Memoirs of Beijing

In this page, I will write down all the links which helped me survive in Beijing.  Whether they’re my favorite establishments, travel agencies, news sites or just useful information.  I hope they could help you living here.

Traveling:

• www.ctrip.com – both in English and Chinese.  This online website is the Chinese counterpart of expedia.com.  You can book your hotels, flights and vacation packages with their friendly travel agents.
• www.elong.net – both in English and Chinese.  Direct competitor of ctrip.com
• www.huochepiao.com -  Chinese site.  This site will help you with the latest train schedules and their price.  If you want to learn how to decipher it, visit this link.
• www.hotels.com – hotel booking website.  My aunt actually suggested this site as sometimes they’re cheaper than ctrip and elong.

Online Shopping:

• www.taobao.com – Chinese only.  Buy at your own risk. 
• www.joyo.com – Chinese counterpart of amazon.com
• www.360buy.com – Chinese. Pretty good site to buy electronics.
• www.dangdang.com – Chinese. Primarily a book website but also sells other goods.

 Expat Info Sites:

• www.thebeijinger.com – forums, directory, events, buy and sell, online magazine
• www.cityweekend.com.cn – forums, directory, events, buy and sell. 
• www.xianzai.com – online newsletter for specific cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Dalian.

Embassy websites:

• UK :  http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk
• United States :  http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn
• Canada :  http://www.canada.org.cn
• Japan :  http://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp