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.
| Variable | Type | Default | Effect |
|---|
| role | visitor | resident | tech-worker | student | founder | inferred per query | Locks routing (Core Rule 1) to that track; skips the role question |
| home_district | text | none | Anchors commute math, dining picks, and neighborhood comparisons to where the user lives or stays |
| budget_tier | budget | mid | premium | mid | Filters lodging, restaurant, and neighborhood recommendations to the matching price band |
| dietary | list | none | Applies food-practical.md filters (vegetarian, halal, allergies) to every food suggestion |
| mandarin_level | none | basic | conversational | fluent | none | Scales translation workarounds; at conversational+ drop phrase tables and pinyin from answers |
| aqi_alert | number (AQI) | 150 | Threshold that triggers indoor-backup suggestions in any outdoor plan (Core Rule 8) |
| home_currency | ISO code | none (falls back to ~/Clawic/profile.yaml) | Adds a converted figure next to every ¥ amount |
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
| Topic | File |
|---|
| Visitors | |
| Attractions (must-see vs skip) | visitor-attractions.md |
| Itineraries (1/3/7 days) | visitor-itineraries.md |
| Where to stay | visitor-lodging.md |
| Tips & day trips | visitor-tips.md |
| Neighborhoods | |
| Quick comparison | neighborhoods-index.md |
| Chaoyang, CBD, Sanlitun | neighborhoods-downtown.md |
| Haidian, Zhongguancun | neighborhoods-tech.md |
| Dongcheng, Xicheng (Historic) | neighborhoods-historic.md |
| Shunyi, Changping, Tongzhou | neighborhoods-suburban.md |
| Choosing guide | neighborhoods-choosing.md |
| Food | |
| Overview & dining scene | food-overview.md |
| Beijing & Northern Chinese | food-local.md |
| International & fine dining | food-international.md |
| Best areas for dining | food-areas.md |
| Dietary, alcohol, practicalities | food-practical.md |
| Practical | |
| Moving & settling | resident.md |
| Leaving China (exit checklist, pension refund) | leaving.md |
| Transport (subway, DiDi, bikes) | transport.md |
| Cost of living | cost.md |
| Safety & laws | safety.md |
| Weather & AQI tips | climate.md |
| Local services (banking, SIM) | local.md |
| Career | |
| Tech industry & salaries | tech.md |
| Jobs beyond tech (teaching, labor law) | jobs.md |
| Expat income tax (IIT, six-year rule) | taxes.md |
| Business setup & WFOE | business.md |
| Visas (Z, X, M, residence permit) | visas.md |
| Startups & funding | startup.md |
| Lifestyle | |
| Culture & customs | culture.md |
| Healthcare & insurance | healthcare.md |
| Schools & education | education.md |
| Kids, ayi, having a baby | family.md |
| Learning Mandarin | mandarin.md |
| Expat lifestyle & social | lifestyle.md |
| Driving & car ownership | driving.md |
| Anything else / unclear | Ask role + timeline first, then load the closest file above |
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)
- Install and TEST a VPN — cannot be downloaded once inside China.
- 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.
- Save every address (hotel, meetings) as Chinese characters — drivers cannot read pinyin.
- 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.
| Item | Range | Canonical file |
|---|
| 1BR rent, CBD/Guomao | ¥10,000-18,000/mo | neighborhoods-index.md |
| 1BR rent, Sanlitun | ¥9,000-15,000/mo | neighborhoods-index.md |
| 1BR rent, Zhongguancun | ¥6,000-10,000/mo | neighborhoods-index.md |
| Senior SWE (5-8 yrs) | ¥50,000-80,000/mo | tech.md |
| Subway single ride | ¥3-10 (distance-based) | transport.md |
| Taxi flagfall | ¥13 | visitor-tips.md |
| Hotpot dinner for two | ¥150-300 | food-overview.md |
| International school | ¥200,000-350,000/yr (bilingual from ¥100,000) | education.md |
| IIT effective rate at ¥720,000/yr gross | ≈18% (worked example) | taxes.md |
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
| Profile | Best areas | Why |
|---|
| Young professionals | Sanlitun, CBD, Guomao | Nightlife, expat scene, walkable |
| Expat families | Shunyi, Chaoyang Park area | International schools, space; Shunyi = car required |
| Tech workers | Zhongguancun, Wudaokou, Haidian | Commute to tech campuses |
| Students | Wudaokou | PKU/Tsinghua, cheap, Korean food |
| Budget-conscious | Tongzhou, Changping | Half the rent, 40-60 min commute |
| History/culture | Dongcheng, Xicheng hutongs | Character; check heating/plumbing before signing |
| Default (unsure, mid budget) | Dongzhimen/Sanyuanqiao | Central, Airport Express, moderate rent |
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
| Trap | Why it fails | Do instead |
|---|
| Arriving without VPN | Cannot download one inside China; cut off from Google/WhatsApp day 1 | Install + test before boarding |
| Only one payment app | Some vendors take WeChat only, others Alipay only | Set up both, link cards to both |
| Skipping PSB registration | Surfaces at visa renewal as fines/delays | Register within 24h; confirm your landlord/host actually did it |
| Relying on street taxis | Drivers take DiDi jobs; empty cabs pass you by | DiDi app in English mode |
| Buying a car | Plates by lottery, years of waiting; unrestricted driving impossible | Subway + DiDi; plate math in driving.md |
| Underestimating AQI | 200+ days cluster in winter; no mask = sick, plans ruined | N95s in bag, purifier at home, indoor backup plans |
| Treating cash as primary | Vendors can't make change; queues form behind you | Cash is backup only (¥500-1,000) |
| Booking Badaling | Most crowded Wall section; 2h+ cable queues on holidays | Mutianyu (first visit), Jinshanling (photos), Simatai (night) |
| Golden Week travel | Oct 1-7: attraction quotas sell out, hotel prices surge | Shift trip by one week either side |
| Assuming English menus/staff | Chinese-only outside expat zones | Camera translation, picture menus, saved phrases |
| Working on an M/tourist visa "temporarily" | Deportation + entry ban when caught; schools get raided | Z visa + work permit before day one (jobs.md, visas.md) |
| Leaving without the work-permit cancellation certificate | Blocks any future China work permit; unobtainable once the employer moves on | Exit checklist in leaving.md, 2-3 buffer weeks before the flight |
Legal Awareness
| Rule | Reality |
|---|
| VPN | Gray zone: personal use tolerated, selling/promoting illegal |
| Working on wrong visa | Z visa + work permit or nothing; violation = deportation + entry ban |
| Drugs | Zero tolerance; any amount is a serious criminal matter |
| Photography | No military, police, or government buildings |
| Political speech | Criticizing Party/government carries real risk — including on WeChat, which is monitored |
| LGBTQ+ | Not illegal, no legal recognition; discretion advised |
Full guidance and red-flag scenarios: safety.md.
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 regiontravel — general trip planning and itinerary structuring beyond one citychinese — writing natural Chinese; this skill covers survival language only
Feedback
Part of Clawic, the verified skill library. Get this skill: https://clawic.com/skills/beijing.