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Travelling China as a foreigner: post-pandemic update - China Forum

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Travelling China as a foreigner: post-pandemic update

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I am currently in China- been here for a week and I must be among the first batch of foreigners visiting after the pandemic, so I thought I’d report back on all the practical issues I have encountered.

A bit of background- My first visit was 25 years ago. I have probably visited about 20 times in the last decade alone and spent in total 6 months here, both on business trips as well as an independent traveler, and travelled quite widely throughout the country. This is not to brag- I am just sharing this to indicate that I am experienced travelling around here and dealing with the language and culture barrier, and am used to doing this without much help. I don’t really speak Chinese, except for the bare basics.

China recently started letting in foreign business travelers, and on March 15th they started issuing tourist visas again. So after 3 years, it is once again possible to visit China as a foreigner.

One thing I have learned over the years is that things here change fast. What was true 4 years ago was no longer true 3 years ago- and what I experienced the past week may no longer be true next week… but what follows is what I encountered on this trip. My last trip before this one was Sept 2019…

I will post this in separate responses to this OP, for easy reference.

In short: as a non-resident foreigner, you don’t fit the (digital) system. And China is very much digital now. It requires perseverance- I spent hours and hours getting various apps to work- with mixed results. Being digitally savvy helps.

When stuck, ask for help. If I couldn’t book a cab, I asked someone to do it for me. People are generally friendly and understand that you’re a weird foreigner who doesn’t get it. But it requires flexibility.

60 replies to this topic

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

I arrived in HK and took the ferry to Shenzhen on March 16. That’s where the fun began.

ENTRY PROCESS

Immediately upon arrival the few foreigners were asked to scan a WeChat code. The problem was I had no data, and there was no working wifi… and nobody who spoke English. After 10 minutes an English speaker showed up and gave me and the few other foreigners a wifi password so we could connect and scan. Some people had to download WeChat first.

All of this was to fill out an electronic health form. After I filled it out, it produced a QR code which I showed to the health inspectors. Nobody asked for my Covid vaccination to negative test… But your mileage may vary. Apparently this is still requested. Passport control was relatively straightforward.

In case you didn’t know, you need WeChat in China. If you don’t have it, install it before you depart. Assume all communication is monitored.

MOBILE PHONE AND DATA

Even more so than in the West, you can’t function without a smartphone and internet. I heard that getting a local SIM card would be laborious and time-consuming, so I opted for a roaming plan from my own cell phone company. It is ridiculously expensive… there are eSims available but those don’t work with my phone.

We have all heard of the Great Firewall of China. Very little of the apps and sites I frequent work. NYT, BBC, Economist- blocked. Google, Twitter etc… Verboten. WhatsApp often works but only when you’re roaming on data- not on wifi.

I used Express VPN and found one month payment very reasonable. It works 95% of the time. Well worth it. One subscription works on both my phone as well as my laptop.

Translation apps work great. I use Google Translate- point your camera and it will translate signs and menus. I even use it in meetings to translate Chinese-language slides. I also use an app called Translate.

Google Translate can download a dictionary- so it works off line. But that doesn’t work for photos. Then it needs data. And a VPN… Translate works well for live conversations- but doesn’t do pictures. So I find myself switching between the two, toggling the VPN and data on and off as needed.

I have also tried Pleco but it doesn't meet my needs.

China is largely a cashless society now. Everyone pays with WeChat and/or Alipay. In the past I have used both by having money sent to me by a local friend. This is no longer possible. You will find information online that you can link both with a foreign credit card- I probably spent about 5 hours in total trying to do this, both before departure as well as in China. I failed

WeChat asked me to send passport info etc for identification purposes. I followed the process and was told I would hear back in 3 days… nothing. Now that I am in China it will only accept Chinese cards.

Alipay used to have a system called TravelCard that could link to a foreign card but this has been discontinued. The app says a replacement, TravelPass, will be available end of April… note that the messaging changed a few times- when I started I said I could register my foreign phone number and card but the code I was supposed to receive through text message never arrived.

This is a MASSIVE pain in the neck. ATMs work fine but nobody expects cash. Whenever I need to pay people shove a QR code under my nose and when I whip out my cash they look confused or shocked… they frequently don’t have the right change. There is very little you can do about it- maybe WeChat/AliPay will function again at some point… don’t get your hopes up. Neither WeChat or AliPay have functioning customer service- at least not in English

Even at attractions (I visited a garden in Suzhou) there are no ticket vendors. Just machines that take WeChat payments and issue a QR code. Fortunately, people are friendly and one of the staff just took my cash and bought a ticket for me. Be nice and most problems can be resolved.

In the past I used DiDi and because you could only link a local card, I would pay using cash. That option is gone. However, you can link a foreign card and a foreign phone number…sounds good right? Nope. I got confirmation that my card was accepted by DiDi. 5 minutes later I get an email from my bank that my card has been blocked due to suspicious activity… so I had to call my bank at home to unblock it.

But Didi still didn’t work. For certain trips, it asked for prepayment- because I am a new customer. However, prepayment can only be done using WeChat or AliPay, not using a foreign credit card. See that catch-22? Because I created a new account with a new number I was a new customer- but I couldn’t pay so I could never move beyond being a first-time customer.

Fortunately DiDi does have customer service. You can reach them through the app. It was a slow and painful process- yes my account was blocked because I registered a foreign number. Did I have a Chinese number? No? Ok they could unblock it within 24 hrs. oh my account was blocked because I cancelled a ride several times- yes I cancelled the request because no drive was assigned. It took me 6 days to get Didi working… patience. All those days I asked others to book cars for me- and either paid cash or on one occasion a hotel clerk has the fare charged to her DiDi account and sent me a WeChat with the request if I could ask a colleague to reimburse her (which I did of course).

It took a lot of perseverance but without DiDi you lose a lot of independence and flexibility.

All of the security checks etc require you to scan your ID card. Of course, a foreign passport is not recognized by the machines. Again, be patient, polite and persistent. In all cases airport staff helped me out and let me through. Even at boarding when my boarding pass, printed from the airline ’s website, was not recognized because all Chinese passengers had a QR code on their phone…but i still got on the plane .

I end up using 3 apps… Google Maps because I have a lot of favourite places saved- but it uses data (which is expensive) and require a VPN when on wifi. You cannot download offline maps for China. However, if you browse extensively through the cities you’re visiting before you depart Google Maps will have the cities cached, which works wel, and Live location works even when you’re offline.

Maps.me is an app that allows you to download maps of Chinese cities. And it works well and uses no data.

My Chinese colleagues sent me links in Apple Maps because they can’t use Google Maps and I can’t use their Chinese maps… so I use that too.

Note that the 3 map apps are rarely identical. It can be a pain to find a location that is saved on one map on another- especially Apple maps seems occasionally wildly inaccurate.

PRIVACY CONCERNS

Well, they are legitimate, but what can you do?

Even at the garden in Suzhou where I bought a ticket they needed my passport number. Chinese people use their local ID card for everything… and everything is connected. By paying cash I probably reduce the tracking.. for now.

The only way to avoid it is to not travel to China…

On that note, I hope this was useful to some people- but don’t take it for gospel. Things will change… plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…

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