01China Basics
At the Chinese Table: A First-Time Visitor's Guide
Understand shared dishes, regional variety, hospitality, staple foods, and allergy boundaries before your first meal with others in China.
8 min readRead guide ↗
The guide desk
Every published
guide, in one place.
Browse the full desk across China Basics, Cities, China Stories, Itineraries, and Right Now. Every changing rule carries an update date.
02China Basics
How to Get from a China Airport to Your First Hotel
Choose airport rail, an official taxi, ride-hailing, or a hotel transfer based on terminal, arrival time, luggage, and language confidence.
7 min readRead guide ↗
03China Basics
How to Book Attraction and Museum Tickets in China
Find the official booking route, use real passport details, separate reservations from tickets, confirm the time slot, and carry the original passport.
8 min readRead guide ↗
04China Basics
Your First Trip to China: The 72-Hour Checklist
Check your entry documents, first-night address, mobile data, payments, transport, medicine, and offline backups before you fly.
8 min readRead guide ↗
05China Basics
How to Book a Hotel and Register Your Stay in China
Book with the right passport name, confirm late arrival, understand hotel check-in, and register a stay with friends or in a non-hotel home.
8 min readRead guide ↗
06China Basics
Essential Apps for Your First Trip to China
Set up four core apps for payment, messaging, maps, and bookings, then add metro, train, taxi, and translation tools only when needed.
8 min readRead guide ↗
07China Basics
How to Read a Menu and Order at a Restaurant in China
Open or translate the menu, understand shared dishes and portions, communicate preferences or serious allergies, check the bill, and pay without guessing.
8 min readRead guide ↗
08China Basics
How to Order Food Delivery in China as a Visitor
Set a usable Chinese address, choose an official delivery entry, check the total, message the courier, and collect food at your hotel.
7 min readRead guide ↗
09China Basics
How to Pay in China: 4 Things to Set Up Before Your Trip
Set up Alipay and WeChat, bring the right backups, and know where foreign cards and cash fit before your first trip to China.
8 min readRead guide ↗
10China Basics
How to Buy and Ride a High-Speed Train in China
Choose the right station, book with your passport, confirm the ticket is issued, pass security, find your gate and seat, and handle changes.
8 min readRead guide ↗
11China Basics
How to Ride the Metro in China as a First-Time Visitor
Plan the route, open a local Alipay transit code or buy a ticket, pass security, transfer in the right direction, and exit with confidence.
6 min readRead guide ↗
12Cities
Meet Beijing: Between the Grand Axis and Everyday Lanes
See Beijing at two scales: the formal north-south order of the old capital and the ordinary life still unfolding beside it.
9 min readRead guide ↗
13Cities
Meet Guangzhou: The Flower City That Trades with the World
Read Guangzhou through the craft on Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, the trade routes of the Pearl River, and the everyday life beneath the city's arcades.
9 min readRead guide ↗
14Cities
Meet Shenzhen: How a City Gets Made
Follow products, paintings, old spaces, and new arrivals through a city that is still visibly being assembled and revised.
10 min readRead guide ↗
15China Basics
How to Get Mobile Data in China: Roaming, eSIM, or Local SIM?
Choose a data plan for China without losing the home number you need for bank and app verification texts.
7 min readRead guide ↗
16China Basics
Payment Not Working in China? Fix It at the Checkout First
A fast fallback order for Alipay, WeChat, card, QR-code, verification, network, fee, and refund problems in China.
7 min readRead guide ↗
17China Basics
Can You Use PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, or Your Home E-Wallet in China?
What these familiar payment tools can actually do in China, what depends on phased partnerships, and why none should be your only option.
6 min readRead guide ↗
18China Basics
How to Set Up Alipay and WeChat Pay as a Foreign Visitor
A concise pre-trip setup guide for linking international cards, using merchant QR codes, and understanding which wallet features may be restricted.
7 min readRead guide ↗
19China Basics
What to Buy in China: Shopping, Tax Refunds, and Smart Checks
Shop for Chinese brands, museum gifts, tea, crafts, electronics, and luxury goods while checking authenticity, warranties, customs, and tax refunds.
9 min readRead guide ↗