Life in Chinese apartments

The Apartments of the Beijing Hutong School are all located in recently built apartment buildings in central Beijing. These apartments are considered modern by Chinese standards and are indeed down-to-earth living quarters with their own charm:

Your compound

Most of the time, apartments in China are clustered together in compounds which can be accessed through guarded gates. It may be a strange sight to see a guard every time when leaving and coming back to the compound but do not worry: it is very likely that the boy in a uniform is more intimidated by you than you are by him.

Your apartment building

The building you live in may have an elevator depending on the number of stories (usually from eight stories upwards) in which case there may also be an elevator lady and sometimes even an elevator guy. Although this type of trade is disappearing rapidly, the purpose of this person is indeed to push the buttons for her/his guests. Suspicion has it though, that she or he works together with the compound’s management to spy on the tenants.

Your apartment

Your apartment will be your new home for the duration of your stay. All apartments have at least two bedrooms as well as a shared living room, kitchen and bath room. Chinese architects seem to favour the small kitchen version which is why the fridge gets outsourced to the living room in many cases. 

Appliances, furniture and other equipment

All the appliances, furniture and other equipment you will find in the apartments should be in good working order. If, however, there are problems please make sure that you contact the Hutong School office immediately. We will make sure that someone will be there to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Also, it could happen that different rooms come with different furniture and equipment. We try to provide a basic level of furniture in all rooms which should consist of:

• bed (mattress, bed, bedding, pillow)
• desk and chair
• cupboard
• bin

In addition, there should be the following items in the common areas:

• cookers (some gas, some electric)
• basic kitchen utensils
• washing machine
• fridge
• TV with DVD player
• sofa
• water fountain
• telephone and wireless internet

Please contact the Hutong School immediately if any of these items are missing or broken. We will arrange for replacement or repair as soon as possible.

For completeness' sake a non-exhaustive list of items the Hutong School does not provide, mostly because they are not common in China:

• oven
• ironing board and iron
• microwave
• toaster
• blender
• ...

It is not unlikely that you may find some of these items in your apartment upon moving in as one of the earlier occupants may have left them for you. Otherwise, if you need any such items urgently have a look at our notice board where students advertise items for sale.