10 Travel Tips for China

Here are ten tips to make your next visit to China as awesome as possible.  Most of the tips come from six years of living here, so you can bet I have a good idea of what I am talking about.

1. Phone is king

When I first started traveling people would tell me that in some countries cash was king and in other card was king. While in China it's all about the phone now.  Most Chinese will use Wechat Pay or Alibaba to pay for things.  The problem this raises for most travelers is you need a Chinese bank account to use either.  Apply pay works here as well as I think What's app but I don't have it so I don't really know, no one uses What's app in China.  Trying either is a great idea though as I have had experiences were store clerks got very angry at me that I wanted to use money and not my phone.  I have also had a few experiences where people had forgotten how to use money.

Another to mention about money in China is the whole change thing is very weird for westerners.  In America if something coast 76 cents we would just give a dollar and we would get back 24 cents, makes sense right.  Well in China they will ask you if you have a penny, and then give you a quarter back.  I think it's because it's easier for them, but we will talk about this more later.

2. Beijing

The best city to travel to in China the first time is Beijing, not Shanghai, not Guangzhou, not anywhere else you are thinking, Beijing.  Why?  Beijing has it all.  Most of the sights people come to see are in Beijing, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, the list goes on and on.

IF you are a foodie and you are traveling, then Beijing is a great stop as well.  While the Chinese will tell you that Beijing food is not that great, when you have food from somewhere else in China, it's the same as it would be in that province.  Not the same in other areas.  Hunan will spice things up, Guangzhou will take out some seasonings, Shanghai will add sugar, basically like Americans they will change the recipe to accommodate the local flavors.

3. Avoid confrontation

The Chinese hate confrontation, they will back away and shut down.  What you are yelling and screaming about will not get done.  Being relaxed and being calm is generally the best answer for this.  It can be just as frustrating at times in China as any other country in the world, and yes people want to rant and rave about it, but that's what skype calls are for.  If you do blow up in some ones face they probably wont fight you, but they might find some secret way to get back at you.

4. Don't sweat the language

I have been living here six years and I don't speak that much Chinese.  It is easy to learn a few words, and the vocabulary is no where near as big as English.  Pronunciation is the hardest part of Chinese as the tones can be difficult to master, that being said most Chinese are pretty forgiving about this.  My wife being the one major exception.

5. Be an adventurous eater

A British man once said about China "They will eat anything with four legs and tail."  He got some hate for this actually, people thought it was rude and racist.  Funny though, the Chinese say the same thing about people from Guangzhou.

Barbequed goose neck, chicken feet, pig brains and other lovely delicacies are all yours to try in China.   My own general rule is that normally if it's on the table I'll give it a shot.  That being said I do like to have a glass of coke at hand for after the "enjoyable" experience.

6. It's safe

China is super safe.  It has noting to do with gun control or how the state works.  China is very family oriented, kids are peoples retirement plans.  They call each other brother, sister, aunt, and uncle all the time.  I have forgotten things and gone back to find it still there.  Somethings do get stolen, but nothing really valuable, likes umbrellas, bikes, and stuff like that.  Something that's easy to replace.

7. Hong Kong and Macau ARE NOT China

They are owned by China, but when it comes to money, culture, language, they are not China.  I got on a bus in Macau the first time and got lost, because neither me nor my wife spoke Portuguese.  The point behind this, is it's sort of like testing out the water.  For example Hong Kong is a nice blend of British and Chinese culture.  It's easy to find people who speak English but it's also easy to get any idea of what the mainland might be like.

8. The myth is true the Chinese love pictures

Selfie sticks with phones attached, DSLRs, digital cameras and others are every where.  If you want someone to take a picture of you, no problem.  Just be warned they will twenty in five seconds, not kidding.  The bad side of this is that as a tourist or traveler you want to visit all the sites and take pictures.  So are the Chinese and more than you are.  In fact it's very common to go to a shopping area or a park or just outside and she Chinese girls taking pictures of each other.

9. Scams, larger fees, and getting robbed.

Be careful, if you are a foreigner in China then a lot of the Chinese think you are naturally rich, and as such them charging you a hundred for something that should have cost twenty five they don't see why wouldn't be will to pay it.  After all in their minds you have the cash right?  Well as we all know even if you do have the cash it doesn't mean you want to pay more.  So this is a warning.  Be careful, if you can walk away, walk away.  Don't go anywhere with random Chinese people who want to be friends with you, they are looking to rob you.

10. Face

You will hear about face it's hard to describe though, it's sort of like self respect times 1000, but it's like the most fragile thing in the world.  It's really weird and I could spend a whole post talking about it.  It's like you don't do anything bad to me and  I wont do anything bad to you, and anyone who is not Chinese is complete exempt from us doing or saying what ever we want to them, but they have to treat us like princes and princesses.  That being said on the whole the Chinese are easy to get along with.

If you are planning on coming to China or already are coming. I hope the ten tips have been helpful and that you have a great time.  If you have any questions feel free to ask I am will to help.  In enjoy your trip.

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