Beijing - how much and what kind of childcare?

[EcclefechanTart]

I'm considering spending a few months in Beijing next year. I have lived there before but not for many years, and I was young and single then, so I'd really appreciate some up-to-date advice.

Can anyone suggest what kind of costs I would be looking at for a decent apartment for a family of 3?

And I'd like to know about any experiences (and costs) of childcare. We would need some form of childcare for my preschool-age DC and I'm really not sure what would be best here. Employers haven't been very helpful in suggesting anything but a monolingual Chinese kindergarten, which doesn't strike me as a good option for a shy and slightly clingy child.

Thank you very much!

I am in Shanghai so am not sure if this info is going to be helpful or not, but it may be.
Dd2 (3) goes to a fully bilingual preschool (3 days English 2 days Chinese one week and then it is switched the following week). We pay just under 5000 Rmb a month and it includes all food. But, the hours are the same as ours, so we pay an English speaking ayi 6000 Rmb a month to take her, pick her up and watch her if she has no school, or she is sick (and do all the other usual ayi things). I have a friend who put her 4 year old in a Chinese preschool last year, she didn't love it ( she already speaks Eng and Spanish) but now she is in regular school and is doing great in Chinese classes!
Our rental allowance is 14000 Rmb per month and we rent a nice 3 bed place here and have money left over from that ...but I have no idea what housing costs in Beijing are.
Love living in Shanghai... So much going on here all the time!

Thanks so much for your reply! Very helpful information. The problem for us is that we will be on a much lower salary so could definitely not afford 5000 RMB + 6000 RMB a month for childcare, as we won't have enough left for rent. Do you pay 6000 to the ayi just for pick ups/drop offs etc then? What does she do the rest of the time?

Bilingual preschool sounds good, and our hours are flexible so drop-offs/pick-ups shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm guessing it's a lot more regimented than UK daycare? Right now I drop DC off any time between 8 and 10am, and pick up any time between 3 and 6pm, depending on work, which is great and I'd need some sort of similar arrangement in Beijing I think.

Do you know how difficult the Chinese-language preschool was for your friend's child? There is one at the workplace where we will be based, but it's never had a non-Chinese child and no one there speaks English, so I am very nervous about the idea - my DC cries even now at dropoff in a much-loved nursery in the UK so god knows how it work in China.

Thank you again for your help.

I actually have a pretty flexible daycare / preschool option. DD was 2 when she started, and I wanted her to have contact with other kids, but didn't need full day care, so I kind of set my hours. The school has been great with this, so I feel lucky. But yes, in general they are much more strict. They charge 4900, but as we teach at a sister school, we get a 50% discount...and we pay the Ayi for flexibility. Otherwise we would pay between 30-45 per hour.
Our Ayi does a lot of stuff for us during the day - she cleans, does laundry, irons, picks up dd1 twice a week, shops (if we leave specific lists) cooks 3 days a week...she pretty much does everything.I will miss her when we leave China.
Is your partner going to be working? Can you wait until you get there and have them check out some daycare options. I would probably be hesitant to enroll my DD in a strictly Chinese environment at the beginning - even if one staff member spoke English it would be so much better. I remember my friends daughter saying she didn't talk to anyone in the beginning, and she is a very confident outgoing child. But she was fine after a few months.
Good luck, it is a hard decision... And me know if you have more questions - happy to help if I can.