the state of beijing local websites
Posted: Jun. 20, 2008
chinabites.com was conceived as a local site with a twist: a site that introduced a location, Beijing, to foreigners who didn’t speak the local language. Original, right? Actually, no … no its not. There are a plethora of sites that aspire to this crown already, as far as I can tell, the most legit sites are:
The birds eye view of Beijing local websites from my perspective as a resident of Beijing from 2002-2008 is that the only site that I ever really used was thebeijinger.com (and its predecessor, thatsbj.com). All three sites aspire to do much more than just introduce the restaurants of Beijing to a foreign audience. thebeijinger and city weekend are both the online arm of print media (tho’ both sites are much more than just the “online” version of their respective magazines). The editorial range of all the sites is “anything of broad interest to foreigners living in Beijing”, and that includes arts and entertainment, classified and personal ads, job boards, etc.
It would seem that the niche for local beijing sites is not only filled, but its already being contested hotly. In developing chinabites over the past few months I have been tempted to try and broaden my offering in order to try and replicate what these sites are doing. I have resisted for the most part so far, and have instead tried to first develop features that the other sites are currently lacking. When chinabites was launched in late 2007, it was the only site among those mentioned above that showed where restaurants were on a map of Beijing. When reviewing the sites again for this post in mid-2008, both thebeijinger and cityweekend had maps. That’s just how fast things move on the internets.
Over the next few posts, I will take a look at what is on offer at these sites, particularly when it comes to helping foreigners eat out. In the meantime, do any Beijing hands or fellow websmasters have more thoughts about the state of Beijing local websites?
