I can help with info about China :)

Hey all,
I have spent the past year and a half living in China, this is a CRAZY place and it's easy to have problems if you are not prepared. Anyway, if anyone has questions about working, living or travelling in China - how to get work, how to avoid getting ripped off by taxi drivers etc, I can help.

Hi, I would be interested to know about the main differences between the image we get about China in our media and the image you got from China?

Great question - the image I get from China is heavily contrasted between what the Chinese media (100% owned and operated by the CCP) chooses to portay about China, and what I see myself on the streets every day. The Chinese media ALWAYS has a pro party slant - so you will not see anything about China's human rights issues, corruption, military and security operations and how Chinese citizens truely feel about their government. I often won't find out about a major event in China (such as the Jasmine Revolution a few months back), until I talk to my family back home, or I talk to another foreigner in the city I live in - there are not a lot of foreigners here. So we hear a lot about China's economic achievements, stories of China's best and brightest and what they are doing, new infrastructure, etc.
But living here - corruption is apparent in all levels, crime is rife (albeit, mostly petty crime) and most people still live in poverty. HOWEVER, these are people who are fiercely nationalistic - they won't knock China and they won't accept us knocking it either. These are people who truely believe China is the best country in the world - because that's what they have always been told and they never hear any different until they go overseas.
Sure makes this a fascinating and very strange place to live!

If you are just going for four days it really depends on when you are going - weather all over China can go from different extremes depending on the time of year. For four days, that is a good time to explore a major city like Beijing - one of my favourite cities in the world. You can explore Forbidden City, the Great Wall, The Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven in and around Beijing - all amazing places, and you can choose to see a part of the Great Wall that isn't 'touristy' you just need to ask around and usually someone can take you to a more authentic, unrestored part.
I think the best place to stay is Wangfujing Youth Hostel in Sanlitun district, I always stayed there when going to Beijing - it's in a really good location - close to subway, clubs, bars and restaurants and is really, really clean and well run. The prices are cheap you can stay in dorms (which I always do - meet the best people that way, esp if you are travelling alone), or you can get single rooms. They have free internet and helpful staff.
There is also lots of cool shopping close to the hostel - Yashow Clothing Market or you can get the subway to Wangfujing DaJie, one of the main shopping streets.
Watch out for hawkers, pickpockets and dodgy taxi drivers. Don't get taxi drivers from right outside the railway station - walk a few blocks away and flag a taxi down. Taxi from railway station to the hostel I mentioned shouldn't be more than 25RMB.
Bargain down everything to less than half if you have a European face. :P

Old thread, but I just wanted to say that staying close to Sanlitun is a good idea, as that's where a lot of great western restaurants are (yes, you should eat chinese food as much as possible, but you know you're going to miss your mama's home cookin'!). Also, a good place to stay is near the Lama Temple. The hutongs in that area are amazing, and there is a restaurant there called "Mr. Shi's Dumplings" (in Chinese its called laoshi jiaozi) that is incredible. Lots of people from the hostels eat there. Personally, I like to look at tour sites for ideas, like these China tours, for inspiration when I travel in China. It's pretty easy to go it alone in big cities though, as they're quite foreigner friendly. I think the west sees China as being completely opposite in every way, and kind of scary for that reason, but you feel quite comfortable here and in many ways, society and everyday life functions in very much the same way. Travelers will hardly notice !