Tsinghua University Accommodation

[ChTTay]

Yes, the dorms are open 24 hours a day. If the door is locked, there is still someone at reception who can let you in.

Are you serious? Arriving at 8-10pm and thinking of staying in the airport? At that time, from Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) you have various transport options.

- The long but cheap way would be to take the Airport Express Train to Dongzhimen, change a few times on the way to Wudaokou on line 13 then a taxi or bus.

- You can very easily take a taxi for around 100-150rmb depending on traffic.

- You can take the airport bus for 16rmb to ZhongGuanCun (line 5 / 16rmb). I think the last bus is at 1am in the morning. Actually, the final stop where they drop you off is just a street over from Wudaokou. From there a taxi would probably be around 15-20rmb to Tsinghua.

Lastly, the currency exchange will be open in the airport so you can exchange cash. Also, there are ATM's you can use your VISA/MC with.

Good Luck!

[MockCharge]

Thanks ChTTay that really helps a lot. Decided to book a later flight anyway but this is all useful information. Especially the part about the different transport options.

[ChTTay]

No problem, I just edited the above a bit with the last bus time and also that the last/final stop on the ZGC bus drops you off near WU.

"I think the last bus is at 1am in the morning. Actually, the final stop where they drop you off is just a street over from Wudaokou."

[Faisal313]

Thanx naturegirl for providing great information.........

 

i have got admission in Phd Electrical Engineering in Tsinghua university and wants to live in double room dorm and having the same thoughts about then as you have........

 

i have question that as double rooms have public toilets......what is the condition of these public bathrooms??????

 

How far are these from the room???? 

 

and can a person easily shave and take bath in these public bathrooms???

 

the other concern is about the kitchen

 

actually i want to cook food but as you have mentioned that there is a common kitchen so how differents students manage to cook in the same kitchen?????

 

waiting for you respons

[roddy]

Moved Faisal's post in here as it's more likely to get an answer - ChTTay, perhaps you can help?

[ChTTay]

I am fairly sure all foreign student dorms have their own bathrooms. The difference being that if you have a single dorm room, you have your very own bathroom in your room. There are two types of double rooms. One type of double is where you and your room mate sleep in the same room. There is no wall or division separating you and your room mate. The other type of double is where you each have yours own single bedroom, there is a wall between you and you each have a separate bedroom door. However, you share a bathroom with your "room mate". I guess they are more of a bathroom mate as you don't share a room really.

As for kitchens. I think it depends on the building. Most seemed to have nothing in the communal kitchens. Anyone I knew who cooked for themselves just bought a pan and an electric hot plate and cooked in their room. Just don't make enough smoke or smells to alert the staff to you doing this. It might even be in the contract that you can't cook in your room. As i said, i knew plenty of people who cooked their own food while living in dorms.

The canteen Food at Tsinghua is pretty good and very cheap. Depending on what you like eating, you might find you end up eating their more often than planned. Especially id your friends/class mates eat their too. It's all Chinese food but They cater to most different tastes and there used to be at least one Halal canteen.

Hope that helps a bit

Edit: so it turns out double AB rooms and single rooms have their own bathrooms. A standard double room shared a public bathroom. As I didn't even know this...I definitely can't say what they are like!

[alau]

Hi! I also would like to know how is the condition of the sharing bathroom for the double room? is it clean?

 

I'm applying for the CIS scholarship and it's included the double room although I'm considering to reserve a single room and pay the difference but if the bathroom of the doble room it's ok, i would rather prefer to save some money.

[ChTTay]

The cleanliness of your bathroom would depend a lot on you and your room mate.

The dorm cleaners did seem to clean very regularly. There would be nothing to stop you also giving it a bit of a clean too, of course.

[alau]

Sorry I meant the public bathroom for the double room, not the shared bathroom AB Double Room. I had lived in a dorm with public bathroom for all the floor and it was ok because it was new and they were cleaning everyday but I've seen other dorms with public bathroom that it's really disgusting, this in Europe. I don't know how it works in China but I would like to hear some opinions, particulary about Zijing apartments for chinese language students.

[ChTTay]

Ah! My bad. Yes, double rooms share a public bathroom.

I always found the Tsinghua facilities to be clean. Those in the foreign dorms, admin offices etc.

The toilets in the canteens were pretty normal Chinese standard. They did have to put up with hundreds and hundreds of students passing through every day though.

If you are worried, maybe look into paying for a room with a shared bathroom.

[alau]

Thank you @ChTTay !! I've found some videos on youtube and it seems to be "ok" but I will consider the single room or AB room because I've seen some double rooms really messy... The thing is that I  would like to save some money to travel in China, so I have to think about it

[DongLian]

I feel like my biggest concern with Tsinghua dorms is closet size.. in a double room, is there only one closet for both people? What the heck do they expect you to do with your clothes??

I'm planning a 2 year study so I'll be there a while if I go so I'd like to have some space.. Of course I"ll shoot for single or AB, I don't want to feel like I'm totally SOL if I don't get them.

 

Also, if I get a room I like, can I keep it for full duration of my 2 year stay?  Do I have to "re-reserve" it in the registration mad dash?

 

Finally, if I get a room I don't like, is there the possibility to switch a semester in or year in?

 

I'm going to be applying for Chinese gov scholarship so I probably won't move off campus because I'd like the free accommodation.. and off campus just seems to pricey even with the 5000 allowance you get for off campus housing.. and I want to be able to meet people easily.  I'm too socially awkward to meet people but be living off campus..haha..

[ChTTay]

I can't help with everythinf but...

You used to be able to switch room mid-semester BUT only if there were rooms available. From what people have been saying, dorms are filling up quicker and quicker. Unless someone drops out, maybe no empty rooms to switch to.

You can stay in the same room and don't have to re-reserve online. You may have to reserve in person or something. Not sure.

You could EASILY live in a very comfortable apartment (shared or even single/studio) for 5000 a month. Your place would be way better than dorms.

As for meeting people, dorms is easier. Depends on your age though too... Most people in the dorms are quite young, University age students. It was better for me to live off campus. You can still make friends in your class.

[DongLian]

Well correct me if I'm wrong.. but I thought it was 5000(RMB? person didn't specify) for a semester.  So that might cover like.. 2 months or something but that's it.  I MIGHT have money saved up by then so I can probably consider it more then.. and I could try getting English tutoring on the side to make some money.. I'm just REALLY nervous about having some kind of bill.. I'll need to eat still too!

BUT I also will be married and can have hubby help but I'm trying to do it alone lol.
 

[ChTTay]

Oh, 5000 a semester... In that case go for dorms. Unless you want to live with your Husband.

You can get tutoring work quite easily if you are a native speaker.

Tsinghua canteen food is very cheap. A lot of variety too.

[DongLian]

ahha he's going to be in Canada while I'm studying.. I'd be perfectly happy with the Tsinghua single room, it's perfect size and all for just me...even if closet space is tight because I just don't need a lot of room.  I guess if when I sign up there are only doubles available I'll look into rentals... hard to plan this far in advance haha.

[tonyfang]

I will be arriving at tsinghua in a few days, I will be living on campus, you said most everyone is quite young.. I don't know what age is considered young.. But Will it be awkward for me since I am 25.. Turning 26? Lol

[ChTTay]

Not awkward.

I guess that general statement I made is probably not so accurate. It is true that the older the student, the more likely to live off campus... But that's not so say a fair few older students don't choose to live on campus.

I guess it must vary a lot each year.

I didn't live in dorms but all my classmates did in my first semester. Most of them were 19-23. The second semester most of the older students in my class (25+) lived off campus.

That is just a small sample though. Im sure dorms will be great. No worries.

[DongLian]

Don't worry Tony.. I'm 24 now and I'll be 25 when I finally go next fall and I'm TRYING to stay single room on campus because I'm cheap and I'm only going if I can get a scholarship (can't afford it otherwise lol) and with that the room is included.

I think there are probably plenty of people around that age and all because some people might go after graduating rather than before their BA/BS completion.

[ChTTay]

User imeldamanampring messaged me about accommodation and, with permission from her, I am answering here. I summarized her questions into one quote.

 

 

If I don't manage to get THU accommodation on campus, what are my options? I arrive the day before registration.

 

If you don't manage to get THU accommodation it's not the end of the world, it's just a bit more work for you to find your own place. Finding your own place in a new City, where everyone speaks a different language, can seem daunting. However, most agents in Wudaokou and Liudaokou are used to dealing with foreigners. At the end of the day, they want to let their apartments so most agents can be pretty patient. Also, a few agents in the area speak basic English, at least enough to communicate basic apartment issues. 

 

While it is true, at the time of your arrival there will be many people competing for apartments, don't under estimate the number of rooms available for rent. I haven't heard of anyone who hasn't found a place to rent eventually. What you may find is that, while you are comparing apartments, one or two of those room you are thinking about get rented by someone else. Don't beat yourself over this and don't feel you need to rush into something either, if you find you've picked the wrong place then it will be more trouble later.

 

If I was arriving the day before registration, I would book a hotel or dorm room for 3 days to a week if you can afford it. This will give you enough time to look at a good number of apartments without feeling rushed and like your going to be homeless anytime soon. You may get lucky and find an apartment on day 1 of looking but then again, it may take you 3 or 4 days. It's hard to predict.

 

If you don't speak Chinese, I would go onto 'thebeijinger' and look through English adverts for apartment. Email some of the agents posting these adverts 1 or 2 days before you arrive. Arrange to meet them at a certain time OR at least get their number / wechat so you can text them on arrival. This way, you've already got a few places lined up to  look at. One important thing to note, almost all of the apartment pictures you see on online aren't of the apartment you will end up looking at. Often they are just 'examples' of what it 'might' look like. I would judge the advert on the style / how the agent sounds rather than specific photos. They will likely have a good number of apartments they can show you. Thebeijinger also has adverts placed by foreigners looking for room mates.

 

When you arrive, you can also just walk into the estate agents around Wudaokou / Liudaokou and get them to show you places. Also note that apartment complexes usually also have a letting agent office in the apartment complex. They often have mostly apartments for that place. In my experience, it is the smaller, independent agencies that are more likely to have an English speaker. As mentioned above, the language barrier isn't such a massive problem. It is worth having an electronic dictionary or google/baidu translate on hand though.

 

As for sharing with people you don't really know... short of renting your own entire apartment (rather than a room in an apartment) OR coming to Beijing with friends, there aren't many options. The best thing is just to try and meet the people living there before you move in. If a foreign student is looking for a room mate, they will probably want to find someone they can get on with too, rather than just anyway.

 

A quick word on getting to Tsinghua every day... you can live almost anywhere within Liudaokou or Wudaokou and cycle easily to classes. Depending on where you are it could take anyway from 10 to 30 minutes leisurely ride. Bikes are cheap and plentiful. You'll probably find walking pretty slow going. There are buses but they can be frustrating having to wait for them all the time.

 

Edit:

 

Another thing to think about is your budget. Rooms in a shared apartment close to the center of Wudaokou can be very expensive by any standards. Generally, the further away you are from the subway station, the cheaper the place is. If you budget isn't that big, you may find yourself in quite a small room. Then again, it's unlikely to be any smaller than the dorms offered by Tsinghua anyway. Liudaokou is cheaper than Wudaokou generally. It is also a fairly good location to go to Tsinghua and enter through the East gate (where dorms are located and near where classes are held). 

 

Edit 2:

 

If you weren't comfortable riding a bike or for some reason can't/don't want to ... then you would probably want to try and find a place on a bus route to Tsinghua. As far as I'm aware only 731 goes from the centre of Wudaokou up to Tsinghua East gate. From there it's probably a 10 minute walk to classes. I took the bus a few times for various reasons and didn't enjoy it so much. In the morning it was often late so I'd get to the bus stop really early and, of course, a bus came straight away so I'd end up at class 40 minutes early.

 

Alternatively, if you lived in Liudaokou I think you could walk the whole thing. From Wudaokou it would probably take at least 30-40 minutes though on foot. That's okay on a nice day but not so good in freezing temperatures.