Living in Rural Beijing

[Jim]

We've moved right out to the sticks in far Shunyi and are renting a decent-sized compound for 1,000 a month. There's bus into town only takes an hour but doesn't run too late at night. Village is nothing special but the air is great and since i work from home the peace and quiet suit me. 

 

Admin note: Split from here

[DavyJonesLocker]

@Jim

 

thats a steal, well done.  I looked in ID city near hualikan 花梨坎地铁站，shuyi. Even there is 6000 for a one bed, but that area is popular with foreigners given its proximity to the airport

[Jim]

@DavyJonesLocker It's definitely pleasant on a day like today, own big yard with a veg patch in the sunshine. We did also spend a bit on doing it up and signed a longer contract partly because of that but have a friend in the village who rented an even larger one for not much more that was fine to move straight in. Even if you add the cost of what we spent on the kitchen and bathroom etc it's nothing a month over the length of the contract and you get so much space compared to an apartment, but obviously it's not city living so wouldn't suit everyone. If you're in a position like me where you only need to be in town occasionally it's ideal if you don't mind the quiet, especially now you can buy almost anything you want online - they deliver to the shop just down the road and you fetch stuff from there. There's some wooded hills not far behind and the area is mostly fruit orchards. 

[DavyJonesLocker]

 

thats sounds great @Jim. 

may I ask what area you live in? If you would rather not share this information publically, not to worry, i am just curious. I have never ventured out much past the end of line 15

[Jim]

It's one of the villages around 下西市 which is on the 942 bus line to Dongzhimen. There's also the 856 takes you to the subway at 天通苑. 

 

ETA Interestingly chatting to the neighbours there's a couple of retired Beijingers who have rented weekend retreats out here for a while, so we're not even the first wave of incomers.

[roddy]

Jim, you should write up a new topic on life out there - hordes of foreigners disgruntled with city living will be grateful. And maybe move in next door and drive prices up, admittedly.

[Jim]

@roddy Maybe after a little longer, seems a bit soon to be attempting a definitive guide.

[DavyJonesLocker]

@Jimthat is out a bit, but indeed a much more peaceful life and cleaner air too I'd imagine!

 

I guess a 别墅 style place would be much affordable there. Its not ever a consideration within the 5th ring road. 

Unfortunately my partner works in central BJ so not an option for now. 

 

 

[mungouk]

Hi @Jim, are you still in "far Shunyi"?

 

How far is it? Do you feel like reporting back on the place?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Jim]

Yes, still here! We're about 30km north of the city in Beishicao township, and hour or so by bus to the underground station at Shaoyaoju. Pretty settled in now, daughter goes to preschool in neighbouring village and we bought one of the classic electric trikes to take her so often bimble along Huaichang road in a precarious tin box. Visitors often comment on how clean our village is, it's still a bit dusty being in the north but despite being mostly nondescript brick compounds of no great age it really is pretty well organised. Having our daughter probably helps with everyone being friendly as they see us out and about and been round several of the neighbours houses when she plays with their kids. Tests your Chinese making hours of small talk!

House has stood up pretty well, plumbing we had done was a bit iffy and had to replace the odd tap but nothing major. The underfloor heating we put in (took out the old kang bit reluctantly but new policy won't let you burn the fuel and didn't think I'd manage it too well anyway) has been great and pretty reasonable costwise, helped by the fact there was a bit of a subsidy available when we installed it due to a policy called 煤改电. Not sure the exact running costs but not so high that you notice. The machine is a bit noisy, can sound like a truck starting up sometimes but tbh have got used to it and barely notice (it's outside in the yard, should have put it even further away really).

Never been billed for water, think they just don't bother out here! They do turn it off in the wee small hours for a while every night though which is a bit of a pain if you've pulled a late night. Otherwise been pretty stable compared to previous rural experiences and if they are going to turn it off you do get fair warning. Keep a couple for big buckets full just in case. The xiangfang where we have our kitchen and sitting room is particularly cosy now as found a place that did second hand wood flooring at CNY35 a square metre. Even looks a better colour second hand IMO.

Taken daughter out for walks up in the hills behind and that's grand without being spectacular. Seems to be popular with serious cyclists too, good road up to the forest park so testing climb if you're keen I'd think.

Not sure what else to say, could ramble on for ages!

[mungouk]

6 hours ago, Jim said:

hour or so by bus to the underground station at Shaoyaoju

 

Pretty way out, then! 

 

Do you know how long would it take to get to the nearest Line 15 station?

[Jim]

20 minutes ago, mungouk said:

Do you know how long would it take to get to the nearest Line 15 station?

 

Amap reckons an hour and a half by bus to the Shunyi station, 19km. About the same to 俸伯 which is a k or two further away.

[mungouk]

18 minutes ago, Jim said:

hour and a half by bus to the Shunyi station, 19km.

 

?

 

How about by e-bike, do you take yours on the road?  

 

(Actually that's still 45 mins even if you're allowed to do 25km/h...)

[Jim]

5 minutes ago, mungouk said:

How about by e-bike, do you take yours on the road?  

 

We do take the trike on the road and it actually manages 35 kph but tend to avoid longer journeys. Have gone up into the hills behind and visited friends over towards Huairou though, made a 20km run by back roads in not much over half an hour.

[imron]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

and visited friends over towards Huairou

Huairou used to have a fantastic section of the great wall before they renovated it..

[DavyJonesLocker]

wasn't miles away  from you today actually Jim. Olympic park. Not long back.  I have a motorbike but freezing, breathing in pollution and  and dicing with death on the 5th ring road wasn't exactly pleasant.  A petrol/gas bike is  a good transport option in beijing but you need to go through the hassle of a getting a Chinese license.  

 

[imron]

3 hours ago, imron said:

Huairou used to have a fantastic section of the great wall before they renovated it.. 

Here are some pictures of said renovations as they were happening - you can see entire crumbling sections of wall (i.e. the part that gave it charm) replaced with smooth paving - at first the workers asked us not to take photos because they didn't want photographic evidence getting back to their boss that they had skimped on the building materials and were using cheaper materials that what they were supposed to be using ?

 

 

[Jim]

Is that the Jiankou one @imron? Got taken to a really nice unspoiled section a few years ago (long before moved out here) but someone drove and i didn't really pay attention to exactly where it was! Think it was Jiankou though. Must be plenty of other places to explore - there's a big lake/reservoir in the hills friend took us over to swim in  last summer (probably illicitly) but water level had dropped too much and looked a but manky so we didn't bother. Loads of fancy villas along the shore there and most looked empty or unfinished. Might be a project for an even more intrepid ruralite.

[imron]

5 minutes ago, Jim said:

Is that the Jiankou one

It was Huanghua - which incidentally also had a water reservoir there.

 

My favourite memory of it was hiking one early autumn morning with the sun not quite high enough in the sky and having white frost on the ground on the side the sun didn't get to, and autumn colours on the side that it could.  It was like the Taiji symbol but created out of the wall and the earth.  Wish I had a picture of it, but digital cameras were no where near as common then as they are now.  I might have an actual developed photo of it somewhere, but who knows where that would be now.

[Jim]

It can be really pretty round here, the hills look very fine in the winter sun and we get off the main road down a long avenue on the other bank of the canal that's tree lined like some French film and has orchards to the south. Lots of bird life too.

 

ETA I see it says Huanghua on your pic too, doh!