As I sat down to write this post, I noticed an odd fact: this is my 400th post for beijingkids. In one sense this is nothing remarkable, it’s just what happens when you do something twice a week for four years. It’s not even the record: the legendary Nimo Wanjau, who taught me everything I know, clocked up a magnificent 533 posts. I’m unlikely to ever beat that record, with the glue factory van already waiting outside, motor running, but it’s still a long time, and a lot of writing. So instead of my planned post, I decided to take a look back at life in the city over that time.
With my wife Karen at the Great Wall
To see the biggest change in Beijing, look to the skies. My very first column for beijingkids was about dealing with two bored kids stuck inside due to high AQI. While the air is not yet Alpine, it has improved dramatically. Not all the changes in the city have been so positive, however. Back in 2017 I reported on the mystery of the jianbing, Beijing’s spicy, crunchy breakfast pancake, disappearing from the streets, and while the post may have been tongue-in-cheek, the clampdown on street food is real, and has changed the sights, sounds, and smells of the city.
Eating insects at the night market, in my early days in Beijing
12 days after my jianbing post a horrific fire cost the lives of 19 people in a Daxing boarding house. This was the cause of a further tightening of regulations, which impacted several much-loved expat businesses, and more seriously, caused the closure of numerous markets which were crucial to the city’s migrant workers. Along with the “Brickening” of the hutongs, this all means that Beijing may be cleaner and tidier, but has lost some of its unique character. The banning of fireworks at Spring Festival was another understandable but significant change in the feel of the city.
Our tone at beijingkids is generally upbeat and positive, because we’re all about families having a fabulous time here. But we’re not afraid to tackle serious stories that might affect our readership, particularly when we’re able to bring perspective to rumors on social media. When an abuse scandal broke at a Beijing kindergarten, we untangled fact from some of the wilder speculation. We cautioned against unthinkingly sharing reports of missing children, when one such report turned out to be an estranged father trying to locate his ex-wife. And when the so-called “Blue Whale suicide cult” came to China, we were one of the few media organizations worldwide to debunk what turned out to be a phenomenon largely created by the media themselves.
Interviewing cricket legend Mike Gatting was a great honour
The Blue Whale post had a long and rather sad afterlife, with teenagers (mostly from India) posting comments asking for a link to the game. You can read my response to the first such comment, then after that I simply deleted them rather than give them publicity. I also still regularly delete as spam comments from men in the US asking to be added to Beijing moms’ WeChat groups, in spite of having added a rather terse note to the bottom of the post. However the post which still attracts the most genuine comments was an account of my struggles to get a visa to Russia in Beijing. It is apparently the only such information on the internet, and I try to help all those who stumble across it.
For my family, as for many, the opportunity to travel and explore is one of the main attractions of living in Beijing, and I’ve documented my family’s adventures while offering tips for others who want to discover Asia. I’ve written about Harbin, Tianjn, Xiamen, Macau, Taiwan, Nanjing, and Shanghai, and beyond China we’ve visited Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. If your family are adventurous travelers look for my upcoming posts about Myanmar, an extraordinary and mostly undiscovered destination.
Meeting an eagle in Mongolia
It’s not all been serious. Among the posts I’ve been most proud of have been our April Fool’s posts. Whether it’s toddlers’ tricycles being impounded, a ban on ice cream, or toilet paper with only one side, the inspiration has come from topical events and concerns, and the posts have managed to fool quite a few people along the way. The ice cream ban was even reported in Danish media as a real story!
Nobody knows what changes the city will see over the next few years (though when the temporary licenses on e-bikes expire, I predict that’s going to be interesting…) Whatever happens though, you can rely on one thing: beijingkids will be here to tell you what you need to know. It’s not for nothing that we’re called “Beijing’s essential international family resource”!
My family at the Red Brick Art Museum
Photo: Bridget Colla via Flickr
