Has anyone been to China recently?

[Wigeon]

Have had a search of past threads but not much on travelling to China. Has anyone been on holiday there? DD is going to be doing a gap year TEFL placement there for a few months and we are thinking of going over the UK Christmas holidays and doing the usual tourists things for first time visitors with DD.

Has anyone been? Any tips? I know we'd need Alipay and WeChat. I've been reading up about the great firewall and there seems to be varied advice about using a VPN - it seems to be illegal but then I keep reading about tourists just all use one anyway. Not sure if that would be more problematic for DD as she'll be there for an extended time and therefore maybe under more scrutiny, than for us as just temporary tourists.

Feels like a lot to figure out so let me know what you wish you'd known before you went!

Not recently but - yes I used a vpn as otherwise no comms with back home at all,

I went to Shanghai which is pretty westernised. Yes to Alipay and WeChat the western apps just are not used.

most Chinese cannot read Latin script so if travelling you’ll need the name of the hotel or whatever in ideograms. The Shanghai hotels had cards with them on at reception.

underground/tube was fine and very good.

trains we didn’t try!

Yes we were there in March. My nephew is married to a Chinese woman so they had a Chinese ceremony and we went to the wedding and made a holiday of it. You will need Alipay both for paying for stuff and booking things. We chat is also essential. Plus the translation app Deepl as few Chinese speak English. We did download a vpn so we could access our normal websites like google etc via wifi. They do not always work.

We visited Xian for the wedding and we visited the city which is very historic and the terracotta warriors which was fantastic. We hired an English speaking guide.

We then went up into the mountains to Xunyang but only because our niece came from there so her family entertained us and it was fairly rural.

We also went to Beijing and did a lot there including the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The summer palace.

It was very advanced there. Very safe but there is lots of surveillance cameras and you will need your passports when entering attractions. Luggage is screened at railway stations. Transport is very reasonable cost wise, very fast and reliable. We used high speed trains and the metro in Beijing plus Didi which is the Chinese version of uber. Cars are mostly electric now and the streets quiet and very clean air. Lots of police.

We were fortunately briefed quite well by our niece so no surprises for us except it was more advanced technology wise than we expected so that was a pleasant surprise. Hotels, food and travel was much cheaper than the UK.

I was there in 2019, so not relevant

However, I didn't read this whole thread, it might have been propaganda, but there might be some useful stuff.

To feel I've been lied to about China | Mumsnet

I was in mainland China for two weeks in November and HK and Macau in early April. I went to Shanghai very briefly, then took the train to Xian, saw the Terracotta Warriors and the city walls, then another train journey to Pingyao which was my favourite place, it’s like going back in time. Then onto Beijing, then onwards. At the end of my Asia trip I flew back via Hong Kong and spent a night in Macau.

Second what people say about Didi, i found it so easy to get around with. I found WeChat hard to get accepted for at first but I eventually managed. Alipay is more accessible.

I used Uber itself in Hong Kong. Macau you really need to use the local currency and get old school taxis. The trains in China were super easy to use when you get the hang of how the stations work. It also feels very safe for travellers, I was a solo female. I realise that is due to the surveillance culture but I guess that is the other side of the double edged sword.

I had a vpn on my phone anyway and I used e sims with firewall clearing vpn built in. Didn’t have any trouble accessing BBC, Google, WhatsApp which are all banned.

I lived there for 5 years, although we came home 4 years ago and things move fast so I don't know how helpful I can be. Everybody uses a VPN - yes, technically illegal but it will be fine even for your daughter. As @Cornishclio says, they can come and go so it's worth having more than one (and install them before you go). The paid ones are better

This is so helpful to hear about real experiences, thank you!

Interesting...I am feeling a bit conflicted about going somewhere with such a poor human rights record but it's also such an important (and increasingly important) country, with incredible history....

Bumping for any other experiences

If you buy a data roaming package for your phone you can access non-Chinese websites like the BBC and Google without restriction . Wi-fi is not that good (the chinese just use 5G). Amaps is the most useful mapping app (Google maps is not good). Public infrastructure is awesome and tubes/trains have announcements and signs in English. Google translate helps when you get stuck. People are friendly and helpful even if they dont have much English. Did all transactions on Alipay so make sure you have that linked to your card

I lived there for 12 years but left in 2020 so no up to date info. VPNs are technically illegal, but it’s not really an issue. WeChat has a translate function which is great. It’s easy to get around big cities like Shanghai and Beijing with the metro - cheap and efficient. Take hand sanitizer and packs of tissues- the toilet paper is not in the cubicle, it’s in the outside area with the sinks so useful to have tissues incase you forget to collect some!
Hotels will be happy to write down destinations in characters for you which you can then give to the taxi driver.
worth learning a bit of mandarin before you go - hello, thank you etc. As your Dd is going to be there for a few months am sure she will be able to help you.

I went last year and used an eSIM and WeChat, I had no problems at all.

It really is, it’s in my top three holidays and I’d love to go back.

People in Shanghai can read pinyin, a huge proportion can also understand English (especially younger generations) but hear laowei speak L O U D E R AND S. L. O. W. E. R and ignore them as a result. Totally understandable. 🤣

Living in China - you don't need wechat or alipay but they do make life easier. Same for VPNs. I wouldnt bother with either as a tourist for a couple of weeks.

Learn to say hello, thank you, this and 'don't want'. You'll be golden.

I also lived in China.

Hi posting this from China. It’s a huge country with vast differences between areas. I second the Didi app. A total game changer for me was (in addition to wechat) getting Alipay. Ok they both pay for stuff. Alipay does so much more though, you can use its built in translator (most accurate one I’ve found), and there are other mini programs that you can use with it like Meituan. Meituan is the app for getting anything you like delivered within an hour. Not just takeaway; if it’s sold in a shop near you, a Meituan driver will bring it to you. So convenient! But you will need a Chinese speaker to add your address correctly for you, the hotel might help if you want it. Also I strongly recommend getting a Chinese sim, you will need a lot of mobile data. For VPN it is totally blocked on mobile data so it’s not that useful for tourists really unless you stay in your hotel. Also they can choose to totally block VPNs and do when major political events are happening eg I was here when Trump visited and the internet… just stopped. Overall though well worth visiting. We came back through two airports yesterday and I was really pleased with how easy it was to come in. It is far more stressful to visit Europe on a British passport tbh. The only thing I didn’t like was that you need to scan a QR code to get your arrival card done now. Our last flight to China, they had the QR code on the plane so you could start filling it in while the plane parked up, but yesterday’s flight didn’t have that. If I’d been thinking clearly yesterday, I would have taken a photo of the QR code for next time. 🤦‍♀️

You can just get an e-sim. No need to mess about with VPNs if you're just visiting. I've found the ones on trip.com cheap and reliable. These give you access to the main western websites.

December/Jan would be very cold in places like Beijing (colder than UK) so factor weather into your plans.

Thanks so much for further comments, really useful👍🏼