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[expatella_girl]

We've just finished 4 years in Moscow and are relocating to Beijing in December.

My first question is about the meds we take. Cavorting around the world one finds that medication availibility and restrictions vary wildly from one country to the next. We're American.

In general terms, our medications are prescription only in the US. Garden variety stuff. All of it is over-the-counter available in Russia. Outside of narcotics, most meds in Russia don't require a prescription. So very different standards from the US.

Would you say that average prescription meds are available over the counter in China, or would they generally require a prescription? We're talking birth control pills, some diabetes meds, blood pressure, average stuff. If anyone also has any web references with details that would be great.

My second question is about a good expat forum for Beijing/China. I googled and came up with AlloExpat, Beijing community.com, and asia expats forum. None of them look too great, like they take about 10 posts a month. Low activity levels. Any references for China forums with higher levels of interaction?

Thanks for any responses.