Early response to the column

I hope I can bother you with a couple of questions on expat housing in Beijing.

Are the “housing compounds” you refer to only for Westerners, or do rich Beijingers live there to?

If the above answer is rich locals, too, then this question probably
doesn’t matter: Is non-gated housing too hopelessly run down to live in?

Since you want to get the most immersion from your experience possible (I would, too, though not everyone), wouldn’t it be better to truly live in a community of locals?

Thanks for your weekly reports!

Sincerely,

Carol May
Los Angeles

Carol,

Thanks for reading and taking the time to write.

There are plenty of fine apartment housing options downtown. It is not an option for us, as we live in a company-owned house. Also, all of the international schools are out here so either you have to commute or your kids do. There are quite a few rich Beijingers here and also a lot of Chinese nationals who lived in the US or Canada for a long time and have now returned.

Again, thanks for reading.

Best,

Alan Paul

Perhaps if & when you find out how that poor soul was murdered you can start a move to ban whatever inanimate object killed her.

It seems to be working with guns over there.

– Guy Rosa

I did not bother to respond to this anti-gun-control zealot. I can’t imagine if this country were armed…