Residence convenient for Jianguomen

[mrtoga]

It looks like I will be spending a lot of my time in Beijing from May so I need to rent a place. I will be working near Jianguomen (Dongdan to be more specific) and I do not want a nightmare commute every day. At the same time I do not want to pay the high rents that you get around Chaoyang area. I am thinking east along Subway Line 1 or south is the way to go. Does anyone have any suggestions? Ideally I want to be within half an hour's commute. Thanks

[roddy]

Although rents in Chaoyang do tend to be a bit higher, you should still be able to find something reasonable not too far from a subway station if you take a bit of time looking. Even if you walk five minutes off the main road in Jianguomen you'll find there are plenty of older apartment buildings which won't cost the earth. It's just the expensive ones tend to be more aggresively marketed.

What kind of budget are you looking at?

[mrtoga]

I am really just looking for a small room, sharing a place is fine. I have a friend over at Di Er Waiguoyu Daxue (?) that is paying 800 / month and it is quite niceand fully furnished. I am thinking if I go out to Sanhuan on the east side of town I could get something for 1000 - 1200. I have a bigger budget if necessary but I don't expect to be in Beijing permanently or even full time so I don't want to spend more than necessary.

[roddy]

I suspect if you go out to East Sanhuan, you might have even more trouble finding somewhere cheap than at Jianguomen - you're basically looking at Guomao, Jianwai Soho, and lots of other big expensive buildings.

You should be able to find something in your budget shared though, and maybe to yourself for not much more - I've rented decent one-bed apartments at 1600-1700, although not in that area. I've got a mate in a studio apartment at Chongwenmen, which isn't too far away, and I think he's paying 1700Y.