I was in Beijing this summer. I have a very long trip report which I would be happy to send to you. If you contact me by email I can send it right out.

Regarding getting from airport to downtown; taxi. Easy and will cost 120-160 RMB (depending on traffic and where you are staying).

Language: Many Chinese speak some English. My ability to correctly pronounce anything in Chinese is not existent. If you travel off the beaten path it is very helpful to have a phrase book that has chinese characters in it so you can point to the words when pronunciation fails.

Lots of wonderful things to do in China. We had a blast and found the people we interacted with to be very friendly.