Moving to China - Baoding or Beijing?

Last activity 23 December 2016 by Spanishcrunchymama

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vandeesMember27 May 2015 12:26:47

Hi all, my husband has been offered a job in Baoding and we are seriously considering a move to China with our 18 month old twins. I have been to China once before only but my husband has been there frequently for work so we have an idea of what to expect but are still daunted by the move. I am interested in peoples opinions on where to live - Baoding or perhaps Beijing with a daily commute to Boading via bullet train? The move would likely be temporary, i.e. 2-3 years. Any advice is welcome!

ManlinViP29 May 2015 04:53:46

1073

Depends on what you wish to gain from your assignment.

Baoding will be a far more local experience.

Beijing will have the advantage of being a large city, lots of expats and expat kids, and availability of most of the things (at a price) that you buy at home.

You would though need to consider living in easy distance of the railway station so that Hubby does not have, for example, a 90 minute commute to the train.

vandeesMember02 June 2015 11:43:26

Hi there, many thanks for your feedback. The current preference would be to live in Beijing mainly because it would be easier for us to meet other people and have access to more amenities for the children. However I don't know how feasible this would be in terms of the daily commute my husband would have and the monthly rent cost.
Looking at a map of Beijing, the areas close to Beijing West railway station are Haidian, Fengtai and Xuanwu. Are these areas nice to live in and are prices reasonable? We would be looking to keep the rent around EUR2000 per month for a 2-3 bedroom apartment but I have no idea how realistic this is in one of the above locations. My main concern about moving to Baoding is social Isolation as I can find very little on the web about expats living there and neither of us speaks Mandarin.

ManlinViP03 June 2015 07:54:07

1073

Suggest you Private Message me your email address and name.

I know a few Estate Agents and I will ask one of them to contact you.

FYI - Most Expats Assignees in Beijing tend to live in Shunyi suburbs (big budget) or in Chaoyang District.

There are also a lot of Expats in Haidian a mix of students, Uni lecturers, and people working in IT

SpanishcrunchymamaMember23 December 2016 19:00:20

Vandees,

Did you end up moving to Baoding?

I'm considering a move myself, hubby has a standing offer and we have 4 young children who would be coming with us

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