Finding Accomodation with Chinese people in Beijing

[headychica]

I'm a mid-20's female from the States who will be studying Chinese for the summer term at Beijing Normal University. I will be in Beijing from July 12/13 to about August 19/20. My first preference for accomodation was homestay but since that has gotten mixed/sketchy reviews, the next best option for me is sharing a place with a Chinese or Chinese-speaking roommate.

My goal this summer is to pick up as much Chinese as possible, and the only way I can do that is if I am absolutely forced to. So no offense to my English-speaking brethren but I absolutely do not want to live with other English speakers.

I originally tried to go through connections but that hasn't really worked out, so I'm doing the classified route now. I have replied to a few ads posted in the classified section of That's Beijing. My only other lead was a link someone sent me that was supposed to be some kind of BBS for BNU but it doesn't work. If anyone has a similar link that would be great.

So if anyone has any advice or suggestions for housing please let me know asap. Thanks all!

[gougou]

Do you speak any Chinese already, or have Chinese friends that could help you translate?

If so, www.zhantai.com is an excellent site. The flat I am currently sharing with two Chinese I found there.

Mind the omnipresent agents, though: they often guise as private people and end up hardselling something completely different from what they've been advertising (and, often, from what you've been looking for.) Their presence is rather limited on the website mentioned above, though (and the honest ones mark their posts as being from an agent)

[headychica]

No unfortunately I don't know much Chinese, certainly not enough to use a website like that, though I do know people who could translate, I suppose. Are there short term rentals (since I will be there for only 6 weeks) as well?

[gougou]

I don't think anybody is specifically advertising terms this short. If the arrangement is private (i.e. somebody sublets the room to you) it might be possible though. If an agent is involved (which is not always a bad thing, by the way; even though finding my room through the person living here before me, I had the contract signed with the agent), it might be harder.

[headychica]

Ok thanks - is your Chinese good enough to read and translate? Or did you have a friend do it for you?

By the way, what is your opinion on arranging homestays through places like Chinahomestay.com or Lotus Study? Those would be best for short term stays. I definitely can't do Lotus b/c it's way too expensive. There seems to be mixed reviews when I surf the web, but some of the negative reviews were things that weren't surprising to me - of course most of the families are looking to practice their English, I guess you just need to find one that isn't pushy about it. There was another complaint of the fee the companies charge you not going to the families, which I didn't think was necessarily dishonest, as it clearly states it is a fee to them and not rent. I don't want to offend anyone but my reaction to some of the negative comments was "Well, looks like this person has never been abroad before." But the number of comments was certainly enough to give me pause. Thoughts?

[etcetera24]

of course most of the families are looking to practice their English

This point is definitely something to keep in mind when living with a Chinese family/ flatmates; depending on your Chinese ability, you may still speak more English than you expected - even without someone actively seeking to practice English.

Specifically, I'm referring to situations where your flatmates' English ability may be better than your Chinese ability. I think this would increase the likelihood that English will be used because it's just easier for everyone to communicate.

On the other hand, if you can understand some everyday conversations in Chinese, I don't imagine this would be too great a problem.

[gougou]

I luckily speak enough Chinese to deal with housing on my own - except needing a friend to sign my contracts for me, feels like being a minor all over again...

Homestays all seem to expensive to me. If you're willing to devote a few hours each week to teaching English, you should be able to find a host family without agent. Maybe try placing a (Chinese) classified to that effect?

[roddy]

To be honest finding a short-term rental is hard enough, without restricting yourself to only good Chinese learning apartments. It might be worth bearing in mind that BNU is in a much less international area than Wudaokou, and even if you do wind up sharing with English speakers you'll have absolutely no trouble finding opportunities to practice outside the house - take your textbooks, go and sit somewhere on campus and smile at people who walk past. You'll find plenty of people to talk to.

A read of this might help, if you haven't seen it already.

[doumeizhen]

You could try posting an ad here, posting one/looking of thatsbj.com (in English) or you could try talking to your contact person at the Uni and seeing if they know of anyone. Chances are there is a room or two open when students head home for the summer, and they didn't bother renting it out because its too much trouble. Worth a try anyways.

[headychica]

Hi Roddy,

"You may want to give the foreign office a call and see what they say. If you can get a place in the cheapest dorm (when I was there it was the Education Administration Guest House), it'd only be 40 yuan a night for those two weeks."

The Office of International Students or whatever it's called has been very unhelpful so far. I keep getting the same girl on the phone and they keep acting like no English (or non-Chinese) speaker has ever called their office before - maybe that's the case but since it's an Office of Intl. Students I would have thought otherwise. They definitely know who I am when I call partly because it seems like they've never fielded questions from an English speaker.

A few times the same girl I get on the phone has to run and get someone who sounds like a supervisor to answer my questions. When I originally called about how to pay the application fee, the original girl INSISTED that I pay in cash. Even when Chinese-speaking contacts in Beijing called them that's what they said. Like hell I'm gonna send cash in the mail! When I kept pressing the issue she handed the phone over to someone who sounded like a supervisor and that woman said it was fine to send a check. That's what I ended up doing and I got my paperwork confirming everything - but only after I asked them to send me paperwork.

Regarding the comment I excerpted above, that same girl who told me they wouldn't accept anything but cash told me that the only dorm intl students can live in is their foreign students' dorm, for which they charge 160RMB a night for a double room. I tried to reserve one anyway but you have to send an international fax which I had trouble doing and ended up missing the deadline.

I might just go with a homestay at this point after posting an ad or two. It's only 6 weeks, after all (cross fingers).

[hejun]

I am a single female lectuer of Beijing Normal University. I live alone in Qinghe where maybe about 10 km to Peking University. There are 3 bedrooms in my house. TV, Shafa, Double bed, Bathroom, Washing machine, Kitchen sets, Computer,Internet, etc. are there too. The rent is CNY800 for a week (CNY150 per day). If you are interested in the house, write to me please. My email is hejunbnu@vip.sina.com.