My Journal

 幼儿园 (yòu ér yuán): a few hundred yuan to a few thousand yuan/month depending on the area. Ours cost 2700 yuan/month, expensive. A local day care using Chinese NOT bilingual. Very clean and the teachers are very professional and loving to the kids :) Food 3x/day, weekly extra class like violin, drawing, dancing , etc are included. They have a web site here.

We put our kids in local schools instead of international schools for expats in China. Competitions in schools are HOT.  The students work and study really hard here.

 Chinese parents are actively putting their kids in extra classes after
school be it music school, drawing, dancing, math, english, etc. So it's really easy to find an after school class.

MUSIC: Violins could be really cheap, my son's is only 180 yuan a set (the violin, bow, roshin, violin bag; as of 2010) and it's really decent. He's been using it for more than one year. Many other kids also use similar violins. Half an hour class costs 60yuan (as of 2010), it costs more for more experienced teachers. There are many really nice chain-schools too and very profesional instead of  just having someone comes to
your home. My son studies violin here. Small local ones are also good and exciting especially since they hold yearly performance for the kids. The picture above was when my daugther performed in one of the occasions. I really love this activity a lot! Tips for living in China for all expats in China: enjoy this benefit. It's really fun! Not only for kids can be for you too. You can go to one of the schools to borrow their piano. It is really cheap and free if you're a student.

The Chinese Conservatory of music (中央音乐学院）provide exams. I think it's good to participate if your kids or you really into music. The certificate is really recognized.

Other activities, such as swimming, badminton, tennis, etc are also full of excitements. They provide competitions, etc.