Let me try to answer you questions. Bluekite might be busy since she was just back from China. Calgary was divided into four areas by center street (from north to south), and bow river (from west to east): NW -- north west area NE -- north east area SW -- south west area SE -- south east area
Downtown is the business center of Calgary. It is mostly in SW. UC is Univeristy of Calgary. It is in NW part of Caglary. Most early immigrants from mainland china live in NW area. In recent years, lots of immigrants from mainland china live in other area too.
Since you do you have kids. Which quater does not mater that much. Since you do not have driver license and car, you better find a place which is close to shopping and publish transit(Buss or C-train). If I were you, I would pick somewhere close to downtown (but not in downtown). If you look at the map on the internet, you may find Hillhurst (close to SAIT (South Alberta Institute of Technology) 10Street and 4 Ave NW) or 8 to 12 Street and 12 Ave SW may be a better place. You may also need to look at the rent. You could go to http://classifieds.canada.com/calgary to find some rental information.
Sorry for the late reply. I do not look at the forum everyday. Good luck