beijing without borders

In the past month or six weeks, I've gotten a taste of the international city that is Beijing and expat culture, which has also given me a window into my possible future if I were to stay here to work for a couple years. Los Angeles is already one of the most diverse cities in the U.S., and then I lived in Valencia which is full of university students on exchange, and now of course Beijing which has an extremely large and thriving expat community. I've met people from so many countries and each one has a fascinating journey which lead them here. Take A, my Swiss friend who I met at a China Carbon Forum event. She just graduated from university, and is interning at an environmental initiative/platform in Beijing. Her mother is Chinese-Singaporean although A never spoke Chinese at home and is learning now. There's also L, a French girl I met through CS with whom I've become pretty close, who teaches English at an experimental elementary school. And there's S and the slew of other Spanish women I met through her, all of whom have found a new home in Beijing. The majority work in business or marketing positions for Chinese companies that are expanding into Latin America. Another friend, S, was born in the Netherlands to Hong Kong emigrants. I could keep going on with the acquaintances I've made, but the point is that Beijing attracts all kinds of students and professionals working in any field. The community of foreigners here is indeed huge, but after being here for 6 months you realize that it's smaller than you think. Last weekend L and I went to the opening day of an arts and music festival that's going on all month, and within the 2 hours that we were there, we saw a lot of friends and acquaintances... two guys who were at the dinner we had gone to the night before, L, a girl that we both knew from CS, O, a friend of my former coworker, and P, a friend of a friend of L's. You realize that these events tend to attract the same demographic and sooner or later, you're bound to run into somebody despite the millions that live in Beijing.

Another unique part this community is all the different viewpoints you encounter. All the gripes, yes, as we can always find a common gripe (generally the pollution) but we also share a passion for Beijing life. Just last night, I went to a CS event and a native Londoner recounted his relationship with Beijing with such passion that I've never seen anybody speak in that way about their significant other (with romantic comedies being the exception).

I've made so many mistakes in Beijing. I've grown so much here that every time I'm back in England I don't feel like myself. I'm myself in Beijing. Sure, it's not perfect, but there's just so much I love. The expat community here is different from Shanghai and Hong Kong, since the foreigners there are more "passing through," for work or whatever. But Beijing, as a center of politics and media and culture, attracts a special group of individuals.
Ok, this is when I had to awkwardly mention that I indeed am also part of that "passing through group." Anyways, he continued about his love affair with Beijing in a very endearing, tipsy way. What really struck me was what he said when I asked him exactly what it is that he loves. I wanted him to put it into words. the food. the culture. the women. anything! But he couldn't. For him, Beijing just has the X-factor that he can't even put it into words. He tried to, but literally could not. Now that's true, head-over-heels, can't-ever-leave-you love.

So, how does one meet the mentioned interesting, well-traveled, and opinionated individuals? There's a huge couchsurfing group in Beijing that it seems to be more geared towards foreigners living in Beijing to hang out rather than towards travelers who want to meet locals. I've only been to a couple events, but because of the large expat community that outnumbers the amount of travelers who are passing through, everybody in attendance tends to be a foreigner who is living in Beijing, either temporarily or permanently, or a local who is more well-traveled and wants to meet foreigners. (Compare this to a CS event I attended in London, which had a good mix of travelers and "locals".)  Internations is a networking group for professionals, so not really for travelers or students but rather people who are living and working in China. My friend is involved in Internations, which has chapters all over the world, and their events are very popular amongst Beijinger professionals. And of course, there's loads of other societies and clubs for expats. For example, Heyrobics is a Swedish aerobics group that exists in Beijing and Shanghai that is gaining lots of popularity here (locals attend their classes too, but most expats will have heard of Heyrobics whereas it's not so known among locals). HHH (Hash Hound Harriers) is an international expat running club whose motto is "a drinking club with a running problem." On top of these groups, like in any massive city, there's always something happening in Beijing; as an example, just right now there's that art and music festival I mentioned earlier, a French culture festival with film screenings and talks, a literary festival, and probably tons more that I'm not aware of going on.

I'm definitely not in love with the city as the guy from London, who I suppose is an extreme case. Instead of settling down and going for the long-term relationship like him, I've enjoyed my 5-month fling but am not ready for any commitments yet.