Date Night China: Get Connected With the Female Expats in Beijing Group

This article comes from Date Night China (WeChat ID: datenightchina), your guide to dating in China, from love to lust, first dates to worst dates, hilarious stories, and top tips to avoid (or steer into) disaster. Single in the city? Listen to their podcast.

It can be difficult moving to a new country. For many people, before dating even crosses your mind you want to find a community that will help you meet people and get connected in the city.

If you're a female expat living in Beijing, there's a group for you! Mio is an expat who created the Female Expats in Beijing group to bring strong, independent, and supportive females together to make the most of their time in Beijing.

Below, Mio shares more about how she started the group and how to get involved.

Meet Mio, Founder of the Female Expats in Beijing Group

I was born in Boston, then moved to Beijing, then Japan, Hong Kong, France, Singapore, Shanghai, Texas, San Diego, San Francisco, and now back in Beijing. I've been in China a little over 3 years – since May 2017. I currently work as the International Programs and Development Manager at Purpose in Motion.

I'm Japanese-American, am very close to my younger sister, and absolutely adore my two rescue kitties, Daisy & Lily. I married my husband three days before we left San Francisco to come to China!

Favorite date night out in Beijing?
Black Moth! Their cocktails are absolutely incredible, and the atmosphere is so chill and relaxed.

What is the Female Expats in Beijing group?
The name is pretty literal, so you can probably guess what it is! But to be more specific, it’s for anyone who identifies as female and is living in Beijing. I started it in July 2017, a few months after I moved here with my husband who was starting his MBA at Tsinghua (aka very far from SLT). 

He had his class to meet people, but I didn’t have a job or school community to be a part of, which made meeting people organically pretty difficult. I first made the group on Facebook after a combination of a pretty degrading in-person experience in Wudaokou and not being too impressed with the general Beijing expats groups that often had lots of spam and creepy posts by some men.

Once I made the WeChat group, it just started growing and growing, with a combination of women who had just moved to Beijing, who had been here for years, who were about to move here…it was great! 

We all asked/answered each other’s questions and chatted about random stuff throughout the day. It was such a comforting feeling having a girl's group. I wanted a big focus of the group to be in-person meetups since I didn’t notice that happening in the other groups I was part of at the time.

I organized my first one where we met up in the hutongs. It was a cozy little spot, and the four of us talked about where we were from (so mixed - one Indian-Australian, one Russian, one Portuguese, and me), our frustrations and positive experiences in Beijing, so much! We talked for four hours. 

From there, I organized more meetups both on weekends and weekdays, and eventually, given how huge Beijing is, started a sub-group for a more convenient meetup experience. For the sub-group, I asked women to send me their closest subway station, subway line, and availability to meet up, then organized groups based on proximity and availability. 

Of course, all of this has been on hold since the virus, and many are stuck outside of Beijing, but I hope to start resuming get-togethers soon.

How has the response been from the Beijing female community and how has the group grown?
It’s been incredible. Everyone has been so kind and positive about the group, and I couldn’t be more grateful. We started off with just me, and now we have two groups, where at one point we had over 1000 members.

I’ve seen so much wonderfulness in the group – so much lifting each other up when feeling down, answering questions immediately and thoroughly, keeping an eye out for each other when someone feels nervous or thinks she’s being followed, helping figure out if a girl who’s suspecting her boyfriend is cheating on her actually is or not, helping raise money for causes like animal rescues…it’s a lot!

What kind of activities have you or others arranged with the group?
Brunches, lunches, dinners, a weekend at the Great Wall, club outings, KTVs, wine nights at home, drinks at a bar, hot springs…and so much more to arrange!

Are there opportunities within the group to meet people (and possibly find people to date?)
*Laughs* If someone is looking to date and sends out what she’s looking for in a partner, we absolutely would keep an eye out! But yes, otherwise general meet-up opportunities are plentiful!

If you had to give advice about dating in China to ladies in Beijing, what would you say?
All in all, my advice would be the same here as I would give anywhere else – focus on you, your career, and your interests/hobbies, and don’t forget to listen to your gut!

And if you want someone to vent/talk to, you’re welcome to do so in our group! We’re here for you.

Find Out More About Female Expats in Beijing: 

• Website: www.femaleexpatsinbeijing.com

• Instagram: femaleexpatsinbeijing

• Facebook: Female Expats in Beijing

• Add Mio on Wechat if you're a female expat in Beijing and want to be added into a group: miorudnicki

READ: Date Night China: "Perhaps the Ayi Kept My Secret To Herself"

Images: Date Night China, Female Expats in Beijing