Forum FAQ

Preferences

Watched Topics

Watched Forums

Shanghai vs. Beijing????

Shanghai Expat Forum Index » City Living Forums » Questions and Answers

Author

Message

NomadFam

Seeker

Joined: Dec 01, 2005
Posts: 52
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 - 12:20 AM
Post subject: Shanghai vs. Beijing????

Okay - in the tradition of corporate chaos and confusion, now that my husband and I have travelled to Shanghai from the US, found a school for our kids and an area to relocate, my husband's company thinks Beijing may be a better place for us. Argggg! Has anyone lived in Beijing and can you recommend any websites, areas of town, schools, etc? Confused

Thanks ahead of time!!!

Snippets

PopStar

Joined: Apr 09, 2005
Posts: 1099

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 - 04:39 AM

Hi -- You will enjoy Beijing, we loved living there and really look forward to moving back.

Housing: depends on if you want an apartment in the city or a free-standing villa. If you want to stay in the city, I suggest staying in Chaoyang District or areas just around Chaoyang. Think CBD: central business district. Near the embassies. Between 2nd and 3rd ring roads East.

If you want a house and yard, you will have to move out to Shunyi which is the area that begins around Beijing Capital Airport and extends out into the countryside. The choices are endless and I have a dear friend who could help you out, just send me a PM. Living out in Shunyi is nice because you can have a beautiful American style house, large yard, etc, you also have Pinnacle Plaza which is the first and only American strip mall complex in China. But the drive is an issue. It's better that you make changes so that your workday does not begin until 9:30 or 10am. Leave your house at 7:30am, maybe you will get to work around 9ish. If you leave at 9am, you will get to your office around 930. Or live in the city.

Schools: I don't know what ages your children are but you have many choices. Eton School has an excellent pre-k program and if you need a good contact there, let me know. The most popular school is the International School, again, out in Shunyi. Well, here is a list:

Australian International School Beijing
The Australian International School Beijing (AISB) is a new school in Beijing, which offers the complete accredited post-compulsory Western Australian Education Curriculum. The School will deliver a comprehensive pre-primary to post-compulsory programme (Kindergarten-Year 1-Year 12)

Adress: 7 Louzizhuang Road Chaoyang District; Beijing (100018)
Tel.: (8610) 84394315-6
Fax: (8610) 84391583
E-mail: enquiries@aisb.cn
Website: www.aisb.cn

Beijing BISS International School new!
BISS is an independent, co-educational day school offering an English language Kindergarten to Grade 12 international curriculum for expatriate children.

They are offering:

* IB Primary Years Programme
* IB Middle Years Programme
* IB Diploma Programme

Address: No.17, Area 4, Anzhen Xi Li (off North 3rd Ring Road), Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, P.R. China.
Admissions: 8610-64433151
Fax: 8610-64433156
Website: www.biss.com.cn
Email: admissions@biss.com.cn

International Academy of Beijing
PK-Gr. 8. IAB uses an American curriculum taught in English and provides a quality education in a Christian environment. ESL classes available for those who need help mastering English. Member of Association of Christian Schools International.

Address: Lido Office Tower 3, Lido Place, Jichang Road, Jiangtai Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100004
Tel. (8610) 6430-1600
Fax: (8610) 6430-1208
E-mail: principal@iabchina.net
Website: www.iabchina.net

Ivy Academy Beijing new!
The Ivy Academy is a Multiple Intelligences Pre-school for children ages 2 through 6. Created in close collaboration with Harvard University researchers, the teachers are also specially trained in the implementation of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in the classroom. Each class will have 15 or fewer students, led by 3 teachers and 1 assistant; this low student to teacher ratio, combined with a staff of experienced teachers, makes such a high amount of personalized attention possible.

OPENING IN AUGUST 2004

Address: East Lake Villas No. 35 Dongzhimenwai St. Suite D-102 Beijing 100027, CHINA
Tel: (+86) 10 8451 1380
Fax: (+86) 10 8451 1382
E-mail: info@ivyacademy.cn
Website: www.ivyacademy.cn

The British School of Beijing new!
To Open in Spring 2004.Kindergarten and Primary School teaching the English National Curriculum.
Address: 5 No.6 West Street, Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100027
Tel: +8610-8532-3088
Fax: +8610-8532-3089
Email: info@britishschool.org.cn
Website: www.britishschool.org.cn

Beijing Eton International School Office of Admissions
The Eton International School is a Montessori Kindergarten for children ages 2 ¡§C 6. All classes are taught by native English speaking certified Montessori teachers.

Address: Room 703, 7/F Lido Office Tower ,Lido Place, Jichang Road, Jiang Tai Road
Chaoyang District, Beijing , 100004, China
Tel. (8610) 6430-1590/91
Fax: (8610) 6430-1310
E-mail: info@etonkids.com
Website: www.etonkids.com

Jenny Lou's is your best best for Western groceries but there are Western supermarkets in the lower levels of Kempinski Hotel, Kerry Center, Oriental Plaza and China World.

Medical care in Beijing is far far far far superior to anything Shanghai has to offer, as it is the capital city and Beijing has the best.

You will enjoy higher quality, lower cost food -- especially beef... utilities...meds.. etc because of the special subsidies and regulations taking care of the Beijing people.

Its a very different type of community in Beijing but one that I think you will really like after you get settled. Since you have a family, you will like it even more. More stable and less transient community. Plus its where all of the important decisions are made so you might enjoy it better for business as well.

Hope this helps a little.

NomadFam

Seeker

Joined: Dec 01, 2005
Posts: 52
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 - 05:42 AM

Thanks a bunch for the reply. Shanghai is a little more of a "known" to me since I've been there, so I was quick to think, Oh, No - I won't like Beijing! I feel better hearing that Beijing has plenty to offer. My kids are 6 & 10 so I'll look into the school in Shunyi. In Shanghai, we were thinking we would live in a highrise near the water and not in one of the expat compounds. Hopefully, we can find something in between the city near my husband's office and the school in Beijing. Thanks again for the info - I feel better already!

Oerlikon

Lurker

Joined: Sep 06, 2008
Posts: 26

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 12:36 AM

IMOP Beijing is a better place to live in. Urban Beijing is larger than Shanghai (in terms of area, not population), which means you won't experience the same level of crowdedness as in SH in most places. Beijing girls are less likely to be gold diggers. Beijing has more cultural events. Every room in Beijing is heated in winter...blah blah

_________________
Grüezi Wohl...

sandeepbudhiraja

Talker

Joined: Aug 18, 2007
Posts: 80
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 03:12 PM

Except that people in Shanghai are a lot nicer to foreigners than Beijing

Jimmy_Floyd

Barker

Joined: Jan 11, 2008
Posts: 141

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 03:26 PM

Quote:

now that my husband and I have travelled to Shanghai from the US...

Quote:

Beijing girls are less likely to be gold diggers.

Not really sure if the OP will consider that a plus or a minus for Beijing.

On a more serious note, I would say Beijing is probably more fun to live in, but I would probably have (even) more health concerns about living there over Shanghai, especially with small kids. Having said that, they did clean up quite a bit for the Olympics. No doubt it won't be long before the city goes back to its old state though...

Oh yeah, as someone said above, heating really is a bonus in winter, especially if you're not used to wearing 3 layers of thermal underwear indoors, as people tend to do in Shanghai (and that's not really an exaggeration)

For me, I'd go for Beijing.

860115huang

Barker

Joined: Mar 10, 2008
Posts: 159

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 05:34 PM

Oerlikon wrote:

which means you won't experience the same level of crowdedness as in SH in most places.

Except it didn't. For the city area, the circumstance will the same as SH.
And it is estimated loads of tourists will visit Beijing in the following days(the olympics has ended and so many people want to have a look at the famous venues，like the Bird's Nest, water cube, etc). So going to Beijing may be not a good idea.

_________________
http://www.800chinabaskets.com Definitely a nice website!!

underh20
Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 9644
Location: EOA Seminar

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 05:44 PM

Snippets wrote:

Beijing is light years better than Shanghai!

I would avoid living anyplace other than Chaoyang, though. Unless your workplace is located in Shunyi, living there will entail a one hour or longer commute. The one thing that really does suck in Beijing is the traffic.

Nowadays most people in Beijing are on flextime so even going to work at 9 means you will never get to the office until 10:30 -- with luck.

There are some small, exclusive residential areas in Chaoyang that offer a quiet, peaceful environment without having to live in Shunyi.

_________________
بارك الله ، بارك الله

hautumncloud
LoopKicker

Joined: Nov 04, 2006
Posts: 910

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 05:47 PM

We lived in Beijing for one year and absolutely loved it! There are more choices of international schools compared to Shanghai and school fees are lower. For Americans, there is International School of Beijing out in Shunyi. There is also a very good IB school - Western Academy of Beijing - the model IB school! And many others as well. Try googling international school in Beijing.

In terms of living, the suburbs is Shunyi with villas (houses). Then there is the mid town, Liangmaqiao Area where some embassies are. Then as another poster mentioned there is Chaoyang Area near the Chaoyang Park. We lived in CBD area which is right downtown which is very convenient. But you will have to decide when you get to BJ according to what you want - near school? near hubby's work place? suburbs? downtown? children travel to school each day? etc etc

For living with children, Beijing offers a fabulous family lifestyle in that there are so many cultural stuff you can do in the weekend like visiting Forbidden City, Tiananmen Sq, 1ama Temple, Great Walls (there are many setcions within about one hours drive from downtown), Summer Palace, Hutongs etc. Then once you have done that, there are so many many others within couple hours drive away where you can explore for the weekend short trip. There is a Chinese Culture Center which cater to expats exploration of China with rather economical charges and they brought us to wonderful places untouched by tourist just a couple hours from Beijing - most wonderful experince. There isn't much of any of these in Shanghai unless you fly out.

People are very friendly and the city is very safe. Food is excellent especially the Peking Duck.....oh dear, I could go on and on. My family and I had a fabulous positive experince of China because we first landed there. Compared to Shanghai....Shanghai has more shopping malls and high rise buldings but not very China to me...since I can find these in any major city in the world.

Expat community is excellent in Beijing as well. If you need to look for a church, there is Beijing International Christian Fellowship - a huge expat church held in a big theater with several services running every Sunday.

Weather - although temperature wise it is much colder in Beijing, but due to the very good indoor heating system and dryness, it is so much more bearable than the "humid coldness chill to the bones" winter in Shanghai. We are from Toronto, so Beijing is a synch but not Shanghai.

Air - many say that the air quality in SH is much better than in BJ. I don't know enough to argue but from experience living in both cities, there has been much more clear blue skies in the mist of the grey than there is in SH. Here in SH, it is ALWAYS grey, rarely clear blue skies.

Learning Mandarin in Beijing is excellent since they have the standardized Putonghua (Mandarin). Shanghai's pinyin is very often off since the local's first language is Shanghainese.

There is a locked yahoo group called Beijing Cafe available only by invitation. Drop me a pm if you like to join and I can send the request to the moderators.

All the best and consider it a bonus to start your China journey in Beijing Smile

underh20
Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 9644
Location: EOA Seminar

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 05:50 PM

hautumncloud wrote:

Air - many say that the air quality in SH is much better than in BJ. I don't know enough to argue but from experience living in both cities, there has been much more clear blue skies in the mist of the grey than there is in SH. Here in SH, it is ALWAYS grey, rarely clear blue skies.

Air quality has improved considerably and is now much, much better than Shanghai. Many of the major polluters, such as an steel factory in west Beijing have been forever closed and forced to move to Henan or Hebei province.

_________________
بارك الله ، بارك الله

RussianBear

Ranter

Joined: June 25, 2008
Posts: 533

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 07:49 PM

Hi Under ! How weather in BJ ? We lived there many years and never climed, that is very bright place! I can say for sure was great time in our life. There many knowledge locals, many clubs by interests. I has a lot of chinese friends at WuKesun camera center, most are photographs. That was nice time. Then we left Beijing for business needs (go to Guangzhou/Shenzhen).. my wife still scold me about it..

Regards !

BeijingSilkRoad.jpg

Description:

View from Pearl Market(Silk Road in past) Trade Center, 24.04.2007

Filesize:

97.04 KB

Viewed:

14 Time(s)

underh20
Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 9644
Location: EOA Seminar

Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 09:21 PM

Weather here is far better than Guangzhou, but still a little hot. It should start to cool down a little more -- maybe like fall back home -- and if the rain showers every day or so stop then it'll be great!

Today was 1st day of Post-Olympic traffic and it wasn't that bad. Maybe, though, because I go to work very early and also come home early to avoid rush hours. The subway is a mess, though, but not nearly as bad as Shanghai's.

You should come back to Beijing -- at least to visit!

_________________
بارك الله ، بارك الله

ccie6961

Lurker

Joined: Apr 09, 2007
Posts: 37
Location: Zhongshan Park
Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 23, 2008 - 04:14 PM

hmm.. after travelling many times to Beijing, the only thing I can't stand is the smog. it happened to me and my colleagues that it was clear sky after a heavy rain, but on the following day it was very hazy and smoggy. so it was a huge difference.

according to the expats in Beijing office, most of the year in Beijing you got haze and smog, and some unlucky days you got acid rain (she swore no exaggeration). That's the comment before Olympics.

They may have cleared up pollution during Olympics but don't know how long it lasts.

Oerlikon

Lurker

Joined: Sep 06, 2008
Posts: 26

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 24, 2008 - 05:59 PM

Beijing is located at where the grand plain meets the mountains. Dirts from the Gobi and moisture from the sea meet there as well. The factories around make it worse, obviously.

The worse place in China is Chongqing. It's said that Chongqing receives less solar energy per year than places within the Arctic Circle.

_________________
Grüezi Wohl...

laozhi

Newbie

Joined: Sep 19, 2008
Posts: 5

Status: Offline