Chinese Housing
I'm updating this page as I've just moved flat. First you'll get some general information, and then I'll give you a description and photos of both previous and current flat, which I think should provide a decent idea of what's available at the lower end of the price spectrum.What's it like then?
You'll probably pay between 1000 and 3000Y for a one or two bedroomed apartment in this category, depending on the standard of decoration, appliances and location. It is usual for landlords to ask for rent to be paid in three or six month chunks - some may even ask for a year. This obviously increases the amount of money you need to get started in Beijing quite significantly. It's usually negotiable, and most people wind up paying three monthly.
Quality is variable, so try and look at as many as you can - there are
some gems out there. Walls will tend to be white-washed, furniture is
likely to be a pick-n-mix of what the landlord and friends didn't want.
Floors can be concrete, lino, tiles or wooden (in order of expense) and
appliances such as washing-machines and air-conditioners could be new and
shiny joint-venture products, or junk-yard refugees. It's likely your flat
will have previously have been occupied by Chinese people (naturally
enough), and Chinese people tend to live a lot more densely than we do -
don't be surprised if there are enough beds for eight in what looks to you
like a cosy two-person apartment.
This is probably not the option for anyone with an aversion to the
occasional cockroach (though mine have left, bored of the tuna-only diet)
and hot-water failure. Chinese building standards are not the highest, and
you can expect ill-fitting doors, drafts, and paint-drips in places that
appear to have never even seen a paint-brush. Make sure you know where
your circuit breakers are, and that you have any keys needed to access
them. Don't be scared of the blue flashes you get everytime you plug
something in to the mains - that's a design feature to let you know that
the power is on.
Moving into an apartment block involves doing just that. You aren't just moving into an apartment, you're moving into the block. You'll possibly be the first foreigner to live there, and there will be a certain amount of curiosity shown. All residential areas have some kind of guards / wardens to keep an eye on who goes in and out, and it's worth being friendly - these are the people who have to get out of bed to open the door when you come home after midnight. Guests may be expected to sign in, but this isn't always rigorously applied - it may depend on how much the guard likes you, if he's busy watching TV or if he recognises someone as a regular visitor.
Chinese are usually early to bed, early to rise, and late-night parties will make you very unpopular very quickly. These apartment blocks are not only the homes of young professionals as they might be in the West, but of retirees and young families.
The previous flat
I took this flat because it was cheap and convenient for everywhere I was likely to go to. I found it (with lots of help from my colleagues) through the website wuwoo.com. Rent was initially 1600Y a month, to be paid in six month installments. This was pretty quickly negotiated to 1600Y paid quarterly. It was in quite an old building and showed signs of wear and tear, but all the appliances were new.
This was the bedroom. This picture doesn't show it as it's
best, as I didn't have any rugs on the lino and florescent lighting does
real estate no more favours than it does real people. It looked a lot
better with cheap Ikea rugs and lamps. The air-conditioning unit worked
very well, but poor insulation meant that the temperature rose very
quickly once you turned it off. I wasn't there for much of winter, but the
heating seemed adequate - it usually is, anyway.
Balcony was very much functional - used it for drying clothes
and storage, but the view and noise of the three lanes of traffic outside
kept me inside. There was a small hallway space (not shown here) that I
could have turned into a lounge area with a bit of effort, but in the end
I just used the bedroom for living and sleeping.
I went into the kitchen occassionally, usually when I needed to
adjust the temperature of the shower. It would have been perfectly
possible to cook here - not much space for gourmet meals, but stir-fries
would have been easy. There were occasional cockroaches, but not that
many. I'm not sure if this was due to a fundamental lack of cockroaches,
or the fact that I very rarely had any food.
I think the kitchens in Chinese apartments tend to look very
lived-in, as Chinese families will eat together almost every evening, and
its much more flaming woks than pinging microwaves.
You rarely get a separate shower compartment, but then you
rarely have the space for one. A bit rough about the edges, but it
performed all the functions a bathroom needs to. There's usually a smell
from the drains, as Chinese plumbers don't tend to use the U-bend things
we're used to (this also means you won't be seeing your wedding ring again
if it slips off in the shower) and if I went away for a few days I'd come
back to find lots of little black flies had appeared.
My pet hate about this apartment was the attitude of the building managers and consequently the guards. I was the first foreigner to live there, and there was always a 'what are you doing here' atmosphere every time I walked past the guards. I got into the habit of trying to sneak past without letting them see me, which livened up dull days a little, but isn't a very nice way to live your life.
new flat
I've only been in here for two weeks, and I'm still very
pleased with it. It came to me via a friend who moved to Shanghai. She'd
found it via the agency wo ai
wo jia
.
It took her about a day of seeing flats to find it, for which she paid one
months rent. The rent was initially 1900Y to be paid 6-monthly, but was
negotiated to 1700Y a month paid quarterly, which is what I pay now I've
moved in. The building is an old one, but the flat has been well
renovated. It's vastly superior to my old place, and for only an extra
100Y a month. I don't know if this place is cheap, or the old one
expensive, but either way I'm happy. As an added bonus, it's five minutes
walk to the subway.
Bedroom and balcony are infintely nicer than my previous apartment.
Tile floors replace lino and nice new wardrobes replace scuffed old ones.
The balcony is double-glazed - both between the balcony and the outside
world and the balcony and the bedroom - which means that when the windows
are closed you can't hear a sound from the new subway line being built
outside, which is quite remarkable. The air-conditioner is very good,
though there have been some teething problems with it leaking water, which
would have been solved quicker if the landlord didn't think I had asked
her round because I needed the company.
- How do you know it's leaking?
- I could hear a dripping sound.
- It wasn't raining?
- No, the water was coming out of the pipe right above where those bowls and towels are.
- Are you sure?
- Well, maybe I was dreaming. Of course, I don't usually sleep-walk, let alone sleep-pull-two-huge-wardrobes-away-from-the-wall-and-make-empty-suitcases-fall-on-my-head.
- It seems to be ok now.
- I'll turn it on, shall I . . .
- Repeat until air-conditioning technician and three mates turn up with a puncture repair kit.
Some clever partitioning of what is really one big room has given me a
nice living area. The furniture you see here is mine (bought from the girl
who originally rented the flat, I'd probably be sitting on a small blue
plastic stool . . .
Bathroom is very nice with big mirrors and shiny white tiles. The
washing machine, which is a little half-size thing, gets moved in and out of here when I need to wash clothes. The rest of the time it acts as an extremely big door-stop. The
toilet is a new one which allegedly saves water by having a very efficent
flush. I'm not sure what it's efficent at exactly, but it isn't what it
should be efficent at. It usually works on the second or third flush,
though that somewhat defeats the 'water-saving' idea, I suspect.
In sharp contrast to my previous apartment in Beijing, I am now constantly going into the kitchen. Why? Because it's in the porch.
Regardless of the nice decor, convenient location and dinky washing
machine, my all-time favourite thing about this flat is the guards. There
aren't any. For the first time in my life in China, I have all the
necessary keys to get from any bar in the city to my bed, after midnight,
without having to bang on doors and windows in order to get let in. There
is a big, solid security door at the entrance with buzzers for every flat
and a keyhole which I have a key for, and daft though it may sound I could
kiss the damned thing every time I go through it. It's like growing up all
over again (or maybe for the first time, draw your own conclusions)
General practicalities
- Drinking Water. If you don't want to be boiling and refridgerating water all day, you'll want to get a water dispenser. These cost a couple of hundred yuan, but don't expect the cheaper ones to be that efficent at heating and cooling the water - mine is ok for hot water, but all it does to cool the water is blow on it a bit. You can get the 25L bottles of water delivered for 10Y (40-50Y deposit on the bottle). There are numerous people lugging water about the city on little three-wheeled things - grab one when you see him passing.
- Electricity. When you get the keys for your flat, you should also get a smart card for the electricity. The meter (usually outside) will start to show red numbers when you are about to run out of power. Take the smart card to any Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, hand over the card and some cash, they recharge the card, you put it into the meter, and let there be light.
- Phone. I've just paid a phone bill for the first time, and am correspondingly chuffed with myself. Here's how it seemed to happen. I picked up the phone one day, and there was an automatic message in Chinese. I picked up that I had to pay the bill, but wasn't sure where to go. I asked around and was told I would need to go to the Industrial and Commercial Bank. I went along, got hold of a slip of paper where you tick what it is you want to pay (they also deal with cable TV and (non-pay as you go) mobile phone bills) and take it up to the counter. Person at the counter tells you how much you should pay, I paid it. Done.
- Gas and Water. People will come around to read the meter and leave you a bill. They usually post a note at the entrance to your building a few days before they're coming around so you know when to be in. If you aren't in then they leave you a slip and ask you to take the reading yourself and phone it in.
- Heating. This is an evolving issue. In the past work units paid for the four or five months of central heating you get every winter. However, this is changing and in some cases residents now pay for the heating themselves. If this is the case where you live, you can be pretty sure your landlord will want to pass this charge onto you - which is fair enough. I've agreed to pay it, and been told it should be in the region of 1000Y - it will depend on the cost of whatever fuel they use. If your landlord doesn't raise the issue, I wouldn't mention it.
- Bear in mind that if you are staying here, then you should register at the local police station.