One Beijing expat shares what he most enjoys about life in the Chinese capital on the forum www.thebeijinger.com. The contributor, a British man who has lived here for more than two years, posted his observations under the title, "Living in Beijing as a foreigner is awesome".

 

"Let's not forget that," he writes. "It is. If it's not for you then you need to try harder." Here is his list of highlights for a Beijing expat:

 

I get paid about the same as I did at home, but the cost of living is 10 times cheaper, so I'm never skint anymore. I eat out all the time, my apartment is great and I can waste money on things like Playstations.

 

The restaurants are amazing and cheap. Even the expensive ones are cheap by Western standards. Such variety, quality and plenty of people to go eat with. Takeaway food services mean I can eat anything I want by just clicking a few buttons on a website.

 

Women. Love it or hate it, the fact is I'm 40 percent more attractive here. My girlfriend is lovely and one of the new generation of Chinese women who want to work for themselves, are ambitious, confident, independent and have the ability to make good money for themselves. Not every Chinese girl is a helpless, desperate Hello Kitty emotional minefield.

 

Opportunity. There is so much money pouring into Beijing that new businesses are starting up every day. Get a Chinese partner you can trust and the only thing holding you back is your own ambition. You can feel the energy in Beijing, the feeling here of opportunity and change is amazing.

 

Personal freedom. I can do pretty much anything I want here without anyone forcing their ideas down my throat. I can ride my bike home from the pub with no lights, big glass bottle of Yanjing in one hand, and no one will care, if I fall it's my fault for being an idiot. Try that in the UK and you'll get arrested on about four or five charges.

 

Watching the changes first-hand. No one can deny that the way China is changing will affect the world, we are very lucky to be here at this time to see the changes first-hand. Even though I moan about the Olympics a bit, it's going to be an amazing experience to see first-hand how that changes the city and people.

 

The people. From day one my colleagues treated me like family - a genuine affection and willingness to be close that was totally different from any other place I worked. I've had some bad experiences, but landlords everywhere are idiots and the ratio of good to bad experiences with Chinese people is very high. I've generally found Chinese people in Beijing to be very open, helpful and friendly.

 

Compared to all the good things the little irritations are nothing. In 2.5 years I can count the number of really bad days on one hand. This place rocks, I love it.

 

?(China Daily January 25, 2008)