Learn Chinese, Travel or Work in China
This guide is a collection of resources and practical advice for living in Beijing.
My story in Beijing started in 2004 when I visited it for the first time. There was no doubt that it was love at first sight. A ten-day visit was enough for me to decide that I wanted to go back for much longer.
I had to wait five years to go back, and that time I arrived on the mythical Transsiberian Railway, from Moscow. I took advantage of the visit to go to a job interview. Six months later, I was moving to Beijing without a return ticket.
I lived and worked in Beijing for almost 5 years. At the end of 2014, I decided to move to Barcelona, where I currently manage a small Chinese language and culture school. Beijing is my second home, and I try to go back at least once a year.
This article is a guide that summarizes everything that I have learned living on the Chinese capital over these years. [Read more…]
Beijing is an enormous city with more hotels that you can count, which may make choosing where to stay extremely difficult. This guide is a selection of the best hotels in Beijing, whatever your budget may be.
In Asia, we recommend booking hotels on Agoda because, in our experience, it is the agency with the best prices and a has great selection of hotels. You can click here to see all the hotels in Beijing or here to read our general recommendations on booking hotels in China. [Read more…]
The purpose of this article is to share my experience and offer all of the practical information necessary for you to enjoy an unforgettable trip on the Trans-Siberian railway.
If you’re looking for specific information on Trans-Siberian tours,click here to read our guide. You can also fill out this form to get a free budget.
If what you’re interested in is knowing how much Trans-Siberian train tickets cost, click here, select the day, departing city and destination and you will get the prices of tickets (use the city names in English).
Last of all, if you’re looking for a story about the experience of traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway, I suggest that you read this story.
This article is aimed to provide all the necessary information to organize your tour with the mythical Trans-Siberian and is based on my personal experience as a traveler and resident in Beijing. In this article you will find (you can click below to read directly the section that you are interested):
If you have already decided that you want to travel on the mythical Transsiberian Railway but aren’t sure which travel agency to choose, we can put you in contact with a trustworthy agency. Click here to get budget for your Transsiberian Tour.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Great Wall of China (长城, Chang Cheng in Mandarin). The first time I had enough time and money to afford an intercontinental travel I took a flight from Paris to Beijing and I went straight away to see the Great Wall section of Mutianyu.
This was in February 2008 and since then I’ve visited the Great Wall other four times, once per year.
Peking University (Beida)
If you are planning to study Mandarin Chinese in China, you probably thought about coming to Beijing. The goal of this article is to help you to understand whether Beijing is the right destination for you or not. You’ll find out:
If you’re interested in a more general overview, you can read Studying Chinese in China: What’s the best choice for you?
View of the Forbidden City from the Coil Hill
The first time I came to China, I only had one week. I had never left Europe before and I could barely speak English. So, I contacted a travel agency and took a tour. If you are looking for general information about China tours, click here (you’ll learn how to spot an honest travel agency, what you need to come to China and much more).
If you’ve already decided to book a China tour but aren’t sure what travel agency to choose, we can suggest a reliable agency to you. Click here to contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
This article is based on my personal experience taking tours in China, first with a French company, later with a Chinese company to go to Tibet, and last of all, two “free” tours that I was invited on (one by the local Chinese government and another with a local travel agency, both of which were looking for opinions and advice from foreign tourists).
If you’ve already decided to book a China tour but you aren’t sure what travel agency to choose, we can suggest a reliable agency to you. Click here to contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Teaching kids in China
This is a complete guide to finding a job as an English teacher in China. It’s around 10,000 words, so take your time to read it. You can also click on one of the links below to jump directly to the sections that most interest you. Here you’ll find:
The Forbidden City as seen from Coal to the south.
The residences of kings, sovereigns or emperors that we’re used to seeing in Western countries, though being rich and opulent, are the size of a large palace or at most, especially from pre-Renaissance times, a castle.
In China, starting in the late Medieval period, when the darkness of the Holy Inquisition dominated the scene in Europe, and up until the early years of the 20th century, the emperor lived in a true fortified city constructed entirely around him and designed to allow him to carry out his public functions, and at the same time, take care of his human and personal needs.
In this citadel you could come and go only with the permission of the emperor. Those who disobeyed this rule paid with their life.
This is the origin of the name “Forbidden City” (“Zi Jin Chen”, in Chinese), a historic place, perfectly preserved, that hosted the emperor of the Middle Kingdom for about 500 years, from 1420 up until 1912, when the last emperor was forced to abdicate to the forces of the first Chinese revolution.
From that point on the name was changed to what it is called even today on maps and directions: “Palace Museum”.
The term “Museum” is there to underscore the fact that this is a historic relic and no longer the seat of any political power. [Read more…]
In this article I will review the show “The Legend of Kung Fu” which has as its protagonists the Shaolin monks. The show is performed every night at Beijing’s Red Theater.
The last part of the article is reserved for practical information: ticket prices, and where and when to see the show “The Legend of Kung Fu”.
The first to introduce the words “kung fu” into western terminology was Bruce Lee, when asked the question “what do you call what you do?” he responded: “it’s called kung fu”.
Bruce Lee was perfectly aware that what he said was inaccurate but when dealing with the West, which wants things fast and simple, he took this liberty.
In fact, to say “I do kung fu” doesn’t specify anything in particular because, to do kung fu in a Chinese sense, just means to have reached a high level in something.
For example, if I have multiple degrees and tenure in a prestigious university, “I do kung fu” in studies. [Read more…]
China’s impressive economic growth in the past 30 years has been amply guided by the development of two enormous urban conglomerates: the Blue River Delta (DFA) around Shanghai and Nanjing in central China, and the Pearl River Delta (DFP) around Canton and Shenzhen in the south.
These two urban realities, made up of one or two metropolises surrounded by a series of satellite cities, have combined to produce 25% of the country’s GDP. Moreover in recent years, these two areas have become the world’s largest testing ground for the study of creating wealth through urbanization.
Both in the area around the Blue River and the area around the Pearl River, the borders and differences between urban realities are slight with the wealth being divided more evenly. The secret of success in these two areas is the consolidation of a series of small realities around a few main economic centers and the usage of the comparative advantage of each of these cities to forge a solid financial and manufacturing center.
In the meantime Beijing, as the only top tier city in northern China, has sought to emulate the success obtained by the areas in the center and south of China. [Read more…]
Shanghai’s skyline
People often ask to us what is the best city to live in China, Shanghai or Beijing? And is Hong Kong an option? What about second or third tiers cities?
Obviously there isn’t a right answer: it depends on what you’re looking for. In this article we’ll focus on Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and look at the most important factors (cost of living, carrier opportunities, quality of life and so on) in order to solve some of the most common doubts.
If you’re looking to move to China and you didn’t read it yet, make you a favor and get our free e-book.
Also, keep in mind that Hong Kong S.A.R. (Special Administrative Region) is a Chinese Province only since 1997 (before it was a British colony). [Read more…]
If you find yourself in Beijing and want to visit a section of the Great Wall of China, you’ll only have the burden of choosing: from the most famous and touristy in Badaling to the wall in the water of Huanghuacheng, passing by the wild wall of Gubeikou.
But which section to choose?
Today we’ll speak about the Wall at Mutianyu which, after the section in Badaling, is certainly the most famous.
I recommend the section at Mutianyu for the following reasons:
The panorama from Jiankou – Photo by Matteo Bosi
Of all the walkable parts of the Great Wall of China, Jiankou is among the wildest: in other words it means that this piece of the Wall has still been left to itself. Restorations are reserved for the more famous Badaling, Mutianyu and Juyongguan, not just for the walkway paved to a shine, but also for the services offered that have made the Wall halfway between an amusement park and walking mall.
Look, if you’re looking for parts of this mammoth construction where you can perceive a bit of the fascinating war history that surrounds it, Jiankou is what you want (together with Gubeikou).
But, be careful dear nostalgic one ready to dive into the past: as you’ve already guessed and have read the rest of the Great Wall guide, Jiankou is a piece of purity from the Imperial Ming epoch because it hasn’t been restored since the day of its birth, and hasn’t had any maintenance. The walls are dangerous and the route is hazardous, not to mention “officially closed to the public” (the quotation marks have been inserted because, just as in the best Chinese traditions, this prohibition is easily bypassed, rather, a source of business).
This is not at all suitable for those who suffer from vertigo or difficulty walking (though along the route I also saw poorly-equipped and unprepared tourists taking on the unexpected slopes that it offers). Moreover, I strongly discourage going under anything but perfect weather conditions: those same slopes can easily become full-blown sand-dunes, or worse, sledding slopes with a final dip(!). [Read more…]
Continuing our series of articles on Beijing, in today’s article, I want to talk about a place which, even though it is no longer an alternative plan, remains one of my favorite parts of the city.
District 798 is a former industrial area created in the 1950s which reached its peak during the period of the Great Leap Forward. However, since the opening up of the Chinese economy by Deng Xiaoping, it started to decline bit by bit until becoming almost completely abandoned at the beginning of the 1990s. [Read more…]
The beachfront of Qinhuangdao
In today’s interview we’ll be talking with Chiara Romano, who is 22 years old and since last August has lived in Qinhuangdao, where she is studying Chinese thanks to a scholarship from the Confucius Institute.
Chiara, what are the minimum requirements to obtain a scholarship from the Confucius Institute?
Hi Furio! Getting a scholarship from the Confucius Institute (which is actually promoted by Hanban, the “head office” of the Confucius Institutes worldwide) isn’t too difficult. First of all you have to choose what sort of experience you’re looking for: there are various scholarships, offering periods of study between six months and a year, as well as scholarships to graduate both with a three year degree or teaching degree in China, or still other scholarships centered on the teaching of Chinese.
All in all there are a lot of possibilities! To apply for any of these scholarships you must be between the ages of 16 and 35 and must pass the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, Knowledge of Chinese Language for Foreginers Test) exam and the HSKK (similar to the first one, without having to write Chinese characters).
Each scholarship requires different levels of mastery over the language, but as for the annual scholarship, the one that I received, you must as a minimum pass the HSK3 exam with at least 180 points and the HSKK成绩 (in other words the elementery level) with at least 60 points. [Read more…]
This article is the third part in the series dedicated to share my “knowledge” about the city of Beijing. After suggesting 10 alternative plans and indicating the things you should avoid doing in Beijing, today, I wanted to do a review of, in my opinion, the best restaurants in the west part of the city, that is, the Haidan district (or university district).
This area is excellent for tasting ethnic Asian food and since I have lived here more than four years, I’m quite familiar with the district. So, just enjoy! [Read more…]