Pre-semester apartment hunt

[Springbokke]

Hi

I am starting at PKU in September. I would prefer to find an apartment to share (Haidian district), rather than commit to the offered campus housing. I am not having too much luck finding options online and since I am a beginner at Mandarin I cannot take advantage of the chinese classified sites.

Although I am up to apartment hunting on the ground, I arrive two weeks before the semester begins and I have never been to Beijing. Seeing that I would prefer to be settled before my first class, what is the best approach?

Thanks.

[venture160]

Try google's new and amazing apartment search (in chinese) it even puts the results on a map for you! www.google.cn/shenghuo

[elina]

This site might be useful:

http://www.kooxoo.com/

[PinkxMinkx]

are you doing the short term study program? i still haven't received my acceptance letter even though i sent everything off 2 months ago

[Springbokke]

Thanks all - is there an English version to these sites?

[Shadowdh]

PKU = Beida 对不对 if so then I will be there in August... at least I think so depending on me getting my first choice... also depending on circumstances I am not sure if I will be staying in the dorm or getting a place... One place you could look for a place is on thatsbj dot com... it has a classified section that should help...

[terran261]

I just checked out http://www.google.cn/shenghuo and I was very impressed. Understandably it would be somewhat daunting to use for a newer student of Chinese.

If you visit that website and type in "北大“ in the search window you should come up with some options. Then click on the little icon that looks like a map and it will show you the results and their locations. On the left side are more search options, as well as a listing of all your results.

One of the search tabs is "地区“ （neighborhood) so you want to click on that and choose “海淀区“ which is the neighborhood Beijing Daxue is in.

When it comes to browsing your results, it lists the square meter size in arabic numerals, as well as the price, which I assume is per month. You also should look for something like: " 2室1厅1卫" which would be 2 beds, 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom.

I wouldn't try to arrange an apartment online for a variety of reasons, but it is certainly a good launching point to start contacting people and get an idea for costs in Beijing.

Hope this is helpful.

[Springbokke]

Terran261

The help I receive from this site never ceases to amaze me, but it is your kind of response that makes reality a little more altruistic. Thank you very very much, you have helped me greatly.