this store! I found the Kempenski Hotel, which had an amazing bakery! American pastries and donuts! We continue to receive our monthly care packages, a welcome treat!

July 2005

We get a new driver this month that speaks even less English but is much more professional and nicer. We make many new friends at East Gate and are enjoying shopping in the markets. We brave the sweltering heat and see a bit of Beijing. We enjoyed the hutong at Houhai Lake, the zoo and amusement parks that are so dilapidated, they would be shut down in 30 seconds in the United States. I join an expat East Gate mother’s group once a week and the children were making even more new friends. We attend a friend’s birthday parties and visit new Chinese friends’ homes. We swim on the weekends at the Sino-Swiss Hotel in Shunyi, which is a wonderful time. I continue my weekly trips to Jenny Lou’s and the German butcher and the local wet market.

26 - Visit Wangfujing Street at night - TRY everything!

27 - Visit the Temple of Heaven

28 - Take a trip to the Bejing Zoo

29 - Visit the Summer Palace

30 - Visit Houhai Lake

August 2005

We saw Disney on Ice at the Worker’s Stadium, which the children loved! We celebrated Hubbie’s birthday at Hard Rock Café. We continue to go swimming at SinoSwiss Hotel and play weekly with our East Gate playgroup. My son loves to go to Chaoyang Park with my husband on the weekends. We take many bike rides through the city with the children. Hubbie continues to work crazy hours. We shop for Chinese furniture and antiques and trinkets. We shop some more at the markets for gifts for family and friends.

31 - See the national flag-raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square

32 - Visit the Fayuan Temple

33 - See the Great Wall of China - there are several different locations to visit

34 - Explore the best of the hutongs

35 - Count the dragons in the Forbidden City

September 2005

My son starts Pre-Kindergarten academy, five mornings a week and he just loves it, coming home each day leaping with joy. My daughter is quite jealous and wants to attend school also! The locals are celebrating Moon Cake festival and we receive and give many moon cakes. We celebrate our daughter's second birthday with a pony party, with lots of ponies and horses and many friends. We attend more friends’ birthday parties, lots in September. We spend a particularly beautiful day scaling the Great Wall with the children. Go to the zoo one last time before fall to feed the elephants and giraffes. We spent one glorious day at The Great Wall, Mutianyu section. We rode a gondola up and down the mountain, the children loved this. This was a wonderful day and the children were great troopers, climbing most of the way themselves! We shop quickly because mu husband's contract has been canceled and we are to return to the United States ASAP. I am devastated and not looking forward to packing, sorting and moving again.

At the end of the month, we fly to Hong Kong for a long weekend and go to Hong Kong Disney for the children. It was a wonderful time and we hope to go back someday. The children visited and dined with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Pluto, Chip and Dale, Buzz Lightyear, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too! We stayed at The Peninsula in Hong Kong after our stay at Disney and had high tea. What a joyful experience!! We did not get to see much of Hong Kong as the city was in the middle of a monsoon! We did, however, visit Toys-R-Us! A much-needed trip as the quality of toys in Beijing is awful! We flew back to Beijing for one day and repacked for our two-week trip to Phuket, Thailand.

36 - Get tailor-made clothes - get leather goods, coats, jackets, silk dresses, and custom made suits

37 - Pick up some antiques at Panjiayuan Antique Market - there are treasures to be found!

38 - Travel within China - visit Shanghai, Xiian, Mongolia, just go!

39 - Go To A Museum

40 - Go to the Opera - you will not be disappointed!

October 2005

We begin the month in Phuket, Thailand. One of our life experiences, for sure. Thailand is beautiful and the people are amazing. We had the best vacation of our lives thus far. We stayed at the Sheraton Grande Laguna in a Golf Villa. The villa was located along the lush fairways of the Laguna Phuket Golf Course, the two-story three-bedroom Golf Villas had spacious living area enhanced by a private garden terrace with Thai sala and swimming pool. Complimentary butter croissants were delivered to the villa in the morning and a complimentary full a la carte breakfast at Puccini Restaurant or full buffet at Birds of Paradise Restaurant or via room service was offered every day. Each evening a Thai dessert was delivered (we did not care for these too much). The children thrived in the sun there and made a new friend with a baby elephant, Ning Nong, which was in residence at the hotel. My daughter rode Ning Nong every morning and absolutely would refuse to come down from her. She loved Ning Nong and by the end of the vacation had taken to calling her "My Ning Nong".

We hung out at the beach in the morning then came back to the Villa pool and visited other pools, then lunch and my daughter to bed then more pool then beach, swim and dinner. Every day the same except when we went elephant trekking and sailboating to James Bond Island.  The service was incredible. Everyone is so happy here (especially my husband) and so smiley. Swimming, swimming, swimming at our villa pool(we had a pool with our villa-our very own) Walking on beach. Swimming in all the pools available throughout the Sheraton. At beach looking for shells, chasing the waves. Eating, room service and we even had a private chef cook for us on our last evening – absolute heaven! We bought our son a squirt gun and he had a ball. Our daughter would float around all the pools. We went to the "sand pool" where they have water volleyball and kids can play in the sand on the "shore" of the pool. Also went to Canal Village on the little barge-like lagoon boats that come and go every 20 minutes. Had coffee and ice cream galore and a wonderful spicy Thai dinner. By the Grande Villas, there is a little "private" area that is for the guests of the villas. It is right next to a little Puccini restaurant and every afternoon they bring out complimentary plates of fresh fruit and you can serve yourself an iced tea, iced lemongrass water or fresh water. Every evening they serve complimentary hot hors d'oeuvres and tropical drinks. We went to another resort in the Laguna Beach area – the Laguna area has 5 resorts {Allamanda Laguna, Dusit Laguna Resort, Banyan Tree, Laguna Beach Resort, and Laguna Phuket Golf Club}. Laguna Beach Resort had a waterpark and waterslides, so the kids had a ball, we spent the day there. One evening we went into town to see the Chinese New Year Festival! So much food, fun and people! Much, too much for the children. We purchased two carved elephants to remind us of the baby elephant for the children and a Thai xylophone.

We returned from Thailand to Beijing in mid-October. In those three weeks, Beijing’s weather turned from stinking hot to cool, which was wonderful. We went to the Summer Palace and had a lovely day. A week later, an East Gate friend decided to organize a Trick or Treat celebration for our kids – with about 5 other moms involved (I bowed out as I was not feeling well-morning sickness had stuck me all day). What an absolute blast! It was truly the most, most fun for our children. My son and I made spooky theme cupcakes. My children dressed as Spiderman and a Ladybug (thank you, Grandma). We attended a Halloween party at an East Gate friend’s apartment We had an absolute blast! I shopped and lunched and began my long round of farewells and special times with friends. We met with a tailor and had many leather and suede jackets custom made. My husband also had three suits made. We said goodbye to wonderful friends from England who were returning home. He also worked with my husband.

November 2005

We were monumentally sad to be leaving Beijing and our apartment complex where we had made very special friends. Once again, I packed, and sorted, and packed and packed our things to ship back to the United States. My son was especially sad to leave the Academy where he was thriving and making loads of new friends from all over the world. We visited Tian’anmen Square

one last time and many markets for any last-minute purchases. I took the children to Blue Zoo Beijing, an aquarium with an enormous coral reef tank containing eels, tuna, shark and stingrays. We joined my son's class on a school outing. We departed Beijing on November 19 very early in the morning. Many friends were waiting in the lobby for a very emotional, tearful goodbye! It was also sad to say goodbye to our driver, Mr. Sun, who was very fond of the children. My daughter had taken to calling him "My Sun". The flight to Tokyo was a dream; my daughter had adjusted to flying and slept the entire trip! We arrived back in Chicago on November 19 to a cold, dreary morning. Our home looked beautiful and clean and I forgot how much I loved it! My son was so ecstatic to be back at his house that he couldn’t even sleep, even though he had been awake the entire trip, almost a full 24 hours! I had planned to cook a traditional Thanksgiving feast for our new East Gate friends (none American), but we had departed earlier than anticipated. I left my friends with a recipe sheet and they were all determined to recreate it!

My friends coordinated and served up a massive traditional American Thanksgiving feast for the expat community at East Gate – not one American at the table. I was so proud of my friends and so sad to not be there! We all went to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving dinner back home in Chicago. My son slept through the entire dinner and my daughter was in an impressive mood induced by lack of sleep. I was stricken with morning sickness still and also in a coma due to lack of sleep. The dinner was a complete blur for us. We were all still on Beijing time. At the end of the month, my son began preschool. He misses Academy and does not like his new preschool here in the states. I am busy shopping for my empty pantry and fridge and closets. My children were in dire need of new clothes. All of us needed new socks as all the filthy floors ruined them in Beijing!

December 2005

Hubbie is back to work. We are finally adjusting to the time zone. My son is beginning to enjoy school a bit. We are getting ready for a very low-key family Christmas. It is extremely cold here in Chicago, wind chill well below zero. My son celebrated his fifth birthday and we had many friends and family over to our house for a Spider-Man party. Everyone welcomed us home and My son had a grand time with his cousins and friends! We visited Santa this year and I am happy to say that The Children were excited to let Santa know what they wanted this year. My son, a "girl Cindy". (A neighbor of ours in Beijing had a beautiful lab which my children became fast-friends with) my daughter just wanted more ponies! My son had his Christmas pageant at school, which he was none to happy about and quite upset that he had to participate. We finally came out of hiding so he could see us, and off he sprinted to daddy’s waiting arms! Towards the end of the month we played Christmas music and put up our massive tree and everyone decorated it and the children had a great time! Grandma and Grandpa spent the day with us on Christmas Eve and the kids had a very nice time. We went to church services in the evening. We had a wonderful, warm, quiet Christmas Day. My son was the first to wake and ran downstairs to see if Santa had found him. There were Santa tracks throughout the house and bites from the cookies we had left. My son tore through his presents, one after the other, having a blast. My daughter opened one and was completely bored with the entire process. My son was more than happy to assist her! My brother and his son came down late afternoon for a quick, quiet visit. The children had a wonderful time playing with all the new toys! We spent the last few days of 2005 in Tomah, WI at an indoor water park for the children. We celebrated New Year’s Eve there and our fifth wedding anniversary on January 2nd.

We miss Beijing and had an amazing experience of living in China. We are glad to be back to normal daily life. Another year, minor changes in store, and we are all so looking forward to a fabulous 2006 and a new baby! My son is back in school (almost) most happily. The children are taking Art classes. My son begins T-Ball in January and Soccer in March. My son will attend school 5 mornings a week, next fall and hopefully, My daughter will attend 3 mornings a week. We have had a wonderful start to the New Year and hope that 2006 brings us much contentment, new and wonderful challenges and, of course, lots of fun times.