Chaoyang District

The apartment is located in Eastern Beijing, in the Chaoyang District/Precinct, which is home to a good part of Beijing's diplomatic quarters, with many embassies located in the area. A sizable international community (I was unable to find an estimate) exists in Beijing and many live in the northern, northeastern and eastern sections. These districts are then also catering to the many expats living or working here. In walking distance form my apartment I have every international restaurant you can imagine: Indian, Korean, Turkish, French, Italian, American, German, Thai, etc… and even a few Belgian restaurants a short taxi ride away. There are also quite a few European bakeries in the neighborhood so I can have daily fresh bread. There are a few English-language newspapers or magazines being freely distributed in the apartment lobby such as the “Beijing Today” and the government controlled “China Daily”. Other publications primarily aimed at international visitors and the expatriate community include the English-language periodicals “City Weekend”, “Beijing Tattler”, “Beijing Talk”, “that's Beijing”, etc,.. All are full of information about upcoming cultural and sport events, places to dine and to be seen, travel tips, fashion and design, shopping, etc,…
The population of Beijing is over 16 million people (excluding illegals) and the city is booming of construction work. Looking out my window (see picture) I can see at least a dozen construction cranes. However, Chaoyang park, the largest park in the city, is only a 30 min walk from the apartment and is becoming my “green” refuge.

In China there are 55 different ethnic minorities but the official language is Mandarin and I’ve mastered already 5 words: Nihao (hello), Xiexie (thanks). Shi (yes), Bushi (no) and Ganbei (cheers). It is a start at least.

Paul