Preparing to Travel to China

Internet

You’ve all heard of the great firewall of China I’m sure. Well it’s very real and very annoying! Nothing Google related (chrome, gmail etc) will work, nor will any of the common social media platforms. This makes communication tricky and also limits your ability to download apps if your phone uses the Google Play Store.
Fortunately all you need to get around this is a VPN. Link your phone to a server abroad and Chinese internet restrictions no longer apply. The most reliable ones are paid subscription but there are free ones that work most of the time.
Be warned! The Chinese government occassionally cracks down on VPNs, especially around national celebrations which can make internet access very difficult. Also when everyone in a hostel is using the wifi with a VPN loaded you get very slow speeds.

VPNs are essential, have at least 2 installed on your devices before you enter. If you have an android with the Google Play Store you cannot download them inside China. If you have an Apple then you can use the app store to download a VPN but I would still recommend doing so before you arrive.

Other Apps

I recommend having the following apps installed. Each of these has been incredibly useful to me during my time in China. All of these are also free!

• Maps.me – the downloadable offline maps of China are pretty reliable for most places and more usable than Google maps which is blocked by the firewall.
• Google Translate, download simplified chinese and the corresponding keyboard
• Baidu maps,UK version – This was the best way to get public transport information but is difficult to use. See this guide on how to use this effectively, the app is not in English!
• Dear translate – an excellent voice to text translator that most Chinese people are familiar with. If you get a sim card this becomes an incredibly useful tool and make taxis much easier and more interesting.
• Pleco – this allows you to sketch or create characters and translate them, entirely offline. I only started using this late in my travels and was astonished how helpful it was, especially for transportation and menus
• WeChat – the Chinese version of most social media. You will use this heavily with all locals and foreigners living in China. If you are going for a student or work Visa you can also use it to pay for absolutely everything like the locals do (see article here). As of November 2019 this also aplies to tourists, I am working on confirming this. It can be a hassle to get registered, my advice is to have it installed before arrival and ask for assistance from the staff at your first hostel or hotel

Other Things To Bring

• Warm clothing – If you are travelling anywhere in China during the winter months you will need good quality warm clothing. The further north you intend to go the more layers you will need. Harbin in winter required full thermals, including socks and gloves and a proper winter coat as well as multiple layers
• Long sleeve clothing – China has an unfortunate number mosquitoes, everywhere! If you are staying in cheaper accomodation in the summer and autumn they will be especially annoying. I recommend having some long sleeve clothing to cover your skin and help reduce the number of bites you receive
• Mosquito spray – same reason as above
• Power pack (MAX 20,000mAh) – Depending on where you are staying and whether you are intending to do any long train or bus journeys you may need a power pack. You will likely be highly reliant on your phone, especially when things start to go wrong and the last thing you want is to be stuck without your translater. Also if you do any overnight trains there will not be very many plug sockets available and good luck beating the locals to get access to them! Do not bring a pack larger than 20,000mAh, the security at Chinese airports will consistently check this and any larger packs will be confisgated. Also if the writing with the capacity has rubbed off and they cannot verify the size it will be taken (this has happened to me and was very annoying).

Travel insurance

I would strongly recommend having good insurance before coming to China. I have thankfully never had to experience the joys of the Chinese medical system but I have never heard anything overly positive about the experience! Also if the language barrier is intense normally it would be a whole other level trying to get yourself sorted out in a hospital.

Unfortunately I cannot give any more practical advice for what to do if things do go wrong, but definitely make sure you have the insurance to cover it!