China Guide as of May 2024 — payment options, transport, etc

Before leaving for China

• vpn
• extra phone for chinese sim with downloaded apps that are blocked for ease of access
• RMB bills (if no WeChat/AliPay already setup)
• prepare invitee/relatives documentation if staying local (aka not hotel) to take to the police station
  once in China

Once in China

Daily bag essentials:

• passport
• hand sanitizer
• toilet paper
• phone charger (depends on your phone use)
• metro card (if applicable)
• bring your passport everywhere — it is used for online account creation, binding your phone number, police checks when you enter a different province or a major city (ex. Beijing)

Getting started:

• phone number first (China Mobile is most foreigner friendly if your phone is made abroad (anywhere outside of china) before registering at police station, getting a bank account, WeChat/AliPay, any utilities, etc. it is common to purchase mobile plans “a la carte” and then have 2 phone numbers for use to share the acct. if you’re going to use it solo the second number can just be ignored. even wifi registration at most public venues requires number verification so having one is still helpful. number is for use anywhere in china but outside of HK, Macau, Taiwan (generally these areas come with free data from your US mobile provider)
• setup a bank account at any of the bigger banks — ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank
• set up WeChat acct and AliPay acct. WeChat is important for any socializing / mini programs
• for payments: AliPay is more foreigner friendly than WeChat (auto translate to english option in app); WeChat pay often needs additional verification processes (past account initiation) for large transactions whereas AliPay does not. AliPay also allows for foreign credit cards to be set up as the method of payment in addition to a Chinese bank acct whereas WeChat pay is strictly Chinese bank accts only. Both payment functions on the apps are the same — when you transact with anyone, either they scan you and charge you an amount in which you enter your payment password and approve it, or you scan them and type in the owed amount and password to approve. an example of the penetration of WeChat/AliPay : even the homeless have a QR code for you to donate to. think about that.
• english version of apps — while you can have english for WeChat and ali, some of the mini programs will remain in mandarin. Didi is in English and you can enter in english names of locations and it’s relatively accurate but other apps are not available — most of Meituan 美团/JD, Baidu/Gaode maps and daping does not translate. Customer service correspondence is also largely in mandarin — while they can speak some english, issue resolution is most efficient via mandarin.

Transportation:

this is where foreigner identity is important. there are 6 major modes of transport: local: ride hailing, subway, rental bike, bus,long distance: rail, plane. all transport options I used had pinyin labeling so if you can’t read mandarin, you can read the pinyin, which is alphanumeric

• ride hailing: this is largely on Didi but you can call cars on Baidu maps too (didn’t use Gaode). Baidu seems to be more likely to have you share a car with others so just make sure to clarify number of people taking the car. Didi is the most robust in terms of driver communication and location pins but it’s more expensive than options on Baidu. Smaller ride hailing apps may also be cheaper but I didn’t use them. As the same with Uber/Lyft just make sure your pickup and drop offs are accurate.
• subway — you can simply tap the “transport” icon on AliPay and metro cards (in the form of digital qrs that you scan at entrances for most cities will appear (qingdao needing a separate app was an exception). if you want to add money to your subway card, you need your passport. while I saw someone at the ticket/card refill machine trying to buy tickets by starting point and destination, I have no idea how this works and will likely never attempt it.
• bus: I never took the bus but in AliPay it’s just the next tab from “subway”. I’m assuming it’s also a QR code.
• bikes: AliPay also allows for bicycle rental via passport (aka foreigner) identity, whereas yellow bikes (Meituan 美团) does not. Didi green bikes are also apparently available for foreigners but I didn’t try it.
• rail: I only ever took high speed rail and it’s probably the most seamless experience. security took about 10 minutes every time — just a preliminary scan with no major unallowed items minus firearms/weapons. tickets are available via diff transport apps — Xiecheng (携程), 12306 and ly.com via mini app “rail and flights” in WeChat, ly.com on WeChat was the most convenient for me but not the best priced. 12306 you need an actual account to use and it pends verification.
• plane: flights can be purchased on ly.com via WeChat mini app and are also relatively seamless

Additional cases I ran into:

• if you run out of data on your chinese mobile plan — you can find the “mobile top up” app in WeChat and buy more!
• you can pay for utilities via AliPay
• visiting tourism sites — just a scheduling caveat, many are closed on Mondays. check their schedules. bring your passport — it is necessary to be able to purchase a ticket. also keep holidays in mind for high tourist volume (example: first week of May is notorious for crowding every major tourism city (aka almost every city) due to national holiday)
• they do take foreign credit cards at most “international friendly” locations ie international hotel brands (marriott bonvoy portfolio) — people also say now credit cards can be used at most registers not just international friendly venues but I never checked this. the more rural the area the more you’ll probably rely on domestic systems to get things done, tier 2 and 3 cities and more rural places are very different from tier 1.
• paying with vouchers/deals — the app daping has vouchers (aka cheaper prices for same products) available for different venues from restaurants, bars, scenic areas, etc. However, they’ll still occasionally require identity tickets aka inputting your passport number if the option is available. Often, your “identity” might not be a ticket available for sale, since many of the deals are for student tickets, seniors, etc. I wasn’t able to purchase museum tickets in app so still had to buy in person at the stands. I used vouchers at restaurants (prix fixe ones) and a hairstyling place. It’s just mildly time consuming and convoluted to dig through for the deals. When you pay with the voucher, you simply buy the voucher ahead of time and then at time of payment at the venue present the voucher.
• bathrooms. bathroom quality also varies greatly between locations. more “local” areas aka with little international exposure are more likely to have the floor toilets whereas more international areas (aka Soho/Sanlitun/Guomao in Beijing) will have actual seat toilets. bring toilet paper everywhere you go. sinks, running water, toilet paper, soap, lack of aromas and clean facilities are not guaranteed anywhere except “foreigner friendly” areas to any city (foreigner friendly does not mean tourist site it historically means areas the govt allocated to allowed foreign business/residents). Ex: luxury mall chain SKP will have nice public toilets and the relics museum may have not so nice
• uncooked food is delicious, it just comes with risks. I would keep this notion in mind… but as a data point I ate cold dishes often, multiple meals a day because they’re my favorite. raw fruit and vegetables from the grocery store is fine after a wash.
• UV rays in China can be quite strong…don’t get burnt
• something incredible about chinese rail is that you can order delivery service to a station on the way and you can pick it up because they’ll drop it off at the platform. idk how it works.

Worth it:

• food
• public transport
• utility products
• some luxury hotel chains (terrible experience with St. Regis across 3 cities but Ritzs are great. For context: Aman, Park Hyatt, Four Seasons are all more internationally price harmonized) — these are on average priced better than in the US/ western mkts due to cheaper labor costs.

Less worth it:

• foreign brands — foreign luxury goods, hardware (foreign brands), certain higher end activities (golf/private room dining) are all priced with a premium. luxury shopping here is arguably more expensive when I converted back to USD — I didn’t account for VAT. I don’t recommend but there are some products that these stores will order that your domestic store may not due to different local preferences.