I just wrapped up a visit to China. Overall, it was really great to see extended family after all this time, and also to see a radically different society than what I’d been previously acquainted to – likely worth writing about some other time.
This writing isn’t my usual fare but I think it’s worth writing given the lack of material that talks about visiting China in these post Covid times.
I also think the current state of tourism to China is shockingly bad. If it weren’t for one big tour group that seemed like a diplomatic delegation from an African country, I don’t think I saw more than 20 foreigners/tourists in my entire time in China (almost 2 weeks mind you).
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Foreign Services don’t work/are really slow
One thing that shouldn’t be a complete surprise is that Western services like Google, Youtube, Discord, Twitter/X, Amazon, OpenAI, traditional news outlets – all aren’t available in China. This is because of China’s GFW (Great FireWall) which is a very comprehensive list of blocked websites in China. You’ll never see an explicit block though – just an error that the page load timed out.
Even for sites that aren’t blocked (e.g. Github) accessing is still very slow even on a speedy connection – suggesting that they probably have some kind of throttling on any non Chinese services. The worst thing is that there’s a long tail of websites that might work, but you have to wait a bit to see if it’s blocked or if the website is just throttled.
FYI: Spotify and Snapchat aren’t blocked for some reason
If you want to do searches, Bing.com works alright, although it’s the crappy Chinese version.
As for getting around the firewall, you have three options:
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Use a VPN
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I had PIA (Private Internet Access) which worked once and was really slow, but I probably wouldn’t count on this. If you truly need to, you can just click around on the various servers listed to see which ones works – but the hit rate is really low.
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Instead, people in China use services like Astrill, or other services that are a bit more tailored to China. These do tend to go a bit pricier and might only be worth it if you’re going to be in China for some time.
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Use Cellular/Roaming
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SET THIS UP BEFORE COMING IDEALLY
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If you’re just visiting for a few days to weeks, this is probably the best option, given you’ll need cellular data anyway while you’re in China – especially as you don’t need to deal with the traditional hassles that VPNs usually come with (endless CAPTCHAs, slower connections).
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Airalo is probably the easiest as they have ok pricing for fixed data cap e-sims, but I found pretty quickly that you’ll use up the data pretty quickly and with little warning.
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I really liked EsimChina as they had unlimited data plans, with caps by day (e.g. 2gb per day with the pro plan)
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Do note that while there’s no restrictions on websites, VPNs are still restricted so tough luck if there’s geoblocking from the service (cough, cough, OpenAI)
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Prepare coming in
- You can download Chinese from Google Translate on your phone so you can just use tediously copy and paste Chinese text from the apps you use into English. Unfortunately it doesn’t handle the case where you’re on WiFi, but can’t access Google services very well.
Final note – many services will require you to put down your number to receive SMS messages (especially for connecting to public WiFi) so if you have cellular already setup, use a voip number like Skype or Google Voice
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Set up WeChat and AliPay
While you’re more than free to use Yuan that you exchanged at the airport, most places are mobile payment only so you’ll have trouble finding vendors who can take in cash.
One recent change that makes this shift a whole lot easier is the ability to use foreign bankcards on these apps.
Most places accept both, although some only accept one or the other:
WeChat (Tencent)
If you tap on (Me) in the bottom right corner → Services → Wallet → Cards, here you can add your Debit or Credit Card for usage.
As for using it, tap the ‘Plus’ icon in the top right corner where you can either scan a payment code, or have someone else scan your payment code. Generally you’ll be doing the latter, unless it’s a direct P2P payment.
If you need to pay – ask if they have a “wei - xing” which is the Chinese pronunciation of WeChat.
AliPay (Alibaba)
Alipay is a dedicated superapp for various things – from translations, using the metro, hailing taxis, payments, the list goes on and on.
Note that many services have a KYC style requirement, and AliPay has a really quick verification for these docs, while WeChat has a 3 day turnaround which can be annoying.
One of the things this unlocks is the ability to hail a ride through DiDi – China’s version of Uber. DiDi is super cheap, and can be up to a 50% discount compared to hailing a taxi.
Overall app UX is nice, and seems to be built with foreign tourists in mind which is nice.
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Bring your Passport around
Many places require ID for some reason, and while ordinary Chinese can use their phone numbers/phones for this identification, foreigners can’t so you should bring your passport just in case it’s needed.
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Don’t drink tap water
Although the situation is a lot better these days, the tap water can have heavy metals or bacteria.
You’re better off either drinking bottled water, or boiling the water and then bringing it around if you need to.
The tap water won’t kill you but if you have the option to, always lean for this.
As a final note, most of the tourists that I’ve seen have taken on guides, which isn’t entirely a bad idea if you want to get around with someone who knows the local language, but hopefully these tips are helpful.
China is definitely an interesting place to visit, and while there’s been some geopolitical issues between the West and China, it’s even more of an excuse to explore a society that has developed in way with values completely different from the West – and not to mention some pretty unique and authentic food.
Hope to dive into payments next :)