Beijing News You Might Have Missed This Week, Jul 5

Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

New Direct Beijing-Kenya Route Expected for 2026

Citing growing demand, Kenya Airways announced plans to introduce direct flights between Beijing and Nairobi next year, a move that reflects increasing economic and cultural connections between China and the African continent. 

The airline company says it has seen an increase in Chinese passengers to Kenya from a range of categories, and last year saw more than 90,000 Chinese travelers visiting Kenya – an almost 50 percent increase from the year before. 

Kenya Airways has also recently introduced a number of Chinese-speaking airplane crew members into its ranks, ensuring that each flight on existing Kenya-China routes has two to three crew members capable of more fully meeting Chinese passengers’ needs.

The airline has provided service connecting Nairobi and Guangzhou since 2005. This new service will be the first direct flight connection between Nairobi and Beijing.

Illegal Share Bikes Appear in Beijing

Recently, a number of illegal share bikes have popped up in the city, mostly concentrated around Tian’anmen and Qianmen. These bikes, which have been put out by a number of companies, have all been parent-child bikes, with one or two extra child seats attached, presenting clear safety risks. 

Instead of the normal fees and 15-minute time intervals of regular share bikes, these illegal parent-child share bikes charge anywhere from RMB 30 to RMB 50 per hour, requiring RMB 100 to RMB. 200 as a deposit. Other fees for retrieval services have been noted. Unsuspecting customers were able to rent the bikes by scanning QR codes on the bikes that linked back to seemingly legitimate mini programs.

 Authorities have already forced the removal of all of the illegal parent-child share bikes identified in their investigations, with one company being fined RMB 15,000. The public is reminded that so-called “parent-child” share bikes, with multiple seats, are unsafe and illegal.

READ: New Power Bank Regulation: Travel Tips and FAQs

Images: Unsplash, Beijing Fabu