Guides
China travel guides
Start with the essentials, then open the guide that matches the problem in front of you: payments, internet, trains, hotels, food, language, or route planning.
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Search by situation instead of guessing a category. The finder ranks current guides and their published FAQs, then opens the strongest grounded match.
15 grounded matches available
Start Here
China Pre-Departure Checklist and First 24-Hour Backup Plan
Set up the trip before you fly, then carry one offline arrival card for the moment mobile data, payment, maps, or a hotel booking fails.
Updated July 2026
Money & Payments
Alipay & WeChat Pay With a Foreign Card: Full Setup Guide (2026)
Step-by-step setup of Alipay and WeChat Pay with an international Visa, Mastercard, or Amex - fees, limits, what foreign cards still can't do, and where you genuinely need cash.
Updated July 2026
Internet & Apps
Internet in China: Verify Your eSIM, Roaming, Wi-Fi & App Access
A device-specific China connectivity plan — verify how an eSIM routes traffic, preserve your home number, prepare Android or iPhone correctly, and recover when data or a required app fails.
Updated July 2026
Visas & Entry
China Visa-Free Entry & 240-Hour Transit in 2026: Who Qualifies
Which passports can enter China without a visa in 2026, how the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit works for Americans, Brits, and Canadians, and the rules that trip people up.
Updated July 2026
Transport
China's High-Speed Trains: Booking on 12306 or Trip.com as a Foreigner
How to book Chinese high-speed rail with a foreign passport — 12306 vs Trip.com, seat classes explained, passport gates at stations, and the timing rules that matter.
Updated July 2026
Planning
China Attraction Tickets: Passport Booking, Release Windows & Sold-Out Recovery
A practical system for booking China attractions with a foreign passport — how to identify the right ticket product, official channel, entrance, release window, and honest fallback.
Updated July 2026
Transport
China Maps, Didi, and Metro: Get the Right Pin, Exit, and Pickup
A provider-aware workflow for turning an English travel tip into the correct Chinese POI, then reaching it by AMap, Didi, metro, or a staffed fallback.
Updated July 2026
Language
China Without Chinese: Offline Translation, Camera Menus & Address Cards
A task-by-task language plan for China — set up offline translation, read menus and phone screens, preserve official Chinese place names, and know when an app is not safe enough.
Updated July 2026
Accommodation
Hotels in China for Foreigners: Who Accepts You, Registration & Booking
Why some Chinese hotels turn away foreign guests, how police registration works, which booking platforms to trust, and how to avoid the midnight 'we can't host foreigners' surprise.
Updated July 2026
Food
Ordering Food in China: QR Menus, Dietary Cards & Delivery Recovery
A practical China restaurant workflow — decode QR menus, keep food videos tied to the right branch, communicate vegetarian or allergy needs, and recover when payment or delivery fails.
Updated July 2026
Planning
A First-Timer's 7-Day China Itinerary: Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai
A realistic one-week route through Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai with the logistics built in — which tickets to book when, train times, neighborhood choices, and where first-timers lose half a day.
Updated July 2026
Food
China Street Food & Night Markets: City Routes, Stall Evidence & Safer Ordering
Turn a street-food clip into the right Chinese market, street, or stall — with city-specific routes, bilingual map identities, ordering recovery, and food-safety boundaries.
Updated July 2026
Food
Tea in China: Teahouse Sessions, Tea-Country Routes & Buying Without Guesswork
Choose the right tea experience in Chengdu, Hangzhou, or Beijing; resolve clips to bilingual places; confirm every charge before brewing; and buy tea with a return-country plan.
Updated July 2026
Places
China Neighborhood Walks: Public Routes, Residential Boundaries & Reliable Exits
Turn a hutong, longtang, park, or neighborhood video into a bounded public walk in Beijing, Shanghai, or Chengdu—with bilingual anchors, exit plans, mobility notes, and resident-first photography rules.
Updated July 2026
Authentic China
China Festivals & Nightlife: Verify the Date, Event Zone, Ticket and Last Ride
Turn a festival or local-experience video into an executable plan: verify the current Gregorian date, operator, event zone, ticket, entrance, closing change, last transport, price boundary, and safe exit.
Updated July 2026
Guide finder
Which guide should I open first?
If you have not booked flights, start with visas, payments, phone setup, and the pre-departure checklist. Those decisions are hardest to repair after landing.
If your route is already set, open the train, hotel, food, and city-transport guides. They help turn a saved place into a day that works on the ground.
If you are collecting recommendations from friends or social posts, use Save Places first, then return here for the guide that explains the practical context behind each pin.
Later guide pages are still part of the core planning flow. They cover timing, local experiences, tea houses, neighborhood wandering, food safety, and other decisions that make a low-cost trip feel less generic.
Use the cards as a checklist instead of reading everything in order. Open the guide that matches today's booking or map decision, then come back when the next part of the route needs context.
Every guide is written to support quick lookup: a direct answer, practical caveats, and links back to related places or tools when the advice should become a saved pin.