Ever since its founding in 2006, jingkids has been an essential part of expat family life in Beijing. We cover education, activities and hotspots for the whole family, restaurants, health and wellness, events, and local news to not only keep you and your family informed but also help you make the most out of your Beijing experience.

Want to read new family-friendly content every day on your phone? Be sure to follow us on WeChat (ID: beijing-kids)!

Meet the jingkids editors:

Mina Yan

Managing Editor

Hello, everyone! I’m Mina and this is my family – my husband Billy Jin, a hotelier who loves to work out, our little ray of sunshine Aria, and myself, your humble editor. I arrived in Beijing almost a decade ago as a wide-eyed grad student with no intentions of staying after graduation. But, Beijing has a way of keeping us here. I fell in love with the city, its people, and met the love of my life.

Nowadays, I spend the majority of my time running after my little girl and exploring Beijing’s family-friendly side and sharing all the amazing things about the city we call home with our readers.

If you’ve got questions about places in Beijing, feedback, or just want to say hi, email me at minayan@beijing-kids.com.

Vivienne Tseng-Rush

Deputy Managing Editor, certified nutritionist, and Beijing’s only Jazzercise instructor

I’m always up for an adventure, usually with my husband and son in tow.

Two beliefs propelled me to work in journalism: The first is that knowledge is power, and that power belongs to anyone who is able and willing to seek it out. The second is that everybody has a story, and often times it needs to be shared in the name of that first belief. These beliefs drove me to study journalism in my home country of Singapore, which ironically ranks a dismal 160 out of 180 for press freedom, even now in 2021.

I continue to stand by these beliefs, even as the face of journalism has drastically changed. Right after graduation, I worked for a year at Singapore Press Holdings, which printed the only newspaper the population reads. Back then, reporters held the keys to the kingdom of knowledge. We had the power to determine the fate of an upcoming event, the opening of a new restaurant, the popularity of an up-and-coming singer. One bad review and you could be packing your bags much faster than you anticipated.

Today, everyone and anyone can publish their stories in multiple formats – be it a blog, livestream video, or photograph (which speak 1,000 words after all). Where does that leave the role of a reporter? I refuse to believe we are obsolete and hold steadfast to a new mission – to filter through the vast pool of information and provide meaningful content that adds value to our readers’ lives. Thankfully, jingkids believes in this mission as well.

Julie Wolf

Editor

If I could go back and tell my 21-year-old self just one thing it would be, “Your life will not be what you expect. It will be so much more!” I am an ex-actress turned educator who has no idea how she managed to find herself living in Beijing. It wasn’t in the plan. I was an army brat who lived all over the world growing up but had no intention of living abroad as an adult. Sure, I did plenty of globe-trotting when I could eke out a few vacation days but I always returned to the relative safety and security of my home country. When the chance to spend three months working in China turned up I jumped at what I thought would be an extended paid vacation. And it has, in fact, extended.

More than two years later and despite the extenuating circumstance that is Covid, I can say this experience has both shaped me and brought me back to my roots. Being an expat means choosing to live outside your comfort zone and away from the people who love you. It’s difficult on a daily basis. But it also opens you up to new ways of thinking, introduces you to the most fascinating people, and gifts you with experiences most people only dream about. Funnily enough, my oldest and dearest friend (another expat kid) managed to find her way into expat life as an adult too. We both found that living outside the comfort zone is oddly more comfortable. And I’m okay with that because it’s where the growth happens. Strangely, becoming an expat felt a little like coming home.

Images: Mina Yan, Vivienne Tseng-Rush, Julie Wolf