Must-Do List for Families in Beijing

Get in quick before you find yourself on the slow boat from China


I started this Beijing countdown fifteen weeks ago. I remember the day I first blogged about it and how utterly immediate those four months seemed to me back then – so immediate, my breath seemed permanently caught in my throat.

Now, I have just four days. I don’t think I’m breathing at all – just in case I miss something precious.

I suppose being so grief-stricken over leaving a city is perhaps a little odd. I feel like someone has carked it (Aussie slang for died). Really. I keep doing those really deep, woeful sighs and my eyes are on automatic tear-up; I have absolutely no control. And to make matters worse, today is the 19th anniversary of the day I lost my mother. So, it’s a heavy, heavy day.

This past week has been typically busy for a family leaving Beijing, but it’s also been a time for us to stop (very occasionally) and pause and appreciate this illustrious town. In keeping with my passion and adoration for the capital, I have kept my eyes wide open as I’ve scurried around town, seeking out the things I want to appreciate just one last time.

Most of us stay here a while, but that while evaporates so quickly, I can hear the lamenting “woulda, shoulda, coulda’s” all over town. So don’t lament. Plan early and get busy.

Thusly, here is my must-do list for families during their last year in Beijing…

Drag your carcasses across Hou Hai lake on a skate chair.

Crack your teeth on crab apple toffee sticks.

Meet Mr Magic.

Nibble the legs of a centipede at the Wangfujing Night Market.

Have ayi show the kids how to make jaozi and bing.

Eat from a jian bing cart on the street.

Suck the juice out of a pork jiaozi at Ding Tai Fung.

Trawl toys at Hongqiao Toy Market before it closes (soon!)

Stick your noses into flowers at Lai Tai and Liangma flower markets.

Visit a temple fair during Spring Festival.

Take gong fu lessons with your son or tai chi lessons with your daughter.

Visit an orphanage.

Support an orphanage.

Support community events whenever you possibly can.

Put stickers all over the house and learn a new Chinese word every day.

Buy a kids book on China from Wangfujing Street.

See an acrobatic show at Tiandi theatre or a big show at Poly Theatre.

Run around the altars at Ritan Park and then have tea in the garden.

Be part of a fund raiser.

Support other fund raisers.

Fish for plastic fish, enjoy a cranking ride or a bounce at any Beijing park.

Snuggle with a book on a wintry morning at the BookMark or the Bookworm.

Create smooshy clay pots on a wheel at Happy Land in Shunyi.

Support an NGO to help eradicate pan-handling.

Go to school fairs and Christmas Bazaars all over Beijing.

Ride a public bus or the subway.

Take photographs of the changing seasons and put them in four different albums.

Take a photo of each child in front of the same view at the same time each month and make a book.

Speak Mandarin wherever you can.

Strike up a friendship with some local kids and parents.

Ride bicycles through the white puff blossoms that fall at the end of summer.

Make a snowman with one jiao coins for eyes.

Set off fireworks on the street.

See the lotus blossoms busting out with pink in early August.

Join in with the tai chi, ballroom dancing, ribbon twirling or hackysack kicking. Just once.

Use the local Chinese gym equipment on the streets.

Fly Chinese kites on fresh spring breezes.

Have your back suctioned with hot cups.

Have a foot massage and include the kids.

Take your daughter for a manicure and pedicure.

Have a traditional qipao made, in silk, for all the girls in the family.

Have Chinese pyjamas made for the boys. Silk please.

Wander the hutong alleyways.

Take a boat ride to the Summer Palace.

Visit World Park and travel the world in one day.

Eat pancakes for breakfast at Grandma’s Kitchen.

Learn how to play mahjong.

Adopt a pet from the BHAEEC animal shelter.

Keep tickets, postcards, receipts and photos and stick them into a fat family scrapbook.

Eat noodles longer than your children are tall at the Noodle Bar.

Watch a Chinese kids film.

Eat locally and buy local food. Try organic.

Scoff mooncakes and make sure you read about their history.

Breathe in every moment and treasure it while you can.

Of course, this is but a teensy weensy selection of Must Do things. The moment I post it, I’ll think of more.

So, does anyone have their own must-do additions?

First published on the City Weekend Beijing website.