Beijing - Post Report Question and Answers
What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
The PRC government and omnipresent police/surveillance state are stifling at times, but Beijing has many layers. Walking the side streets, eating at local restaurants, shopping at local markets, traveling anywhere outside the city center...these are the real advantages of living in Beijing (or elsewhere in China). And if you have kids, the schools are truly amazing at all levels. - Nov 2024
For families with older children, probably the schools. The housing is generally quite nice. It's a high differential post, so you can save money if you're a bit frugal. Lots of embassy jobs for EFMs to make up for the lack of a bilateral work agreement. So many great restaurants. - Nov 2021
It's probably one of the safest large cities in the world. Crime doesn't really happen given the attention of the authoritarian state, cameras, and 100s of security force personnel per square mile. - Nov 2020
If you move to Beijing today, I feel you will have a rare chance to experience what Moscow must have felt like in the 1980s, or Berlin in the 1930s. - Aug 2020
If you want to work on front-page news sorts of issues, this is the place. It is challenging but extremely rewarding, and you'll never ask whether decision makers in Washington care about your work. This is also a large, dynamic city with lots to do; you won't get bored. - Jul 2020
Maybe after a few years I will have an answer. For now I cannot see any. - Nov 2019
It's amazing to be in such an important city in the world right now. It is a huge capital city and with money and time it is all yours! - Oct 2017
The opportunity to see one of the most important countries in the world jerk and stumble its way into becoming a developed country is fascinating. Chinese food is incredibly varied and largely excellent. It can be tough to motivate yourself sometimes given the challenges of the city and the country but there are endless opportunities to explore historic sights, cultural spaces, new bars and restaurants, and some great hiking outside of town. - Dec 2015
Many expats living here. Great for networking and if you would like to live in an "expat bubble" it is very easy to do so. Many expat resources. - Apr 2015
Being in Asia. - Aug 2014
The culture is new for our family and there is lots to see and do in the city. - Jul 2014
China gets a lot of attention as the rising world super power, and I think the best part of living here is seeing what that looks like on the ground -- total chaos of over a billion people fighting for space and resources. Lots to see and do in this massive country. - Jun 2013
China is full of history, culture, and natural beauty -- lots of great places to see and visit. - Aug 2011
Saving money!The culture and expat lifestyle are also to be appreciated. - Apr 2011
If you enjoy Chinese culture and want to learn more about Chinese history, there is no better place than Beijing. It's the capital, and there are thousands of years of history here. Beijing is a great home base to explore China and the rest of Asia. Nearly every country in the world has an embassy here, so it's relatively easy (though rarely cheap for US passport holders) to get visas. With the incredible air, rail and bus connections here, it's easy to find a change of scenery. All of the Western conveniences are available here (at roughly European prices) but you can live really inexpensively here if you want to. I traded my $200 car payment and roughly the same amount spent on gasoline a month in Seattle for a clean, fast and efficient subway commute that costs only 60 cents a day roundtrip. - Jan 2011
It's a shopper's paradise: pearls, clothes, even furniture. And there is more to see than you could possibly fit in: the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City... Lots of people travel to other cities within China, but we pretty much stayed in Beijing or used our tourist dollars to escape to Hong Kong and Bangkok. - Apr 2010
Having closer access to Asia. - Jan 2010
