Authors: Ahmet Polat, Arian Kasmaee Mirmiran, Zhi Jiang Wong, Wassim Jaoui, Nicolás Bruna Felsch, Dauren Sakenov
This guide is relevant for all of you who want to travel in China. I am assuming that you live in the “west block” reading this blog post in English, that is, you will want to use WhatsApp to tell your mom that you are doing okay, and Instagram to post the delicious noodles that you are eating. So the language is adapted to that perspective of the world. So let’s begin.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
The MUSTS before you arrive in China
There are things that you will either regret very badly not having done back in your homeland, or that you cannot possibly do in China, meaning it’s too late. China is a country where so many crucial and day-to-day things are done online, and more importantly, within the Chinese intranet. This means that most of the Chinese people are completely oblivious to so many apps and systems that you know in your hometown like Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Google Maps, Pinterest, Booking.com, or even TikTok. They have their own national apps for everything. And without them, you can’t really survive in China. So the network blockage on western apps when you are in China is the reason why you will need a VPN to use them there.
eSIM
You need an eSIM for internet. Some eSIM providers will have VPN built in, for example Yesim or Holafly, which we used during our trip. Sending and receiving media on WhatsApp did not work though (with Yesim), so for that purpose, I had to turn on the actual VPN.
VPN
You can do your own research on what VPN app is the best or fastest in China. I used Surfshark and it worked okay. Although sometimes veery slow, but I don’t have the comparison to other providers.
You will need WeChat for exchanging contacts with the locals you meet. Install the WeChat app on your mobile phone and create your account. It will require an SMS verification, and this does not work inside China, which is the reason why you must do it before arriving in China. I did not do this before my arrival in China, so unfortunately I could not set it up. WeChat has a lot of other functionalities than just texting, but I was fine without it, although some shops and restaurants only accept WeChat and no AliPay, so it is definitely a very important nice to have.
AliPay
AliPay is very crucial because otherwise you will not be able to pay for almost anything. Install the AliPay app on your mobile phone, create your account and connect your homeland bank account in the app.
AMaps
It’s the Google Maps and Uber app of China, install it. Also, create an account to be able to order taxis. Like on WeChat, you will have to verify an SMS code.
Trip
Yes, the trip.com that you might know already. That is the app you will use to book accommodation. However, not every accommodation available to Chinese locals will be listed on the Trip app. Which leads us to the next app.
CTrip (optional)
I was told that some hotels can only be booked via CTrip and not Trip. I could not verify this because the CTrip app is in Chinese. If you don’t understand Chinese, skip this app, you will do just well with only Trip.
Deepseek
Chatgpt will require VPN and is also not as knowledgeable about China-related topics as Deepseek. Highly recommended.
Power Bank
You might want to leave yours at home and buy one from China. See “(Domestic) Flying” for why.
Arriving in China
SKIP TO 🚩 IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TO TURKEY WITH YOUR CURRENT PASSPORT OR ARE NOT “ETHNICALLY TURKISH”
The following information will come very surprising: if you have been to Türkiye, or are “ethnically Turkish”, they will explicitly interrogate you during passport control. In my case, I handed (only) my German passport to the passport control officer, and the first question I received was: “What is your ethnicity?”. I answered: “Turkish”. Which led to me being taken to a separate room with two other Chinese officers who interrogated me for around 1,5 hours. They asked me absurd questions, translated the book that I was reading on my Kindle, checked my WhatsApp messages, YouTube history, browser history and all my photos. The same thing happened to my friend who has a German passport and his birthplace in Iran. Also, as I was standing in the line, I witnessed three different Kazakh-Russian families being ruthlessly questioned regarding their Antalya stamps.
➡️🚩 Before passport control, I recommend deleting all apps that you don’t want some Chinese officials to look at, e.g. Instagram and X. Also log out from as many apps as possible, such as YouTube.
In China
Paying
When paying with AliPay, the app will charge you an international processing fee of 3% if the amount is over 200¥, so kindly ask them to split it into parts of 200¥.
Ordering Taxi
Use AMaps. It’s incredibly cheap. This should always be your first option instead of public transport if you travel as a group because of how amazingly cheap it is. Look at the screenshot as an example: a taxi ride in Xi’an for over 10km will cost you between (17-20.3¥) 2.18-2.60€.
There is also DiDi, but I never needed it or used it so I can’t tell you much about the comparison.
Taking the Train
Use Trip to book. Buy some instant noodles if you like them and if you think you will get hungry on the train. Because trains have potable boiling water taps. Seats are reserved Booking a couple days in advance is recommended because otherwise you probably will not get a reserved seat. Which means that you are basically expected to travel standing or sitting somewhere in the hallway between the wagons.
(Domestic) Flying
Use Trip/Ctrip. Ctrip is around 0-10% percent cheaper according to our experience. Very important: if you have a power bank that has a CE marking on it and not CCC, they won’t let you fly with it.
Booking Accomodation
Use Trip/Ctrip. If you use Ctrip, do not forget to filter out the hotels that do not have the license they need to be allowed to host foreign tourists. Ctrip is around 0-10% percent cheaper according to our experience.
Booking Events
Again Trip/Ctrip. Here, Ctrip is very often way cheaper than Trip, e.g. 60% cheaper.
The App Names
Chinese people have different names for their own apps as well. AliPay is “zhī fù bǎo”, WeChat is “Wēixìn”, Ctrip is “Xiecheng”.
Getting a sim as a foreigner
This is optional. The added value is that you can pay using WeChat. WeChat needs a Chinese bank account connection, and to create a Chinese bank account, you need a Chinese sim. You can go to China Mobile with your passport. It will take around half an hour. Our friend paid 38€ and it came with 80 Gb internet for the whole month.
Conclusion
Feel free to reach out to us in case any information provided is wrong or unclear.
🚧 We are hoping to extend this guide with any relevant information that comes our way!
So…