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Flights and travel guide to Beijing

Beijing is the capital of the most populous country in the world, the People’s Republic of China. It was also the seat of the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors until the formation of a republic in 1911. Beijing is the political, educational and cultural centre of the country and as such it is rich in historical sites and important government and cultural institutions. The city is well known for its flatness and regular construction. There are only three hills to be found in the city limits (in Jingshan Park to the north of the famous Forbidden City). Like the configuration of the Forbidden City, Beijing has concentric "ring roads", which are actually rectangular, that go around the metropolis. Beijing was host to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

People

Given their city’s historical, cultural and political heft, Beijingers are justifiably proud to be citizens of the capital. An attitude known as or "Great Beijing-ism" is often used to describe their attitude toward people from other regions of China. They are often much more interested in politics and willing to talk about current events than people elsewhere in China. Beijingers also seem to focus on not losing face and often use humor in order to do so. However, many Chinese from other provinces find Beijingers very friendly and straightforward comparing with people from Shanghai especially.

Climate

Climate	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daily highs (°C)	1	3	11	19	25	29	30	29	25	18	9	2
Nightly lows (°C)	-8	-5	0	8	13	18	22	20	15	8	0	-5
Precipitation (cm)	0	0	0	1	3	7	22	17	5	1	1	0


Averages of Beijing

Beijing’s climate is a monsoon influenced continental climate with hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The best time to visit is in September and October, the "Golden Autumn". Spring is the season for dust storms. Summer can be oppressively hot and the tourist crowds tend to be the largest as well. Winter is cold and dry with infrequent, but beautiful, snow.

Get in

There are plenty of airlines offering flights to Beijing from major UK airports including London Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Aberdeen, Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff, New Castle, London Gatwick. By plane

Beijing Capital International Airport is located to the northeast of the central districts, 26 km from the city centre. The airport, which was expanded at a furious pace to be ready in time for the 2008 Olympics, now has three terminals, broadly speaking divided as follows:

Terminal 1: Hainan Airlines.
Terminal 2: China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Skyteam.
Terminal 3: Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Oneworld, Star Alliance.

Travel between Terminals 1 and 2 is via a long corridor with travelators. A fit person can make the route in about 10 minutes. A free shuttle bus runs between Terminal 2 and the new Terminal 3. It departs every ten minutes or so and the journey time is about 10 minutes. Terminal 3 is huge: it alone is bigger than all five of Heathrow (London)’s terminals. Additional time should be allocated when flying from here. Terminal 3 check-in closes 45 minutes before flights depart.

Facilities on arrival include ATMs and money changers. Be aware that upon departure, porters may want ¥10 to wheel your bags 50 m to check-in and that most eating options are rather outrageously priced. Before you cross through security, if you want a bite to eat in the Terminal 1, there is a KFC which has lowered its prices a little, and in Terminal 2, there are 2 KFCs, and the restaurants in the basement have relatively low prices compared to what’s above. A meal at any of these places should be around ¥20.

Many people use taxicabs to reach town from the airport. Try to get the Chinese name in characters of your hotel so that you can let your taxi driver read where you want to go. It is important to do this as most drivers cannot read English and many are recent arrivals from the countryside who might not know the city well. A taxi from the airport should cost ¥70-120. You will have to pay the fee shown on the meter (make sure the driver uses it) plus ¥10 toll for the airport expressway. Traffic jams are common.

Nanyuan Airport is a former military airfield 17 km to the south of Beijing, currently used only by army-linked low-cost operator China United. China United currently fields daily flights to Harbin, Dalian, Sanya, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Wuxi. Free shuttle buses run from China United’s ticket office to and from the Xidan Aviation Building. Times depend on flight schedules.

Education

Universities

Beijing is the center of higher learning in China. In fact, Beijing University and Tsinghua University have been consistently ranked among the top universities in the world in recent times. As such it attracts the top talents from across China and is the destination for thousands of foreign scholars each year. Most of the universities are clustered in Haidian District in the northwestern part of the city. Nearly all of the universities in Beijing accept foreign students. Most foreign students are on Chinese language programs which can last from a few weeks to a couple of years. If you have a sufficient HSK level you can enroll in programs to study other subjects.

Tsinghua University
Peking University
Renmin University of China
China University of Political Science and Law
Beijing Language and Culture University
University of International Business and Economics
Beijing Normal University
China Media University
Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Beijing Jiaotong University
China Agriculture University
Beijing Institute of Technology
Beijing University of Technology
Beijing University of Science and Technology
China Youth University for Political Sciences
Global Village. Branches in both Wangjing and Wudaokou. This is an extremely popular place for Chinese language courses, especially for Korean students. Teaching quality is reportedly high.

Stay safe

Beijing is a safe city. However, tourists are often preyed upon by cheats and touts. Be especially cautious in the inner city, around Tiananmen Square, and on the tourist-crowded routes to the Great Wall.

For tours to the Great Wall, be wary: the driver might just stop and set you off before your destination. Only pay afterwards if you are absolutely sure you are at the destination. Do not go for organized tours to the Great Wall in the ¥100-150 range that are advertised by people handing out flyers around the Forbidden City (or in the latest scam, masquerading as the real bus service to the Great Wall which only costs ¥20, but is guaranteed to waste your entire day). Conveniently you are picked up from your hotel (so they know where to get back at you, in case you will not pay), you end up on a shopping tour and afterwards you have to pay upfront to get back to the city. Of course, there are exceptions, and people showing letters of recommendation from their previous travels and pictures are usually ok, as are people offering trips to the wilder parts of the Great Wall (ie. not Badaling or Juyong). Shopping tours are also advertised from certain hotels, ask in advance for a tour without shopping to be sure.
Do not be tricked by students or young adults offering to go out for a beer or coffee to practice their English. Some scam artists will run up a elaborate bill by ordering food or alcohol and then expect you to pay for it or even half whether or not if you do or do not eat the food they order. Traditionally when someone asks you to come out with them, they would pay for the bill. If you are feeling this situation is about to happen shift credit cards out of your wallet by going to the bathroom or while sitting at the table. The scam artists can be working with the restaurant and the restaurant will ask you to pay with a credit card. Another sign if it is a scam is if they ask to follow you to a bank or back to your hotel to get additional money to pay them back. These people can come on very nice and come off as very nice people. If they want to follow you back to your hotel or hostel have them wait in the lobby and do not return. These people will likely avoid confrontation and eventually leave.
Do not follow any "students" or Chinese "tourists" wanting to show you something. They are most likely scammers or semi-scammers. Examples include "art students" who bring you to their "school exhibition" and pressure you to buy art at insanely inflated prices. Tea sampling is another scam. It is free to sample tea for locals, but for tourists…you should ask. Always get prices in advance and keep the menu if you are concerned. In one incident, after sampling 5 types of tea with two "students", a group of tourists were confronted with a bill for ¥1260! They even produced an English menu with the extortionate prices for sampling. Young attractive female "students" also try to lure male tourists to shops, restaurants or night clubs. The prices at such places can be extremely high for basically nothing. The rule of thumb here is that if anyone of Chinese descent approaches you at a tourist spot speaking English, do not go into any building of their choosing.

That all being said, fears of scams have led many foreigners to be overly dismissive of Chinese people who approach them. Many Chinese are tourists in their capital for the first time as well. They are genuinely curious about foreigners and may just want to practice their English and get a picture with you. Be friendly but don’t feel pressured to go somewhere you hadn’t planned on going in the first place.

Take care when offered a ride in a rickshaw (pedicab). Make sure you know where you are going to be taken in advance, and agree a price in writing. If not, you may well end up dropped off in a deserted alleyway and extorted for a large amount - ¥600 or more. If you do know your way out, just firmly drop ¥5 or ¥10 on the seat and walk off.

Be wary of fake money. You may observe Chinese people inspecting their money carefully, and with a reason: there are a lot of counterfeit bills in circulation. The most common are 100’s and 50’s. A few tips for identifying counterfeit bills:

Be very careful if someone wants to give back the largest currency bill (¥50 and ¥100) by the excuse of "no change". In an attempt to pass you a counterfeit bill they may tell you that they have lowered the price in your benefit. Or, they may ask you to contribute an additional sum in order to pass you the ¥100. If they give you back all the change money plus the coins on top (though coins are rare in Beijing) take your time to check each bill carefully.
Another version of the above trick is when a vendor refuses to accept your ¥100 bill claiming that it’s fake. The truth is most likely that he took your genuine bill and discretely changed it for a fake one which he now is trying to give back to you. Hard to prove unless you saw the swap.
To check any ¥50 and ¥100 bill you get, do this: most importantly, check the paper. If its torn, thin or very slippery, ask for a different bill. Next, check the watermark, it should blur out softly. If there are hard visible corners in the watermark, reject the bill. Last, check the green "100" imprint on the lower left corner. It should be clearly painted on the bill so you can both feel and see a relief. If its missing or not feelable, reject the bill also. Rejecting bills is not considered impolite. It is perfectly acceptable to hand back a bill and ask for a different one. If the vendor gets upset, you should consider cancelling the purchase and moving on. If the colouring of a banknote is faded, it does not necessarily mean it is fake.

Driving is crazy in Beijing, and reckless driving is the norm. Be prepared for drivers to violate traffic laws even to the extent of going in reverse on highways to back up to a missed exit. Also expect occasional road debris (a piece of wood or torn out tire) to be laying in the roadway. Pedestrians should be very careful crossing the street — drivers, especially taxis, will not stop for you and will anticipate the traffic light before it turns green. Be very careful when crossing any street. Take an overpass or underpass if possible. Otherwise, keep an eye on the locals and cross with them — there is strength in numbers. Cars will also often drive on sidewalks.

Free emergency telephone numbers: