The Odd Ins and Outs of Dealing with Community Entry Requirements

Vincent R. Vinci, Contributing Editor | May 23, 2022 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 313 reads

For the past few weeks, we’ve been seeing messages in our Safe & Sane groups about requirements for entering or reentering one’s community.

This is in regards to regulations enacted at the community level that basically restrict outside folks from entering, and require some form of pass for residents. The issue is, it’s kinda hard to pinpoint how to deal with it.

What works for one community might not work for another. For instance, Tuanjiehu just unveiled an “electronic entry card” mini-program for use in it’s subdistrict communities, and kuaidi and waimai cannot enter communities without a pass as well, making for a bit of a trek to go out to the community's West gate to get anything.

Other communities are doing things differently – from doing ID checks to just Jiankangbao checks to simply having an honor system and letting people in who are known residents, be they foreign or otherwise.

Some of these setups work for foreigners, whereas others – like the Tuanjiehu entry card thing, which only allows Chinese ID holders to register – are a little harder to work around. Even after asking the guards and contacting customer support, there was no straight answer provided.

So what’s one to do if their community is actively enforcing these rules and it’s hard to enter and exit? I got off a little easy in my case. When I told the guard at the front gate my situation, he told me to just scan my jiankangbao and head on through. But what if there's further issue?

First of all, don’t panic.

Instead, it’s best to figure out who’s in charge, i.e. get in touch with your neighborhood committee (居委会 juweihui) or property management (物业 wuye). They can either be found in an office within the community or via a community WeChat group. Contact them – or get a Chinese friend to help – notify them of your situation, and see what can be done.

More often than not, there’s always going to be some kind of work around. A lot of the time, you can also try telling the guards your situation and they will let you pass (as was my case). If there are more issues though, the community management is a good contact to have, just in case.

If any other issues arise or you just want the shimmy on what’s really going down with Covid in Beijing, with all the up to date info by the day, be sure to join our Safe & Sane groups on WeChat by adding TBJ Butler via the QR below and request to be added in to one of the groups.