Visas
Ordinary passport holders of many countries can enter mainland China without a visa for up to 30 days, including most European countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada. Travellers from 57 countries, the United States among them, can stay up to 240 hours without a visa when transiting China to a third country. A US passport holder visiting China only for tourism needs a visa. Chinese passport holders, and residents of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau with their travel permits, do not need visas. Details: China Visas and Entry.
Arrival
Passports generally need at least six months’ validity. Foreign visitors usually fill in an arrival card (at some ports it can be completed online or at a machine in advance) and have fingerprints and a photo taken. Meat, fruit and other animal and plant products are generally not allowed in.
Paying
In mainland Chinese cities almost everyday payment is by phone, with Alipay and WeChat Pay. Both now accept foreign Visa, Mastercard and other cards, verified with a passport, with no need for a Chinese bank account; the apps can be installed and the card linked before departure. Small payments are usually free; larger ones may carry a small service fee, and the card issuer may add a foreign transaction fee.
Large hotels, airports and department stores generally take international cards, but small restaurants, shops and taxis mostly take only phone payment or cash. Money can be exchanged at airports and major banks, and most bank ATMs accept foreign cards.
Phone and internet
Chinese SIM cards are sold at airports (registered with a passport); eSIMs that work in China can be bought before departure, or a home SIM can be used on international roaming. Some foreign websites and apps (Google services, for example) do not work normally in mainland China; roaming on a foreign SIM is generally not affected. Most hotels and cafés have Wi-Fi, often with a text-message code to log in.
Flights
International flights mostly arrive in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an and other large cities, with connections onward. The domestic network is dense; tickets are sold on airline websites and booking sites and apps, registered with a passport. Security on domestic flights is strict: power banks must be carried in hand luggage, not checked, and must show their capacity clearly.
High-speed rail and trains
China’s high-speed rail network covers the whole country; Beijing to Shanghai takes about four and a half hours, and between large cities the train is often easier than flying. Tickets are sold on the official China Railway 12306 website (www.12306.cn) and app, which have English versions and take passport registration, and on booking sites. Tickets are electronic and in the passenger’s name: the passport is scanned at the gate or checked at a staffed lane, with no paper ticket to collect.
Large stations have security checks, and queues are long in peak season. Stations are big, and a city often has several (Beijing, Beijing South, Beijing West…); the ticket names the station. Tickets usually go on sale 15 days ahead and are very hard to get around the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day.
Getting around cities
Large cities have metros, with signs and announcements usually also in English; entry is by a transit code in Alipay or WeChat, or by single-journey ticket. Taxis can be hailed on the street or booked with apps such as DiDi, which has an English interface and takes foreign cards. Most drivers do not speak English; showing the destination’s Chinese name is easiest.
Map apps
In mainland China, Google Maps is incomplete and its positions are offset. Amap (Gaode) and Baidu Maps are the most detailed, with bus, metro and walking routes; Amap has an English interface. Apple Maps on the iPhone uses Amap’s data in China and also works well.
Hotels
Hotels register foreign guests’ passports at check-in. Most hotels can take foreign guests; a few small guesthouses and homestays cannot, and booking sites usually say whether foreign guests are accepted.
Tickets and reservations
Many popular sights and museums require advance reservation in the visitor’s name, some several days ahead, and places are tight in peak season — the Palace Museum and the National Museum, for example. Foreign visitors generally book with a passport and show it at the gate. Some reservations can only be made in the site’s WeChat mini-program.
Public holidays
The Spring Festival (late January to mid-February, varying each year), May Day (about five days from 1 May) and National Day (about seven days from 1 October) are the three long holidays, when sights, trains and hotels are extremely crowded and prices high. Qingming (early April), the Dragon Boat Festival (late May to June) and Mid-Autumn (September to early October) each give a short holiday of about three days, when places within reach of the cities are crowded too.
Basics
- Currency: renminbi (yuan).
- Time: all of China uses Beijing time, UTC+8, with no daylight saving.
- Electricity: 220 V; sockets mostly take two flat pins and three angled flat pins, and many also take two round pins.
- Emergency numbers: police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120.
- Tap water is not for drinking; hotels usually provide bottled or boiled water.
- Tipping is not usual in restaurants.
Official websites
- Visas and visa-free lists: Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular service, cs.mfa.gov.cn
- Transit visa-free entry and entry procedures: National Immigration Administration, en.nia.gov.cn
- Train tickets: China Railway 12306, www.12306.cn