For most people back home, you wouldn’t really notice this. Here in Beijing, whether you’re here for a short visit or already living here, you may notice that not all sheets are created alike, especially if they’re fitted or not. More details follow below.

In Chinese, the bed sheet is called chuang dan (床单) and the fitted bed sheet is called chuang li (床笠). The more common one used for bed linen is the flat sheet, making it for those who are used to sleeping on fitted sheets a little interesting. Even in many hotels, the sheets used are flat sheets, folded and tucked underneath the mattress. But if you try to do it yourself at home, you’ll most likely end up with a good effort, but nothing perfect like you’d want it.

Buying fitted sheets poses some challenges. Many stores, whether it be small shops selling linens or superstores like Carrefour that carry everything, will tend to carry only flat sheets. Even online, it is quite difficult finding fitted sheets. Luckily, IKEA carries fitted sheets that will bring joy to your world, a little slice of home pie, so to speak. They’re generally more expensive than their flat sheet counterparts, but will make it a much easier task of changing your sheets.