Before Arriving to Beijing
Moving to another country, another continent with a completely unfamiliar culture and most likely a big language barrier is a very exciting and sometimes challenging step.
There are certain things you can prepare in advance in order for you to settle in as smoothly and, as fast as possible.
Handling all necessary Visa formalities is not an area I feel confident in giving advice on but there are a lot of good resources about this topic that will be able to provide you with some guidance and tips. As the laws and restrictions are constantly changing it will be best to consult with your employer and your country's consulates.
Once you have decided you will be moving to Beijing there are a few things you could prepare in advance in order to get settled a bit faster and will even make the first weeks in possibly quarantine more bearable.
VPN
A very simple first tip is about setting up your VPNs (on all your devices - phones, laptops, tablets, smart TVs, etc.).
There are many different products and brands on the market, both paid and free and I am not enough of an expert to give you a detailed list of the pros and cons. We opted for paid versions, both Astrill (my favorite) and Express VPN. They are both working well for us and can be used on several different devices at the same time. There will always be times when you will go crazy about VPNs not properly connecting so I would definitely recommend getting two. It could also be one paid service and a free one as a backup. Once you've arrived in China it will be very difficult to download a VPN (maybe a friend could give you their downloaded .exe file to install on your device...?) so better prepare well before you leave.
I personally use VPNs to access my Google products (Gmail, Google Drive, Youtube) and get my daily dose of drama content (Netflix, etc.).
Many Chinese websites and services don't work at all or not properly with a VPN enabled so you will need to switch your VPN on and off during the day but after a while, you might use the VPN less and less simply because you get more used to the Chinese services and out of convenience.
Learn Chinese
Depending on how long in advance you finalize your plan on moving to China, my first big tip would be to actually go ahead and start learning Chinese. This can be scary and challenging in the beginning but every single word or phrase you manage to learn before coming to China will help your life here a lot.
Beijing is not only the capital but also one of the big Tier 1 cities in China. This means Beijing is a very modern city, very international with the world's embassies all settled here, a lot of international companies and schools as well.
Despite this, I have made the experience that only very few people are actually able to speak or understand any English. You will be able to use your phone to translate written text or live translate and communicate with locals but this is still putting a lot of effort into every single short conversation you want to have and is keeping you from a lot of information around you. Also, most of the almost necessary websites and Apps you will want to use here in order to navigate your daily life will not be available in any other language but Mandarin.
While here you will also realize that Chinese people really enjoy calling. You will be receiving calls from the delivery men (you will have a lot of things delivered once you are in China), your phone company, and even the community or city when it comes to questions regarding Epidemic prevention measures.
Install WeChat and Alipay
Life in China without WeChat and Alipay is, in my honest opinion, impossible in today's world.
Even if you didn't like using your phone that often or don't want to use messenger services like Whatsup this is not an option once you live in China.
You will need these two services to pay at the stores, order your food in restaurants, order take out, pay your electricity bills, call a take, rent a bike, order coffee, book train or flight tickets, and get information on any service or sightseeing spot, buy entrance tickets and the list will go on and on.
Especially in Beijing, you will need your Beijing Health Kit to enter any shop, shopping mall, park, restaurant, or really anything that has a gate and fence around it (which covers pretty much everything). This Health Kit is either available via WeChat or Alipay and without it you are basically not able to move around in the city.
Alipay is quite easy to download and set up even while you are still outside of China, WeChat is a bit more difficult. If you don't have a WeChat account yet you will need to ask for the help of someone who already had a WeChat account set up for a while. Ideally, a Chinese national currently in China.
Once you have downloaded Alipay, you will be able to connect your credit card as a payment source to it which I would definitely recommend doing before coming to China. WeChat will need a Chinese bank account to be linked in order to use it to pay. So this is something you should delay once you have arrived in the country.
You should also already add the WeChat or Alipay Mini program 北京建康宝 (Beijing Health Kit). This will need to be connected to your phone number and passport number.
Bring necessary products from your home country
As already mentioned earlier, Beijing is a very modern and international city. You will be able to buy almost everything here that you might be used to in your home country. However, some products might be much more expensive and difficult to find or buy.
Some things that come to my mind or that I have heard people mention are:
- Medicine (pain reliever, antihistaminic, lactose intolerant medicine), vitamins, supplements. Of course, you will get all the necessary medical treatment here as well, Beijing has a lot of very well-equipped and modern local and international hospitals. I just found that some kinds of medicines might not be as common here as they are in other countries which makes them much more difficult to find and more expensive. Also with the current rules around the prevention of COVID simple things like buying pain relievers might get you flagged with authorities and will require you to take a PCR test to prove that you don't have COVID.
- Beauty products for non-typical Asian skin or hair. If you have dark skin, curly hair, or any physical treat that is uncommon around Chinese it will be difficult to find appropriate products here. This covers skincare, haircare, makeup, etc. You most likely will find products here but will have a very limited selection with higher prices, and long delivery times.
- Larger sizes. The same goes for larger sizes of clothes and shoes. You can find bigger sizes online on Apps like Taobao but the selection will be limited and it's not as easy to try on to find what you are looking for.
- Tampons. You will find them here but it doesn't hurt to bring a stock of your favorite brand.
- Food. I heard something very difficult to find here is poppy seeds. For us it was pudding. We were used to eating chocolate pudding (with cream on top) from the supermarket on a regular basis and I have yet to find a place where I could find it here.
Coffee is also something where the prices and selection here cannot compare to countries in Europe or America but you still can find some decent brands and beans here and it will be most likely too heavy to bring a stock of this in your luggage.
What you will have no issues finding here: All types of international chips, chocolate, sweets, Nutella, bread, and yogurt.
If I missed important things to bring or preparations, please let me know!
SIM Card
Another thing you should prepare before coming to China is a Chinese SIM card. It might be difficult to get a proper Chinese SIM card registered under your name including a Chinese phone number but either your company here in China might be able to help with that or there are some options to purchase these cards (on for example Amazon) and have them shipped to your home country before you leave for China.
If you are not able to get a SIM card including a Chinese phone number you should at least purchase a card that has some mobile data volume. These are not too expensive and can get shipped within a few days worldwide.
Once you arrive in China you will directly be accompanied to your quarantine location and won't have time to purchase a SIM card at the airport or some shop. The WIFI at the airport is often not properly working but you will need Internet for registering your codes, scanning Health Kits, using translation APPs etc. so it is essential that you are able to go online as soon as you switch your phone back from flight mode.
Also, depending on the hotel you might spend your quarantine at, the provided WIFI might be lacking and you will be happy to have a working backup plan.