Beijing

User preferences and memory live in ~/Clawic/data/beijing/ (see setup.md on first use, memory-template.md for the file format). If you have data at an old location (~/beijing/ or ~/clawic/beijing/), move it to ~/Clawic/data/beijing/.

Configuration

User-dependent variables. Defaults apply until the user states a preference; store them in ~/Clawic/data/beijing/config.yaml.

Preference areas to record as the user reveals them:

• travel style — pace (packed vs relaxed), crowd tolerance, guided vs independent; affects itinerary density and Great Wall section choice
• food — spice tolerance, street-food adventurousness, cuisine leanings; affects which food file leads
• transport — subway-first vs DiDi-first vs bike, walking tolerance; affects every route suggestion
• compliance posture — how conservatively to treat gray areas (VPN, remote work on dependent visas); affects safety.md/visas.md framing
• cadence — trip dates or arrival date; affects which seasonal and holiday warnings get volunteered

When To Use

• Trip planning: attractions, itineraries, lodging, day trips, scam avoidance
• Relocation: neighborhood choice, rent, schools, healthcare, PSB registration
• Career: tech salaries, jobs and teaching, work permits (Z visa, A/B/C tiers), WFOE setup, startups
• Daily-life setup: WeChat/Alipay, SIM, banking, transport, AQI strategy
• Long-arc residency: expat taxes, having a baby, learning Mandarin, exiting China cleanly
• Not for other Chinese cities: payment/app setup transfers to Shanghai or Shenzhen; neighborhood, rent, and hukou specifics do not — route to the china skill.

Quick Reference

Core Rules

1. Route by Role AND Timeline

Same question, different file: "where should I stay" → visitor-lodging.md for a week, neighborhoods-choosing.md for a move. Ask which before answering (skip the question when role is set in config or obvious from context). If the user is already inside China without a VPN, only suggest solutions that work behind the Firewall — app-store links, Google Docs, and gmail-verification flows are dead ends.

2. Pre-Arrival Sequence (order matters, each step gates the next)

1. Install and TEST a VPN — cannot be downloaded once inside China.
2. Set up WeChat + Alipay, verify with passport; link Visa/Mastercard (supported since 2023). Alipay "Tour Pass" alternative: load from foreign card, 90-day validity, ¥10,000 cap.
3. Save every address (hotel, meetings) as Chinese characters — drivers cannot read pinyin.
4. Book Forbidden City ~10 days ahead; it sells out. If they arrive with only step 0 done, triage in this order — payment before maps. Details: visitor-tips.md, local.md.

3. Payments: Mobile-First, Cash-Last

Set up BOTH WeChat Pay and Alipay — vendor coverage differs and some merchants take only one. Carry ¥500-1,000 cash as backup: legal tender, but small vendors often cannot make change. Foreign cards work only at international hotels and malls. A dead phone = no payment, no DiDi, no ticket: a power bank is financial equipment here.

4. Language Baseline

Assume zero English outside international hotels and Sanlitun: taxi drivers, government offices, hospitals (non-VIP), and most restaurants operate Chinese-only. Default toolkit: Amap or DiDi in English mode + camera translation + addresses saved in characters. Survival phrases and Beijing-accent notes: culture.md.

5. Current Data (Feb 2026)

Canonical detail lives in the aux files; this table is the summary. When quoting, state the date — rents and salaries drift.

6. Registration Is a Hard Deadline

All foreigners register with the local PSB within 24 hours of arrival. Hotels do it automatically; private residences and many Airbnb hosts do NOT — then it is on you. Re-register within 24 hours after every address change and after each visa renewal. Skipping it surfaces later at visa renewal: fines, delays, possible deportation. See visas.md, safety.md.

7. Transport Default: Subway + DiDi

Subway for anything near a line (¥3-10, English signage, add 3-5 min at each entry for X-ray security); DiDi for the rest. Flagging street taxis rarely works — drivers take jobs via DiDi. Worked example, Great Wall day: DiDi to Mutianyu ≈ ¥300 round trip split among passengers vs ¥200-300/person on a tour — a group of 3+ should DiDi. Driving is a trap: license plates are allocated by lottery with years-long odds (driving.md).

8. Weather and AQI Gate the Plan

• AQI >150 → mask outdoors; >200 → move the day's plan indoors (museums, malls, hotpot), N95 if you must go out. Check daily; canonical thresholds in visitor-tips.md.
• Bad-air season = winter heating season (mid-Nov to mid-Mar). Best months: Sep-Oct.
• Never plan around Oct 1-7 (Golden Week) or Chinese New Year: peak crowds, closures, surge prices.
• Winter -10°C, summer 35°C+: itineraries need seasonal restructuring, not just packing changes (climate.md).

9. Neighborhood Matching

Hukou & Work Permit Context

• Hukou (户口) is household registration for Chinese citizens; Beijing hukou is among the hardest to obtain and gates local schooling and property. Foreigners are outside the hukou system — their equivalent gate is the work permit tier.
• Work permit tiers: A (top talent — points score 85+, or qualifying achievement), B (professional — degree + 2 yrs experience typical), C (temporary/intern). Tier determines renewal ease and family visas. Points come from salary, education, experience, HSK level: visas.md.
• Practical consequence: a B-tier offer letter with salary near the bottom of market range weakens renewals — negotiate salary partly as an immigration asset.

Output Gates

Before answering, check:

• Did I identify role (tourist/resident/worker/student/founder) and timeline?
• Are my numbers from the canonical file, quoted with their date?
• Does my advice work behind the Firewall if the user is already in China?
• Did I flag the 24h registration whenever the user mentions arriving or moving?
• Did I apply config.yaml values (dietary, budget_tier, aqi_alert, home_currency) instead of the defaults they override?

Traps

Legal Awareness

Full guidance and red-flag scenarios: safety.md.

Related Skills

More Clawic skills, get them at https://clawic.com/skills/beijing (install if the user confirms):

• china — travel across the rest of China; Beijing hands off there for any other city or region
• travel — general trip planning and itinerary structuring beyond one city
• chinese — writing natural Chinese; this skill covers survival language only

Feedback

• If useful, star it: https://clawic.com/skills/beijing
• Latest version: https://clawic.com/skills/beijing

Part of Clawic, the verified skill library. Get this skill: https://clawic.com/skills/beijing.