Old man schooling everyone in calligraphy. I see this and street ballroom dancing everywhere!
HOW TO get a haircut in Chinese
Getting a haircut in Beijing is always an adventure because of the language barrier. Even if you go to an expensive, fancy salon, there’s no guarantee that the staff speaks English. If you really want to use English, then head to a swanky hotel and use their salon (and pay a premium for it).
Guys’ haircuts cost about 10-50 RMB. You should be on the low side unless you’ve got a really elaborate haircut.
It’s hard to say how much girls’ haircuts cost in Beijing. The sky is the limit, especially if you want to book the head stylist in the shop. Generally 80-120 RMB is enough to get you a cut comparable to “back home”.
So if you choose to go to a local barbershop/salon in China, below are some phrases you will hear and vocabulary you can use to make your Chinese haircut experiences a lot less hair-raising.
Walking in the door
As you walk in the door, one of the salon workers may ask…
Do you want a haircut? nǐ yào jiǎn tóu fà ma? 你要剪头发吗？
Alternatively, you could also say…
I would like a haircut: wǒ xiǎng jiǎn tóu fa / 我想剪头发
Getting comfortable
If you’ve got a bag, or a jacket, or something that’s troublesome to lug around, they may ask…
Can I put your things away in our lockers? bāo gěi nín fàng xiāng zi lǐ kě yǐ ma? / 包给您放箱子里可以吗?
Washing your hair
When you get inside, listen for this word, as it means it’s time to get your hair shampooed.
To wash hair: xǐ tóu / 洗头
In the barber chair
It’s a good idea to bring a picture with the style that you want. Otherwise, you’ll have to know how to direct the person cutting your hair. Here are some common phrases and words…
How do you want your hair cut? nǐ xiǎng zěn me jiǎn / 你想怎么剪
To trim a bit: xiū yi xià / 修一下
Long: cháng / 长
Short: duǎn / 短
To thin out: dǎ báo yì diǎn (diǎr) / 打薄一点儿
Scissors: jiǎn dāo / 剪刀
Clippers/buzzer: tuī zi / 推子
At the end of your haircut
After your haircut, you’ll be shampooed again. You’ll soon likely hear…
Do you want to style your hair? xū yào dìng yi xià xíng ma? 需要定一下型吗?
Knowing a few of these key phrases makes getting haircuts in Beijing a lot easier. And just like most local places in China, you don’t have to tip.
HOW TO find subway maps in Beijing
Getting subway maps in Beijing should be much easier than it currently is. It’s a baffling problem; it’s a major city with a huge subway system and yet there are no take-away-able subway maps at the station. If you ask one of the attendants, they’ll just point you to the poster maps or give you a confused look.
btw: Subway (dì tiě / 地铁) + Map (dì tú / 地图) = Subway Map (dì tiě dì tú / 地铁地图)
Bookstores
Beijing subway maps are available in bookstores. Usually. You might have to hit a few bookstores until you find one with a tourist section.
Go to a hotel
Another easy way is to drop into any hotel and just ask for a map. Better hotels have better maps.
Tourist Centres
If you go to tourist attractions in Beijing you are bound to find a Tourist Centre booth. Easy to get a city map or a subway map of Beijing there.
Buy” a temporary subway card
The one-ride subway cards have maps printed on one side. Great if you want a subway map that you can fit in your wallet. Next time you’re taking the subway, buy two tickets for your destination; one for your actual ride and one to keep in your wallet.
If you’re a germophobe, I would drench these babies in hand sanitizer, I’ve seen people pick their nails, teeth nose and ears with these bad boys.
HOW TO Find an Apartment in Beijing
Finding a place to live in Beijing is pretty easy even if you don’t speak Chinese. If you do have some Mandarin ability, it’s as easy as walking into the many real estate offices that are scattered around the city.
English apartment classifieds in Beijing
- The Beijinger. If you’re in the market for a new apartment, this should be one of your first stops. An especially great place to look if you don’t mind having a roommate. Local agents who post here usually speak good English.
- City Weekend is not as “happening” as the Beijinger housing listings but is still an important place to look.
- Craigslist Beijing doesn’t get that much traffic, but a lot of people who post there don’t cross-post at the other sites. This results in a lot less “competition” for housing.
Chinese apartment listings
- Ganji is a Craigslist-like classifieds site with a fairly active housing section.
- Anjuke is a real-estate listings website that puts you in touch with agents.
In Beijing, standard practice is to pay 3 month’s rent in advance along with a 1 month deposit. So if you’re looking for a place, be ready to fork out 4 month’s worth of rent when you move in.
As for agency fees, it all depends on the situation. Sometimes the landlord pays the agent, sometimes you have to pay the agent.
Depending on what visa you have, you might need a Temporary Residence Permit.
HOW TO Find a Job in Beijing
Put simply, getting a job in Beijing comes down to who you know. I know that this is a universal tenet of job hunting, but networks count more in China. Reason being that expats work in smaller circles than they usually do back home, so the “value” of each connection is greater.
Know that you are at a big disadvantage if you are starting your job search outside of Beijing/China. Unless you have specialized skills at the executive level, chances are that there is someone in Beijing who has a comparable resume.
You can get a job by emailing CVs and cover letters, you just have to be very patient and hope for a stroke of luck. Ideally, you have at least an intermediate level of Mandarin skill. With the increasing amount of foreigners in Beijing, Mandarin quickly distinguishes you from the competition.
There are jobs here for non-senior foreigners who can’t speak Mandarin; they’re just extremely rare (outside of teaching English) and you usually get them through networking and luck.
Beijing job classifieds
Here are a few websites you should be glued to and checking semi-daily during your Beijing job search.
Job search engines
The below sites are great for tracking down hard-to-find corporate job postings. Set the job search city to Beijing and make sure to check the posting date(!) as sometimes they will pick up outdated job ads.
Teaching English
Teaching English in Beijing is as close to a sure thing as you can get. Despite the fact that the city is teeming with foreigners, the demand for English teachers continues to rise. Yes, a white face makes it easier, but as long as you graduated from the UK/Australia/New Zealand/USA/Canada you should be okay.
Most of the advertised jobs are for teaching kids, so if you like working with little ones, you’re in luck. There are well-paying jobs out there teaching adults, but the standards are a little higher and there’s more competition for them.
If you’re teaching English at a private company in Beijing (or another tier-1 city like Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc) you should be making at least 8000 RMB (gross) for a full-time position. Universities and colleges should be paying you at least 6000 RMB since you won’t have to pay for housing. Anything less than these figures and you’re being taken advantage of.
Craigslist and Beijinger should have enough job listings to get you a few leads, but you may also want to increase your chances by checking out Dave’s ESL Cafe.
If you go this route, I would strongly recommend teaching English in Beijing or Shanghai. Make sure that you use your free time to network and meet as many people as you can. It’s very easy to get stuck in the ESL circle because it’s a comfortable lifestyle, so make sure you have some direction.
Interning
If you want to increase your chances of getting work in Beijing, offer to work for peanuts (or in some cases, for free). You’ll book the plane ticket and pay for housing on your dime, but the company you intern for should cover your visa costs.
A search for “Beijing internships” should keep you busy for a while. You can also try contacting companies directly. Small-to-medium sized companies are usually more eager for interns.
From what I’ve seen, heard and experienced, you’ll want to end up in a Western company if you choose to intern in Beijing. Foreign interns at Chinese companies usually don’t end up with worthwhile internships. Typically, they become de-facto English teachers, translation polishers or “token foreigners” that get paraded in front of clients. Either way, once you get in the country, make sure that you use your free time to learn Mandarin or to meet people.
Always remember that the value is being in China and being able to build connections with people who have established networks.
HOW TO Get YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in Beijing
In order to get access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc in China, you have two options:
1. Pay for a VPN
Put very simply, a VPN (“Virtual Private Network”) secretly connects you to another computer outside of the country. You then browse the web through that foreign computer, allowing you to access all of your evil western websites and bypass the Great Firewall of China.
There are some free VPNs out there, but they’re usually down because of everyone hunting for a way to get YouTube in China. If you want blocked-site access that badly, you’ll have to pay for it. Below are some paid VPN providers:
Witopia - Seems to be the China expat’s choice.
Ivacy - had an account with these guys for a little while. Really fast servers but a bit expensive.
Strong VPN - lots of servers all over the world, which is helpful for accessing country-specific content (e.g. Hulu or TSN.ca)
Torrents and P2P application access vary for each provider, so if that’s a deal-breaker for you, make sure to read the terms and conditions.
You may be wondering what the difference is between a proxy and a VPN. TUVPN has a great explanation over at their blog. Bottom line: VPN > proxy.
2. Use TOR
TOR is a bit more complicated. It works similar to VPNs in that you browse the web through other computers outside of your country. I consider myself fairly tech-savvy so I gave TOR a few tries. I got it to work a couple of times, but I found the reliability too low and the configuration/tweaking time too high so I just went for a VPN.
The advantage of TOR is that it’s free (and makes you feel like a cool anti-establishment type). If you’re still interested, keep reading at TOR Project.
HOW TO Check Your Balance on China Mobile
If you’re on a China Mobile SIM, text “ye” to 10086 (no quotations) and you’ll get a text with your balance. It may be sandwiched between Chinese characters, but you should be able to figure it out.
HOW TO Extend or Renew Your Visa in Beijing
Visas are always an important part of foreigners’ lives in China. This article is all about how to renew or extend your visa with a focus on Beijing. Getting the first-entry visa to begin with is a whole ‘nother story, so I’ll save that for another time.
Many details (price, eligibility, allowed length of stay, etc) regarding visas are country-specific so make sure you have contacted an embassy/consulate to get specifics and details regarding regulations for your country!
About Visa Agencies
A quick Google search will give you a list of visa agencies that guarantee you a smooth visa renewal process. I have used one and have known many others who have done the same. They will get the job done, but prices can really vary, so make sure to you ask around.
Visas require a lot of rubberstamping, documentation and legwork. These agencies streamline the process and guarantee successful processing of your visa. The price they will charge you is related to the amount of paperwork you need for your visa. Sometimes, you will be missing paperwork (e.g. diploma, work history evidence, etc) and they will do some “visa magic” to make sure missing paperwork is no longer a problem.
Are they legal and legitimate? Who knows. They get the job done. Besides, in China, there is no black and there is no white. There is only gray.
F-Visa renewal
Depending on how much “magic” you need, the price will vary a lot.
A visa agency needs only your passport to complete the whole process. It takes about 5 business days for you to get your passport back with your new F-visa sticker. You can expect to pay 3000-4000 RMB for this privilege to get you an F-visa for 180 days.
If you want to try it yourself, or if you don’t feel comfortable handing over your passport to a stranger, look at the list of required documents. See this link from the official Beijing government website for F-Visa requirements in Beijing.
Doing the whole process on your own with all the required documents costs at least 160 RMB, depending on your passport. You’ll notice that this is a huge price difference from agencies. Make sure that you have all your documents in order.
L-Visa renewal
When you’re renewing a holiday visa or extending into a holiday visa in Beijing, you have a few options.
Hong Kong visa run. Expect the roundtrip flight (from Beijing) to cost you at least 2000 RMB. Also factor in the costs of staying in Hong Kong for a few days, as well as visa fees (which are dependent on your passport). Your passport also determines the length of time you can stay in China thereafter.
You can always go through the visa agency to save yourself a trip to HK and the time involved. For a 90-day L-visa extension, expect to pay around 2500-3000 RMB with a turnaround time of 5 business days.
Getting the L-visa yourself involves a trip to the Beijing visa office in Dongzhimen. Just make sure you have the list of required documents for an L-visa.
Visa expiry
As long as you have submitted your passport for processing before the visa expiry date, you are in the clear.
Further reading
Beijing Government visa information
http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/visa
F-Visas for US citizens
