Visiting China in 2025: Everything You Need to Know

China is a land of contrasts. Ancient traditions and cutting-edge modernity coexist in harmony, making it one of the most unique destinations in the world. As we step into 2025, China continues to grow as a must-visit location for global travellers, offering experiences unlike any other. Especially now that China announced that passport holders from these 54 different countries can enter or pass through visa-free for 10, 15 or 30 days, there’s no time like now to plan a trip to the “middle kingdom”.

From its awe-inspiring landmarks like the Great Wall to its bustling metropolises like Chongqing and stunning natural landscapes such as the Avatar mountains of Zhangjiajie, the country captivates visitors with its vast diversity, culture that has stood the test of time and ways of life that differ drastically from our own.

China’s system for tourism is well established and highly organized.It has been made so for the Chinese tourist. No one travels their own country like the Chinese do! Which is extensively. And with 1.4 billion people calling China their home, there is no other choice but to make it as efficient and organized as possible. In many ways, international tourists can benefit from this beautiful ecosystem. But as you’ll soon find out, travelling in China is a world apart from tourism in other countries.

Many familiar travel conventions don’t apply here, requiring visitors to adapt and embrace new ways of navigating and interacting. Remember that strict 3-year closure that China had for international visitors during COVID-19? That time of separation from the rest of the globe laid the groundwork for China to develop in its own ways, while still maintaining certain cultural barriers. For us, this means relearning certain travel habits and adjusting to how tourism flows within such a populous and fast-paced environment.

After returning back to the country in September-November of 2024, so much has changed since our last trip in 2019. We did a ton of research prior to, took advice from the locals and Jason’s family while we were there, and learned from our mistakes as well. By understanding the nuances of travelling in China, from its cashless economy to its cultural quirks, you too can unlock a truly unforgettable experience. Our guide will prepare you for the adventure ahead, equipping you with everything you need to know before visiting China.

1. Visa-Free Restrictions and Getting a Chinese Visa

China’s Visa-Free Transit & Travel Policies

I’m still in awe of China finally releasing visa-free travel or transit for an additional 54 different countries throughout this last year. And Canada, the US and the UK are now on that list! It might just be until the end of 2025 (for now), which is probably why you’re here, trying to book a trip out there for this year. But it’s better than nothing, if you wanted to get a good taste of what China is like.

Currently, eligible passport holders of 38 of those 54 countries are granted visa-free travel in China for up to 30 days! The remainder have a 240-hour (10 days) visa-free transit policy, whereby they can do a stopover in China on their way to another country. That’s amazing news!

You can visit this site for more details on the updates, restrictions, validity periods, etc. regarding the visa-free travel. What’s great is that this includes travelling for tourism, business and visiting family and friends. Exchange visits are included for the 30-day visa-free travel policy.

With that said, there are still restrictions to the visa-free policies, a few of the major ones being:

• You have to enter and exit through specific ports
• There’s a defined scope of travel for where you would be permitted to visit
• If you are travelling on the 10-day transit visa, you will need to show proof of your onward ticket with confirmed departure date and seat selection
• The expiration of these policies is set for December 31st, 2025, so you’ll want to plan accordingly and not go past that date

If you are planning on doing anything that lies outside of these restrictions, or plan on staying in China longer than your country’s visa-free policy allows, you’ll need to apply a visa in advance.

Applying for a Chinese Visa

For those of you needing to get a travel visa for China, you’ll need to head to your local/regional Chinese consulate or embassy by making an appointment. You can check to see which visa type you’ll need, or which you’re eligible for, prior to your appointment. Make sure to have the proper documents sorted and brought to your appointment to minimize the times you have to return!

There are quite a number of ordinary visa sub-types, but if you’re simply travelling as a tourist, you’ll likely be applying for the “L” type visa. That’s the one I have and I managed to get the 10-year visa (granted to citizens of Canada, US, UK, Argentina and Israel), with multiple-entry for a maximum of 60-day stays.

If you get a 5- or 10-year visa, keep in mind that it is only valid up until your passport expiry date, in increments of one year. For example, if your passport expires on January 20th, 2029 and you were issued a 5-year visa on February 3rd, 2025, your visa will be valid until February 3rd, 2028.

The visa prices differ based on your passport country and on how rushed you need it. There’s a visa fee and an administration fee charged by the centre you visit. For most countries, the price is the same, regardless of whether you are granted single entry, double entry or multiple entry, and doesn’t increase based on the visa validity. You can have a look at some of the Chinese visa prices for various countries here! But of course, you’ll get proper rates from the consulate when you start going through the motions of the application.

2. Getting Around in China

China boasts the longest and most extensively used high-speed rail (HSR) network in the world. It accounts for 2/3 of the world’s total high-speed rail network, which is insane to conceptualize. China is also home to the first ever commercial high-speed maglev train (a magnetic levitation train that cruises at a speed of 300 km/h), which is found in Shanghai.

It’s safe to say that China invests a lot of money and effort into trains. You’ll see that when you visit, and it’s an incredibly efficient way for you to travel within and between different provinces. We took a total of 14 intercity trains throughout our last trip and it felt like it was a better use of our time and money as opposed to flying everywhere. Although we did take two flights as well!

Your Best Friend is Trip.com

Whether you book a plane or a train, the best way to book your tickets online in advance is using trip.com. I honestly wouldn’t be recommending one specific platform, nor would I say that it was better to go third-party than book directly with the airlines, but trip.com was honestly the one and only way that made sense. Here are our reasons for using the platform:

• Unless you have a Chinese phone number, ID and can read Chinese, you won’t be able to book any trains directly on China’s online railway platform. There are no other platforms to book tickets in advance except for trip.com, and it’s worth paying the small booking fee to have everything sorted without having to go to the railway station in person.
• Most domestic airlines either don’t have a working website, it never loads or is not translatable to any language other than Chinese. Basically they’re not very user friendly. Trip.com has a special partnership with Chinese airlines that gives them the best access to their databases and allows you to book your tickets live with immediate ticket issuance. We never advocate for booking flights third-party! But this was the way to go when in China. Additionally, we found that every flight we looked at was cheapest when booking on trip.com.
• Trip.com provides automatic check-in so that we didn’t have to within the 24 hours before departure. There was also more flexibility and options when it came to purchasing different ticket tiers and additional baggage.
• Once you book your train tickets on the third-party site, your ticket is directly linked to your passport (or ID for Chinese residents). That means there’s no need to print any passes or pull up any e-tickets at the railway station. All you need to do it scan your passport at the gate.
• Building status on trip.com was so easy. After only three weeks of using the platform while in China, we managed to score diamond status and tons of Trip Coins we could redeem on our upcoming bookings. Diamond status offered us discounts, free upgrades for things like airport transfers, free lounge passes and more. Honestly, I wish Expedia and Booking could get on their level.

Words of Advice for Travelling by Rail

Okay, enough of me raving about this one travel platform. There are a few more things I need to mention about transiting within China, specifically for the railway. As much as travelling within China can be efficient, it can be overwhelming at times.

First off, don’t—I repeat, don’t—book any travel during big national holidays. That includes Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, to start. You’ll thank me later. You won’t know busy crowds until you try to travel during those times.

Even when it’s not a public holiday, it can still be hectic at the railway stations, especially the popular ones. Aim to get to the station at least half an hour before the train’s planned arrival time. Your ticket will show your train number and platform number, so keep an eye out for it on the digital boards for when the train is ready for boarding.

At least 15 minutes before the boarding time (and once the previous train has already boarded), you can go ahead and start queuing at the gate. It makes it easy to get ahead of the pack and not scramble at the end of the line. Why? Because then you’ll have first pick on where to stow your luggage and have enough time to organize yourself at your seat before the train starts moving.

At the railway gate area, you’ll notice a number of lines forming, each behind an electronic gate machine. All but one of them is dedicated to scanning Chinese ID cards. You’ll want to look for the e-gate that has an attendant, and the machine itself looks different from all the others. It’s got a passport scanner and a facial recognition screen at the top. This one is always at either end of the line of e-gates, at the far left or far right. If there is no such e-gate, just look for the manual one where there is an attendant. Line up here—it’s also the shortest line at the gate as most locals go through the other machines.

Another piece of advice: when you make your way to the platform and await the train to come through, you can find the best approximate spot for you to stand and wait for your car. After all, many trains in China are 8-16 cars long, and the last thing you’d want to do is make your way to the opposite end of where you need to go, with all your luggage in tow.

The digital board with the train schedule outside that I mentioned should tell you how many cars or carriages your train has. Once on the platform, look for the signs on the floor near the edge of the platform. They’ll say that if the train has X number of carriages, this is where the middle of car #Y will be. This will give you a good idea of where to wait on the long platform. But if you have trouble, you can always ask the attendants on the platform by showing your carriage number on your ticket.

After getting yourself on the train, try to find a spot at the ends of the carriage to stow any large suitcases. It can be a little tricky to find space, especially on an already packed train, so if the storage is full, you can try behind the very last row of the carriage as there’s always room there. All other baggage can go in the overhead compartment.

Our last tip is, it’s very common to bring your own food with you on the trains, even though you can still easily get meals and snacks while riding as well. We’ve brought all sorts of things, from freshly made burgers to packaged lunches, but the most common thing that locals carry onboard with them is cup noodles. There’s actually a filtered hot water station between each carriage so you can easily fill up your cup and have a light meal at a low cost while you’re in transit!

3. Accommodations in China

Out of every facet of travel in China, the value you get at accommodations is what surprised us the most. Like, how often can you book a very modern, spacious, clean hotel with great service and comfortable king-size bedding, that has remote controlled lighting and curtains, for only $40 USD a night? Well, in China, you can count on that happening more often that not.

There’s a whole range of accommodation options available, from luxury hotels to budget-friendly stays. But those budget-friendly stays already feel like at least a 3-star experience, and the luxury hotels don’t come with an exuberant price tag—except in cities like Shanghai where prices are similar to other big cities in the world. As an example, the Four Seasons Dalian has a starting nightly rate of $235 USD in the peak of summer! When have you ever seen a Four Seasons at that price point?

Best Qualities of China Accommodations

But as I mentioned, even with affordable stays at boutique hotels and guesthouses, you already get comfort at the highest level, in our humble opinion. Most stays in popular tourist destinations are recently renovated and are done with adequate craftsmanship. The variety of hotels we stayed at had really nice features too, like automatic night lighting under the bed, remote-operated curtains, automatic toilets with bidets, rainwater showers, and all around a clean and fresh set up for our room.

Most—if not all—of the hotels and homestays we stayed at in China provided:

• Disposable in-room slippers, which is a necessity for us. We kept some at the end of the trip as we know that most other countries don’t provide these.
• Many bathroom amenities, including toothbrush kits, vanity kits, shaving kits and more.
• Decent quality shampoo, conditioner and body wash in every shower we had.
• Efficient air-conditioning units, either individually in the rooms, or centrally located.
• Unlimited waters daily, within reason.
• Effective security, but easy passage for food delivery couriers to bring your food directly to your room. Some of the larger hotel chains even had their own service robot to bring whatever you requested, including food delivery, straight to your room! I’ll touch on food delivery in a later section.
• Large and comfortable mattresses, along with two sets of pillows, one firm with memory foam, and one soft with down alternative feathers.
• Free use of laundry facilities, including washer, dryer and detergent. This was huge for us! Even though it’s self-service, it beats having to find an external laundromat, or paying for laundering services. Just make sure you check the dryer filter as many hotel keepers in China aren’t aware that you have to clean these out after every use!
• Free cancellation up until the day of. Yes, I couldn’t believe it either. A lot of stays allow you to cancel your booking until 6pm on the night of your stay. You can also do a partial cancellation upon your arrival, meaning you keep the same reservation but cancel any nights in your booking for which you no longer want to stay. Crazy!

Not to mention, a number of hotels we stayed at gave us free gifts after our stay! All they asked was if we could write a review for them. We got tins of premium teas, fruits, gloves, dried tofu, bags of packaged local specialty pastries, and even free handcrafted coffees from the barista upon our departure! And trust me when I say that coffee in China is not cheap, so this was very much something that left a sweet taste in our mouths (even though coffee leans towards bitter).

Free room upgrades upon check-in were also not uncommon for us. And I don’t think they were showing favouritism towards us or anything. I do believe that service in the hospitality industry in China is rising in quality, and they’d much prefer to put a smile on their clients’ faces instead of nickel-and-diming and suffering in their reviews.

The list goes on and I know I’m missing a thing or two, even if they’re small details that made our stays more convenient or just a little more pleasant. And as I mentioned, the price for what you get is unbeatable. Even in the heart of the main tourist hubs, you’ll find

Things to Look Out for in China Accommodations

There are some downsides too with accommodations in China though. One of the most impeding was the lack of English-speaking staff. Unless you are staying at a larger Western chain in one of the main cities, you’ll likely have to pull up your translator apps in order to communicate with the reception. I’ll be getting into the language barriers later on in this post.

Secondly, the most bothersome concept of accommodations in China is the permissible smoking in rooms. Yup, even in this day and age, smoking is either allowed throughout the indoor spaces of hotels, or is simply not enforced. There is a bit of a culture in which guests are not frowned upon for making a mess of their space, or for affecting the experience of other guests.

On the bright side, as much as I hate the idea of smoking and the residual smell of it, I found that the air circulation in most of our accommodations was good enough to purify the air in our room, though sometimes there was cross-contamination from neighbouring rooms and we had to take matters into our own hands.

How to Book Your Accommodations

Bear with me as I recommend trip.com once more. There’s just truly no better platform for you to book your stays in advance. At least in China, it’s the most recognized platform by accommodations, which is why you’ll find that:

• It’s the cheapest third-party site available.
• It contains the majority of reviews, since most guests book through it.
• It ranks the hotels in the area which can help narrow down your decision.
• It’s highly user-friendly and shows more information, better photos, and included amenities for each stay than other platforms do (probably because it’s prioritized by the accommodations).
• The free cancellation option I mentioned can be utilized right through the app.

We also coincidentally tested a theory when we wanted to book an extra night last minute at the hotel we were currently staying at. We thought it would be cheaper to reserve and pay the hotel directly, thinking trip.com takes a commission. But what happened was the price they gave us was identical to the one we were seeing on the site! This might not be the case for every property, but was comforting to know that we weren’t being charged additionally for the third-party commission.

4. How to Pay for Things in China

You would think that cash would still be king in China, but it is not! Not anymore. In fact, most vendors rarely conduct transactions in cash at all. Although they legally have to accept it, they might not have any change for you. This happened to us once, but luckily we had smaller change and just bought enough to meet the amount of cash we had.

Most places in China now use mobile payments as their primary method. It’s gotten to the point where even elderly people asking for money on the street have their own QR code that you can scan and send money directly to!

Mobile Payments: WeChat Pay & AliPay

There are two main apps you’ll want to download and set up your account for before arriving in China: WeChat Pay and AliPay. The set up is straight forward and will require identity verification, which you’ll need your passport for. But once you have it rolling and have linked your bank cards in your app wallets, they will be a lot of use to you when touring the country.

Whether you’re ordering food, buying fruits at the local market, paying your taxi driver, purchasing tickets for attractions or buying souvenirs, you’ll want to have these apps a swipe and touch away. And great news is that, so long as the payment is under a certain threshold (currently under ¥200), the apps don’t charge any additional fees!

AliPay is the primary option for foreigners. Not only because of its payment feature, but because it’s the most useful app for all things travel-related in China. There are sub-apps within AliPay that connect you to streams like: public transportation cards, ride-hailing, translation, eSIM’s, booking flights, trains and hotels through trip.com and even scanning restaurant menu QR codes, allowing you to order directly through the app to your table.

WeChat also has a few of these features, but AliPay has it all. The one thing that WeChat Pay has is the fact that you can link American Express cards, whereas AliPay only accepts Visa and MasterCard. Another thing to note is that WeChat Pay is more accepted amongst vendors.

This does, however, come with a caveat. Small vendors that use WeChat Pay only are usually internally labelled as “individuals” and not as “businesses”. This means that sending them payment is like sending them a gift, which unfortunately can’t be done using a linked credit or debit card. Payment needs to originate from a WeChat balance, which is hard—but not impossible—for non-Chinese residents.

We managed to set up a WeChat balance thanks to Jason’s relatives who generously sent us some funds for our time in China. You might be able to sweet talk a nice person you come across, say a host a your homestay, who’d be willing to take cash in exchange for sending you a WeChat balance. If you do, give them a little tip as commission!

Carry Cash for Emergencies

If your mobile payment methods fail you and you aren’t able to pay a vendor for whatever reason, it’s always a good rule to have cash on hand. And preferably, small bills if you can get your hands on some. As I mentioned before, not many small vendors will have change for you!

You can either exchange money or withdraw from an ATM. Avoid exchanging money at the airports as the commission and rates are never favourable. You can typically find reputable foreign exchange stores in malls or visit bank branches like Bank of China or ICBC to get swap your currency for Chinese yuan.

Withdrawing money is also easy in China, but may come with an additional ATM fee of ¥20-30 per withdrawal. Some of the international banks in China, like HSBC, Citibank and Scotiabank, offer foreign customers ATM fee-free withdrawals. Kind of wish I got the Scotiabank Passport Visa now!

5. Getting Around at Each Destination and Navigating Your Way

I talked about how to get around from region to region, city to city, while in China. But what about how you get around within the cities or countrysides you’re exploring?

City Public Transportation

When in the cities, you’ll find that public transportation is actually very easy to use, very cheap and efficient. We rode the public buses and subway in every large city we travelled to during this trip, including Dalian, Shanghai and Chongqing. Even in the small town of Diqing (or Shangri-La), we opted to take the bus line and it was just as easy to ride and pay for as any major Chinese city.

The cost of public transportation is the lowest I’ve ever seen. I guess there are perks to having it be a public sector under one government entity, instead of a privatized service, as is the case in Thailand and other countries.

The prices are capped and you might not believe me when I tell you that the efficient and clean bus service was as low as ¥0.90-1.00 (literally 12-14¢) in Dalian and Shanghai. The toll we paid for the metro in Chongqing and Shanghai was only ¥2-3 (a whopping 40¢ maximum) per ride.

The rates are inconceivably cheap and yet China has a fully functioning public transit system, that operates on a timely manner, has properly maintained stations and vehicles, paid attendants and a super easy-to-use contactless payment method that can be consistently used throughout the country.

Yes, you heard me. Contactless tap-and-go is how you can pay your way throughout the metropolises of China. Here’s the second reason you’ll want to download AliPay. In the app, there’s a public transportation tab in which you can create your own metro and bus QR codes for most cities and major districts in China. These codes are scannable on every bus at every subway station gate.

You can create your QR codes within seconds and switch between the bus and metro codes easily to use for whichever mode of transport you’re using. Once your pull up your QR code and scan it on the bus (or scan out at your exit station if taking the LRT), your default card on AliPay will be charged for the ride. Doesn’t get much more efficient than this!

Ride-Hailing App: Didi

Like Uber or Grab, Didi (China’s ride-sharing app) can make your life so much easier when you need to go directly from point A to point B. Whether it be a transfer from the airport or railway station to your accommodation, a private inter-city car ride, or an early morning taxi into one of China’s most incredible national parks, you can hail a Didi for pretty much any journey at any time of the day.

Along with accommodations, Didi comes out to be the cheapest service when travelling in China. It still shocks me to know that our 1-hour Didi ride from Yangshuo to Xingping only cost us ¥55, which is $7.50 USD! How do the drivers make a sustainable income, I have no idea.

Most Didi drivers drive electric vehicles, so perhaps this takes off a big expense from their overhead. But electric vehicles, especially the BYD cars, don’t come cheap. It is cool to be able to ride in fully electric cars though, versus a gas guzzler, especially if you get caught in traffic. Keep this in mind, though, when you book Didi rides over longer distances. We had one driver accept a ride request from us only to find out he needed to charge his car, so we waited at a charging station for about 15 minutes on our way to Longji Rice Terraces!

When booking your Didi rides you can go directly on the Didi app but it’s much more ideal to ride-hail a Didi through AliPay. Again, what a versatile app! Why use AliPay instead of Didi directly, you ask? Because AliPay has a built-in translator. In the case where your driver needs to send you a message, you’ll be able to read it and reply in your language, which would be translated on their end as well.

Taking a Didi comes at a cheaper price than most taxis, whether they have a fixed distance rate or metered rate. You don’t have to worry about showing directions or sharing an address with your Didi driver either, whereas with a taxi driver you would. But sometimes, taxis might be your only option in the area, or more convenient for you to go with.

A quick tip: if you do need to take a taxi, have a local first write down the desired address in Chinese so that you can share it with your driver.

Renting Electric Scooters

China is one of the few countries that does not recognize the International Driving Permit (IDP) or foreign driver’s licenses. Only Chinese residents can apply for a Chinese driver’s license. So if you were hoping to rent a car while in China, unfortunately that won’t be possible to do so legally.

You can of course hire a driver, but if you really wanted to hit the road and explore China on your own wheels, there are exceptions. You can either rent a gas moped with an engine smaller than 50cc, or rent an electric-powered moped or e-bike. This is exactly what we did when we were exploring the countryside of Yangshuo and it was fun and easy to ride around! There are also mopeds with sidecars available, which many families enjoy taking on the road as it can feel safer to maneuver.

You don’t need a license to operate an e-scooter, but you will need to wear your helmet at all times. Since you’d still be sharing the road with other vehicles, it’s important to ensure you’re covered with travel medical insurance! We recommend SafetyWing and it’s been a lifesaver for both of us. Our Nomad Insurance policy got me out of shelling out $5,000 USD when I got altitude sickness in Bolivia and Peru. Please take it from my close call and get yourself insured!

Navigating Your Way Around

Navigating in China can be a bit of a puzzle, especially since Google Maps doesn’t work there due to governmental restrictions. If you’re an iPhone user, you’re in luck! Apple Maps is a solid alternative. It provides reliable navigation and even offers public transit directions and schedules.

However, for the most accurate and up-to-date information, especially in rapidly changing urban areas, consider downloading a local Chinese map app. Baidu Maps and Amap (also known as Gaode Maps) are two of the most popular options. These apps offer comprehensive details, including real-time traffic updates and the latest public transportation routes. While they are primarily in Chinese and will require some external translation to finesse, their superior accuracy can be a significant advantage.

Some travellers have found that, with a bit of practice, these apps become manageable even without strong Chinese language skills. Plus, using local apps can enhance your travel experience by providing insights that international apps might miss, including reviews and ratings for locations you want to visit.

So, while Apple Maps can get you started, having a Chinese map app in your toolkit can make your journey smoother and more enriching.

6. Overcoming the Language Barrier

China is one of a few countries in which English is the least spoken or understood. It can be difficult for non-Chinese speaking visitors to navigate their journey through China, particularly when the written language is just as foreign to you as it is spoken.

As difficult as it may be to communicate in China when most people you will encounter don’t speak any English, the tools that you can have at your disposal will make your interactions much more effective than they’d be without.

Translation Apps

If you already have and use Google Translate, you’re on the right track. We used it extensively in China, especially for reading physical menus and signs, as well as translating any written messages from vendors on WeChat. The catch is that Google apps don’t work in China unless you have a VPN, which I’ll get into in the next section. And if you’ve ever used a VPN, you’ll know that your loading speeds slow down.

So long as your VPN is working well, Google Translate should work fine for written translations. For immediate and live audio translations, you’ll find that Baidu Translate is your best bet. Baidu is the Chinese equivalent of Google, which means it’s thankfully not banned in the country, and you don’t need a working VPN to use it.

It seems to be the main app that most Chinese locals use when communicating face-to-face with non-Mandarin speaking foreigners, although there are others on the market as well like Papago.

If you have an iPhone, you can also try out the built-in translator that you can add to your control centre. I find it to be a little bit slow or inaccurate sometimes, but it does make it convenient to have as a main tab in your phone and just one down swipe away from your home screen. A little less fumbling makes a difference when you’re trying to quickly communicate with a stranger!

Having AI translators in your hand are seriously so handy (no pun intended). But it goes a long way to learn a few key and common phrases that you’ll frequently use during your China trip. When Jason’s not around to speak on my behalf, I’ll often resort to these few phrases, among others:

• “Hello” = “??” (n?h?o)
• “Thank you” = “??” (xièxiè)
• “Can you help me?” = “??????” (k?y? b?ng w? ma)
• “How much is this?” = “?????” (zhè shì du?sh?o qián) or “???” (du?sh?o qián) for short
• “Where is the bathroom?”= “??????” (x?sh?uji?n zài n? l?)
• “Not spicy” = “??” (bù là) or “mildly spicy” = “??” (w?i là)

That last one was surprisingly used much more than I had expected!

The phonetics that I’ve written beside the Chinese characters are called pinyin. They’re the romanized spelling of transliterating Chinese characters, and provide a visual to the pronunciation and tones for people learning Chinese. But you’ll soon notice that pinyin is not read the same way as you would anglocized words. For example the ‘q’ in “qian” is said like a ‘t’, ‘j’ is used for a hard ‘z’ sound and ‘x’ is always read as an ‘s’ sound. The accents on the pinyin script also note the tones of each word.

If you want to learn how to say specific phrases like the ones I’ve written with the right pronunciation, but don’t know yet how to read the pinyin, go ahead and use the “listen” function in your translator apps to get a good bearing on how they’re said. Or what you say might go over people’s heads! It’s not a bad idea to ask your local guides for help as well.

7. Staying Connected

As much as it would be nice to shut off our smartphones and enjoy our travels disconnected, the reality is that they’re probably the greatest tool we have in our pockets, particularly in China. The last three sections detailed three main reasons why you’ll want your mobile on you daily when travelling in China., and why you’ll need consistent internet connection.

From paying for things to getting on public transit or booking a car ride to communicating with locals, a good data connection is a must. WiFi was very reliable at all our accommodations throughout our six weeks in the country. But you’re not going to have a WiFi network every step of the way! Getting a data plan will save you a ton of hassle. And what’s great is that they’re very inexpensive to purchase!

eSIM and Physical SIM Options

We’ve travelled to over 40 countries now and the most reliable eSIM provider that we could count on has been Airalo. Its interface is user-friendly, installation instructions are simple and our eSIM’s with them have given us access to the broader range and higher speed networks.

If you want to get an eSIM for convenience, or simply can’t get your hands on a physical SIM card, there are some decent options for Chinacom eSIM’s, ranging from 3 to 30 days at different price points and data amounts.

With that said, tourist eSIM’s in China are going to be more expensive and not as flexible as the physical SIM options. If you’re willing to put in a little bit of time to get a physical one, I would encourage it. Not only because they’re much more affordable and give crazy amounts of data, but because a Chinese phone number can come in handy.

You can get a physical SIM upon landing at the airport, or you can wait until you get in town and visit a nearby phone plan provider store. Typically it is cheaper to do it directly with the store. China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom are the bigger providers, and can get you sorted within a short time and for such a low cost. 

Our experience was a little bit different as we got our SIM cards through Jason’s aunt who purchased them for us from China Broadnet. The price we paid was 40 per card, for 30 days and for like 300 GB of data – basically unlimited. You can’t beat that price anywhere else in the world! Auntie may have gotten favourable rates and data coverage, but this is the kind of price you can more or less expect to be paying. All you need to do is bring your passport for registration and you should be on your way to having the cheapest SIM card you’ve ever had during your travels.

Mobile Security & VPN’s

it’s no secret that many apps and sites that we use daily in other countries are banned or refuse to operate in China. The Chinese government’s censorship practices and internet regulations, in which users have little privacy and control over what data is collected and what content they are shown, are why you wouldn’t be able to access Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and TikTok while in China.

It’s known as The Great Firewall of China. How ironic that The Great Wall of China is one of the top reasons for which international visitors are drawn to step foot in the country, and the firewall is one of the greatest deterrents. Whether we like it or not, this is one of the tougher realities of visiting a communist country like China.

Even though it is, we want to make sure we can maintain a suitable level of privacy and data security. That’s where VPN’s (virtual private networks) come in. VPN’s help protect your online privacy and security by creating an encrypted connection between your device and the internet. On top of encrypting your data, they can hide your IP address, improve security on public WiFi networks like airports and cafes, and bypass geo-restrictions.

The latter is what you can benefit from the most when getting online while in China. In order to access blocked websites, a VPN can make it look as if you’re browsing from a different region, helping you bypass the country’s restrictions. When using VPN’s, your Internet speed may slow down. But the good news is that Internet is really fast in China that, even if you keep your VPN connected the entire time, you’ll barely notice a blip.

As much as we are avid users of NordVPN and SurfShark, two of the biggest VPN providers out there, they unfortunately won’t be able to get past the firewall. Simply for the fact that they are among the largest providers on the market. Only some of the little guys can get through as they haven’t yet been detected and have some found some cracks in the wall.

You can try out some of the free VPN apps for mobile, including VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy and Proton VPN. But the most reliable are going to be paid VPN’s. Additionally, you’ll want to make sure you download and set up your account before arriving in China, as once you’re there, it’ll be nearly impossible to get yourself on a working VPN.

The most dependable one we used throughout our six-week trip was LetsVPN. It was reasonably priced and gave a 7-day free trial for you to test it out. Mullvad VPN was our backup, but didn’t quite match up to Lets. The one downside is that LetsVPN only permits a maximum of two devices, whereas Mullvad allows five. So we did have to pay double to use Lets as we needed to connect both our phones and our laptops.

Regardless of the cost, it was worth the small monthly subscription to make sure we could still access all our frequently used social media and video content apps, and keep up with our Netflix shows and movies!

8. What’s It Like Eating in China

First off, I want to point out that most Chinese cuisine is served family style and less so on individual servings, although it is for noodle soup bowls. Between the two of us, we would often order a protein dish, a vegetable dish and a serving of rice or different carb like steamed buns, depending on the region we were in.

What I love about Chinese food is that it is very vegetable forward, so we got our veggie intake pretty much every breakfast, lunch and dinner. But I also did find that there wasn’t as much diversity in flavour profiles across China, even though that wasn’t our thinking prior to exploring the country. Cuisine and cooking styles are actually relatively consistent from East to West, North to South, although with fine variations.

This made us crave other cuisines quickly, but typically, even in large tourist destinations, all you’ll see in terms of different foods is Pizza Hut and KFC. But we’ll take what we can get.

When visiting local restaurants, ordering can seem overwhelming. There can be a number of dish options, sometimes with photo depictions, but all written in Chinese. This is where your translator apps will prove useful, if it’s a physical menu. A lot of the dishes have specific titles attributed to them that may be poorly translated, so you’ll have to take your best guess and sometimes it isn’t exactly what you had expected or hoped for.

Try to be open to taking risks with the food, it’s honestly part of the Chinese experience. And after each try, you’ll learn what you like and don’t like. What you wouldn’t order again and what might be your new favourite Chinese specialty.

A quick tip when reading the costs on the menu, make sure you check to see if the price is per serving, or per ? “j?n“, which is the common Chinese weight unit equal to 500g. The bill can accumulate quickly when ordering by the weight so keep tabs on that when looking at the dish prices!

If you visit a chain restaurant, or one more digitally inclined, you might come across QR code menus on the table, which you can scan either in AliPay or WeChat (not your camera app). What I love about this feature is that they often show an accurate image of each dish, and you can use the translate feature to read it all in English. When you’re ready, you can order and pay directly through the app as well!

Sometimes you might get tired of eating out all the time, especially with the same offerings at every restaurant in your vicinity. We’ve had great luck in trying different foods for much cheaper using the food delivery app, Meituan. This is where having a Chinese phone number comes to be good use. You’ll need one to register on the app, and can use your temporary physical SIM card phone number to do so.

It took some back and forth to translate the options on the app, but we found some amazing value on there and had great Asian fusion dishes for cheap delivered straight to our hotel room door when we got lazy and wanted a change of pace!

9. Cultural Differences to Be Aware Of

There were a number of cultural norms in China that tested our adaptability and easygoingness more than anywhere else we’ve visited across the globe. Despite having been here twice before, I still get bothered by these things. Even Jason, who was born there, has a few things that make him unnerved.

Despite this, we have to constantly remind ourselves that we are not at home but in a foreign country. As much as we want things to operate based on what we think is correct or better, it is not our culture that we are surrounded by. So before I get into some cultural differences, I do want to preface this section by saying: give the country and its people some grace before making a judgment.

Some of the points I want to make are related to infrastructure that the Chinese are used to or prefer, e.g. squat toilets and indoor smoking.

I’m not a fan of squat toilets because I find them more unsanitary due to high splashing and fall risks, but in China they are considered more hygienic due to there being no skin contact what with the lack of a toilet seat. Be prepared to see more squat toilets than seated toilets in public places, as well as an absence of toilet paper provided. A quick tip is to keep tissues with you at all times as many public washrooms don’t provide any.

The smoking culture is pretty intense in China and you smell it everywhere. Most people aren’t aware, or just don’t care, about the effects of secondhand smoke, and there’s been very little change in reducing smoking addictions amongst the population. Institutions don’t restrict smoking on premises and indoor spaces, and you’ll likely be subject to another person’s smoking habits while minding your business in your own hotel room, or simply walking outside where you’d hope to get some fresh air.

Face masks are good to have to protect yourself from the unwanted effects of secondhand smoke, but if someone’s smoking is bothering you, don’t be afraid to speak up. Many people will be happy to oblige and would appreciate your attempt to ask it politely in Chinese.

The noise pollution and general loudness are another thing to get used to. Constant honking on the road, loud people in the streets, on trains and in enclosed spaces are a norm in China. It’s the way many of them communicate and they don’t consider it to be rude, much to the contrary of what it’s like in Japan.

It is often the older generations that speak in high volumes, whether they’re on speaker phone on a quiet train or just talking to their dozen friends who are travelling with them. Aunties and uncles love to say it with their chest. Bring yourself a pair of noise cancelling headphones for these journeys to help tune out the noise and download some offline movies and music playlists to enjoy it better.

What you don’t often have to worry about is loudness during the night, as most Chinese don’t party late into the night. We found that all of our stays had great soundproof windows and doors to the outside, so wearing our ear plugs while sleeping never crossed our minds.

One thing to keep in mind when you visit a country made up of 1.4 billion people is the lack of personal space in crowded areas. In Canada, we are so used to having a ton of space. I mean, we’re only 40 million people in the second largest country on the planet! It’s considered extremely rude to enter someone’s personal bubble, while in China, there is no such thing.

As much as it seems rude to us to have someone breathing inches away from your neck, it might not occur to them that what they’re doing is anything but normal. If it bothers you, you can ask them to move a bit and give you space.

When queuing though, you’ll need to stand your ground and not be pushed over. Many folks will try to push past you and cut you in line. They’ll even resort to shoving and they know what they’re doing is wrong and self-seeking. Keep moving with the flow of the queue and try not to let yourself get too irritated by this.

You’ll have to remember that most of these folks endured terrible times not too many decades ago, living through a period of starvation and loss. A mentality of “every man or woman for him/herself” definitely arose, and the behaviour comes out in crowded places. There’s often a lack of waiting your turn or letting people off before you get on in China, especially in transportation hubs, so stand firm in your place in line and speak up if you need to.

Lastly, if you look atypically different (like you have dark skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, African hair, tall height, etc.), strangers will stare or want to take photos of you or with you—sometimes without your permission, but more often than not, they’re polite enough to ask. If they do, consider yourself a celebrity and don’t take it too to heart if people want to have their picture taken with you!

Okay, I talked extensively about the bad and the ugly, but I want to finish off with the good. As much as some of these cultural norms and encounters might rub us the wrong way, Chinese people are some of the most hardworking and helpful people we’ve ever met. The kind that go out of their way to give you the help you need without asking for any compensation. The kind that treats you like family instead of offering surface-level politeness.

They may be a little rough around the edges, but keeping face and upholding self-respect and honour are incredibly important to the Chinese culture. In service and hospitality, you’ll find that people will make arrangements to help out foreign tourists, even when they know they get nothing in return. You’ll also never see them with their hand out asking for a tip after they sort things out for you, as tipping culture is nonexistent in China anyway. But if you can offer thanks to them in any way, they’ll show their gratitude.

I hope that these encounters and people will outshine any poor interactions and experiences you may have in China.

10. When Is the Best Time to Visit China?

The short answer? Now! With China’s visa-free agreement in place for many countries, there’s never been a better time to explore this vast and diverse country.

But when it comes to seasons, China truly offers something special year-round. Given its sheer size, you can always find an ideal spot to visit no matter the time of year.

That said, our personal favourite season to visit China is the fall, shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival. During our trip, we experienced the best of multiple regions before winter set in.

We enjoyed the cooler weather in Shanghai, breathtaking autumn colours and cloud inversions in Huangshan, and sunny days in Zhangjiajie. The golden rice terraces in Longji were in their prime right before harvesting, and Guilin in mid-October gifted us with gorgeous sunsets and sunrises over the karst mountains of Yangshuo and Xingping. By November, we witnessed the perfectly snow-dusted 13 peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and avoided the true peak season where cable car lineups are never-ending.

Of course, this was just a small glimpse of what China has to offer, but it highlighted how incredible it is to visit during the shoulder season. Each destination in China has its own optimal time to visit, whether it’s cherry blossoms in spring, vibrant summer festivals, or winter wonderlands in the north. Planning your trip around the best season for each location will ensure you experience China at its finest.

Conclusion

• Recap of key tips to ensure a memorable trip to China.
• Encourage readers to embrace the adventure and enjoy the experience.