Expatriate arriving to Beijing in January, help please!

If you can read Chinese and communicate with the Chinese people, you can try to find information on some websites or portals like Sohu (bj.51f.com/zufang/) and 58 Tongcheng (bj.58.com/). Anjuke (beijing.anjuke.com/), Soufun (bj.soufun.com/) and Ganji (bj.ganji.com/) also provide such information. But the authenticity and accuracy of the information on the aforementioned websites or portals are not guaranteed.

If you cannot read Chinese, you may find the information on Locanto (locanto.cn), Expat.com (https://www.expat.com), Gabinohome (gabinohome.com/es), TravelChinaGuide (travelchinaguide.com) and EChinacities (echinacities.com). Again, the authenticity and accuracy of the information on the aforementioned websites or portals are not guaranteed.

If you look for a long-term contract, for example, one on a yearly basis, you can find a temporary residential place before checking out the flats or houses around your desirable living area through real estate agents. The agents in Guangzhou usually charge a service fee equivalent to the monthly rent or half of that amount. I don't know how much the service fee is in Beijing. I guess it is about the same.

Whatever you have found online or offline, remember to check out the original real estate ownership certificate and sign a legal contract with the landlord. In Guangzhou, I always sign a contract with my tenants in the Zulin Guanli Zhongxi (Rental Home Administrative Centre probably under the relevant neighbourhood committee). Don't forget to ask for a copy of the contract and photocopies of the certificate and ID card of the landlord. There are usually three copies for the contract in total, one for you, one for the landlord and the rest one for the administrative centre.

Hi Alberto,

You can find lots of ways to meet people in Beijing by using Expatblog and by looking on the Beijinger.com website.  There are listings about sports, nightlife, culture and jobs etc and it's a great place to start.  It is a pretty crazy place to live but good fun and there are always things going on and people to meet!
I've been here for 3 months now and I've still got so much more to discover! Hayley

hey,I am a Chinese boy,and live not far from Beijing.
That will be brilliant to hang out together...
Now I'm studying Computer Software Engineering in my university,
welcome to coming.....I'll be glad to take you around my univeristy...such as having lunch in my university resturant or even hava claas here..
waiting for your relpy..
[email protected]

Hey Alberto! Beijing is awesome place and you can easily find a lot of foreigners to hangout with. You can post the an ad on www.couchsurfing.org in "Beijing - Looking for room" group. January is a cold month here so I think you have to wait a bit for football.

AND YES BEIJING IS A MONSTER, exactly like you've imagine.

Thanks everyone  for your answers, IŽm slowly putting together everything for my arrival, unfortunately in the room business IŽve found 2 cases in which people tried to rip me off with "fake rooms", hopefully IŽll be able to find a room before I get to Beijing.

Feima, how cold is it in January? In Madrid IŽve played football with -7 celsius snowing and with wind, once you love football like I do you play it no matter what the time is hahahaha.

Only problem is maybe other people wont be so willing as me to play!

Alberto hi,

Hard to answer the question about room rental without knowing your budget and preferred part of town but as mentioned you can try the Classified section of thebeijinger and City Weekend but be careful and do not pay anything in advance. I suggest you start with a cheap hotel for a few days whilst you look for something or, if you have the budget start with a serviced apartment.

Re meeting people the FC Club (Fortune Connection Club) http://www.fcclub.com organises  events nearly every Tuesday for English speaking foreigners and English speaking Chinese to meet.  There is no event planned for 3 Jan 2012. The closest event to your arrival is 10 Jan 2012.

Regarding football. Yes there is an active expat football league in Beijing

Thank you so much Manlin! one last question I have is in Beijing anyone knows if architects work with suit? In Spain architects dont go in shorts to work but you can go casual, not with a suit.

I dont know if in China it works in the same way.

Not sure the answer to that.

I am by profession an engineer and I never had to wear a suit to the office only very occasionally for high-level meetings with officials.

I assume the answer is smart casual is okay.

Best to check with the company that will employ re their standard dress code but I would be very surprised if a suit is the daily attire.

Thanks! so it basically  is the same as in Spain, thats great, I saw myself having to buy some suits before going to Beijing....

And one last thing if you dont mind. I intend to seek work as an architect over there. I already have some addreses of some architect studios to go visit to present my CV + Portfolio, is there any advice on how to look for a job once I get to Beijing? IŽve already checked the beijinger and the rest of websites, but I was wondering if there was like an office where they might like put you in contact with some jobs, not internships, IŽve seen many websites that offer internships but thats not exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks again!