China Travel Setup
Step-by-step China travel setup guides for first-time visitors: payments, apps, transport, hotels, emergencies, scams, and useful Chinese phrases.
A practical survival guide for your first 72 hours in China.
Step-by-step help for payments, apps, transport, hotels, safety, and simple Chinese phrases.
Landing in China should feel less like a test and more like a checklist you already handled.
For a first-time visitor, sightseeing is usually not the first problem. The first few hours are: getting online, paying for things, finding your hotel, taking the first ride, reading maps, and explaining simple problems in Chinese.
Use the question that matches your situation. The guides are written for the moment when you are tired, your phone is low, and you just need the next step.
If your flight is soon: install the core apps, prepare mobile data, set up at least two payment backups, save your hotel address in Chinese, and screenshot the survival phrases before you fly.
What problem are you trying to avoid?
Start with the question that sounds closest to your situation.
- What should I prepare before traveling to China?
A full pre-arrival checklist for apps, payment, phone data, documents, hotel address, and backup plans. - How do I set up Alipay (支付宝, Zhifubao) as a foreigner?
What to prepare, how to add a card, what can fail, and what to use as backup. - Can I use WeChat (微信, Weixin) Pay (微信支付, Weixin Zhifu) as a foreign visitor?
What WeChat (微信, Weixin) is useful for, where payment can work, and what limits to expect. - What should I do if Alipay (支付宝, Zhifubao) or WeChat (微信, Weixin) Pay (微信支付, Weixin Zhifu) fails?
A calm emergency plan for shops, restaurants, taxis, and hotel desks. - Should I use eSIM, roaming, or a local SIM in China?
How to stay online before your first payment, ride, or translation problem happens. - How should I get from the airport to my hotel?
Taxi, metro, DiDi (滴滴, Didi), shuttle, or hotel pickup: which is safest for your first arrival? - What should I prepare for hotel check-in in China?
Passport, booking name, Chinese address, late arrival, and what to do if the desk cannot find your reservation. - How do I avoid scams, overcharging, and tourist traps in China?
What to do about unclear prices, unofficial taxis, bad tours, forced shopping, overpriced vendors, and social-media ads. - What should I do in an emergency in China?
Emergency numbers, police, ambulance, traffic accidents, feeling unsafe, and backup contacts to save before you fly. - What boring daily basics should I prepare for China?
Toilet paper, tap water, pharmacies, lost phone or passport, and real-name ticket checks. - What Chinese phrases should I save before landing?
Short phrases you can show for taxis, hotels, payment failure, allergies, and urgent help.
If you only have 20 minutes before your trip
- Read the setup checklist: What should I prepare before traveling to China?
- Choose your phone data plan: eSIM, roaming, or local SIM?
- Set up payment: Alipay (支付宝, Zhifubao) and WeChat (微信, Weixin) Pay (微信支付, Weixin Zhifu).
- Save your first ride plan: airport to hotel.
- Avoid obvious traps: scams, overcharging, and tourist-area pressure.
- Save emergency backups: 110 police, 120 ambulance, 119 fire, 122 traffic accident, hotel, embassy, and insurance contacts.
- Pack the boring basics: tissue, medicine plan, safe water, passport backup, and phone recovery steps.
- Screenshot the phrases: Survival Cards.
Search by moment
Before you fly
At the airport
When something feels urgent
When small daily things get awkward
Eating out
When a price feels unclear
When payment fails
At the hotel
Getting around
When an app blocks you
Planning a day out
First city setup
Most common first-China panic moments
- “My payment app is not working.” Use the payment failure guide and the Chinese sentence on that page.
- “My driver cannot find me.” Move to a clearer pickup point and use the driver phrase.
- “I have no mobile data.” Use your offline screenshots first, then fix data using the eSIM/roaming/local SIM guide.
- “The hotel cannot find my booking.” Show your passport and booking confirmation, then follow the hotel check-in guide.
- “Google Maps is not enough.” Read what to use instead of Google Maps in China.
Why this site is different
It is written for the first 72 hours.
Not the perfect itinerary. The messy arrival window when small problems feel big.
It explains what can go wrong.
Payment failure, wrong pickup point, hotel confusion, no data, app verification, and language friction.
It gives backup options.
Each important guide should tell you what to do if the normal path fails.
Start with the guidebook menu
Use the left-side menu like a small handbook. The top level shows the main topic. The second level takes you to the exact problem.
- Payments for Alipay (支付宝, Zhifubao), WeChat (微信, Weixin) Pay (微信支付, Weixin Zhifu), card, cash, and failure cases.
- Transport for airport arrival, DiDi (滴滴, Didi), maps, and pickup confusion.
- Emergency Help for police, medical issues, traffic accidents, lost passport or phone, and other urgent moments.
- Avoid Overcharging & Pressure for unclear prices, bad tours, fake taxis, pressure to buy, and social-media ads.
- Survival Cards for short Chinese phrases you can screenshot.