Six Tips for First-Time Visitors to China

The newly futuristic city of Guiyang

For the past two months I have been traveling around China, and it is my favorite country that I’ve traveled in as a tourist. From when I first touched down in Beijing to when I got on my last bullet train ride back to Beijing, I had so many incredible experiences backpacking in more than 10 different Chinese provinces. I met friendly people who I will stay in touch with, I ate tons of amazing food, and the historic and architectural sites I saw were stellar. Most interesting to me was the extent to which China’s provinces feel very different from one another, despite the Han Chinese “cultural glue”.

Due to the langauge barriers, traveling here as an English-Speaker is not a chill, relaxing walk in the park, but it is very engaging and encourages you to learn. Here are six tips to make your trip to China more enjoyable and rewarding.

Read about the history and culture of China before you go.

This should be done wherever you go, but I would argue that in China it is deserves even more attention. Chinese culture is thousands of years old, not hundreds. There is such a huge diversity of traditions and ideas that have developed over the years. With the oldest continuous civilization that exists today and a ton of regional variation, you are bound to find aspects of Chinese culture that interest you. There’s no way anyone, especially a tourist on a visit, can learn everything about a culture, but it is very important to understand the basics. So read the pages in the back of the Lonely Planet book about the culture of China as a whole, and then go online (or if you’re at college, take an elective) to learn in more detail about specific elements of the culture that interest you. For me, it was the Buddhist sculpture and architecture that I found the most interesting.

Especially outside the biggest cities, you are likely to get stared at or asked questions if you don’t look Chinese. Get used to it.

Inland China does not have an established western backpacker trail. Whether it’s in the restaurant cars of the K-class intercity trains or those hole in the wall restaurants in the alleyways behind the office buildings, there will be plenty of times outside the big cities when being a foreigner (laowai, or the Cantonese term, gweilo) gets you attention. From my experience, older people were more likely to just stare, and the younger people are often keen to practice English. Try not to take it as a bad, uncomfortable, or offensive thing. You may be one of the only westerners they’ll ever see in that vicinity.

Travel by train in the hard seat or sleeper carriage-. It’s affordable, and a great way to get to know the locals.

Even if you don’t speak Chinese, the trains in China are easy to use once if you do advance research and you get the hang of it. Buy your tickets in advance online and pick them up at the station, because you never know if it may be fully booked. Also, get to the station at least 40 minutes in advance, so there is time to wait in line and go through security. If you don’t speak mandarin well, research the train schedule beforehand so that you know how long it should take before you reach your destination, as announcements on older trains are not in english often. Also, memorize the chinese characters for your destination. But all of this is worth it. On the hard-seat and sleeper carriages, travel is cheap, and you will meet many locals, some of whom will be keen to practice English, share snacks with you, or just be curious about you. You should also converse with them in their native language, and demonstrate your Mandarin or Cantonese knowledge.

Accept that you aren’t going to see everything.

Trying to visit every cool highlight in every region of China would be as time consuming as trying to do the same in all of Europe. China is extremely diverse and gargantuan, and should be treated as a contiennt when planning trips. It’s not like Vietnam or Thailand, where there are well-defined tourist trails with easy-to-name highlights along the way. So choose several provinces of the country, and see the “must sees” or whatever you are most interested to see in those provinces. You’ll never be able to see it all.

Learn basic mandarin. Even a little effort goes a long way.

Outside of the most touristy areas in big cities, you will need a little bit of mandarin knowledge. But it’s a huge misconception to say that this means you need to be fluent in mandarin. From my experience, newer backpackers often over-estimate the difficulties posed by language barriers, and the more experienced ones who continue to do so are generally the ones who don’t make any effort whatsoever to speak the language. Folks, do the world a favor and learn at least a bit of langauge, and try to use it as much as you can. In China, it is a necessity, and even if a non-english-speaking chinese-speaker will try to understand an english-speaker, they will be far more polite and receptive if you make just the slightest little bit of effort. Sometimes nowadays, service people will have guests type in english in phones so that they can use translator apps to figure out what tourists want. But don’t be demanding. They are under no obligation to speak english, and shouldn’t feel that they are so.

Avoid “Laowai-passing”

Laowai passing (or as it is known in Japan, Gaijin-passing) is when you use your status as an ignorant foreigner to get away with things you aren’t allowed to do, since you know that officials (who possibly dont speak english) may avoid confronting you. An example would be if, say, you don’t have enough money on your subway ticket to be able to leave at the station you get off at, and the staff don’t speak english and aren’t able to explain how to use the subway properly. And so they’d just let you through the side gate. While many foreigners get away with this sort of thing, it really isn’t cool. You may well be the only foreigner someone on that subway line sees that day, and if you make a bad impression by doing this sort of thing, you are collectively hurting the reputation of foreigners in the local area. Learn how to do basic things that may be different from at home, like paying for the bus or subway. Learn the Chinese characters for ‘entrance” and “exit”, or “male” and “female” (for toilets). Also, if you’re going to be talking to locals (which you should), make sure to learn Chinese etiquette around gift-giving, meals out, and asking about things. There are many online resources that can help with that. Don’t be overly anxious about it, if you mess a few things up they will understand. But you need to show that you care about trying to fit in with etiquette. Also, know that 4 and 7 are unlucky numbers (which is why this post has six tips instead of seven). 

Beyond Europe and Southeast Asia – 6 Reasons China is Well Worth Backpacking

I’ve been traveling around China for the past 6 weeks, and it has been a delightful experience. China is my favorite country I have visited so far.

It is hard to overstate the scale of China’s size and history, as the Chinese civilization is the oldest society on earth that exists as a nation today. It has been through countless golden ages, dynasties, internal divisions, and wars throughout its thousands of years of existence. In regards to food, traditions, dialects, architecture, and landscapes, each region almost feels like a different country. A foreigner could spend five years traveling in China and still only scratch the surface of this complex and rapidly changing society. Basically, based on the desires of most backpackers, China is worth visiting.

But compared to Europe and Southeast Asia, China isn’t nearly as heavily backpacked, at least, by westerners. There are several reasons why this may be, from the language barrier, to the intimidating size, to the portrayal of China in western media as being an urban, dystopian, polluted wasteland. But language barriers can be overcome more easily than some expect, and outside of a few urban areas, this media narrative is misleading and false. China is well-worth backpacking, and here are six reasons why:

The country is massive and diverse, with large differences between the provinces

China is more than just a big country. It is a complex civilization with a level of regional variation like that of Western Civilization. While 93% of the population is Han Chinese, this statistic is misleading, becuase there are huge variations in Han Chinese culture between the different regions. Going from Henan to Hunan, or from Sichuan to Yunnan is to cross into what feels like a whole different version of China, like crossing from France to Germany within Western Europe. The differences are not just in a few things like local food specialties or obscure slang – there are different cuisines, traditional festivals, major dialects, architecture styles, and levels of economic development in each region.

Outside the coastal cities, it is affordable to visit

The coastal cities of China, like Hong Kong (its own autonomous zone) and Shanghai can be as expensive as world-class cities anywhere. But if you maximize your time inland and spend less time in these major cities, a trip to China can be very affordable. In Yunnan, it is more than possible to get by on around $45 a day, but you may struggle to get by on twice that in Shanghai.

The historic sites are massive and distinctive

When you sightsee in Beijing or Xi’an, you’ll realize that this isn’t a country where you can meander through alleyways that have loads of smaller landmarks or museums. In comparison to Europe, think fewer but better sights. Chinese cities typically have a few really, really big tourist sites and maybe one or two smaller museums. While there isn’t history at every turn, the individual sights in each region are large and take time to see. The Great Wall near Beijing, and the Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an are two famous examples, but what about the Mu Family Mansion in Lijiang, or the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall in Guangzhou?

The countryside is very scenic and dramatic in certain regions

The countryside of China is dramatic if you go to the right places. Head Southwest to see the Karst peaks of Guangxi, the Miao villages in the hills of Guizhou, or the dramatic mountain ranges of Western Sichuan. Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan is rightfully considered to be one of Asia’s greatest treks. Also, the mountains and deserts in the Northwest are their own type of beautiful environment.

The food is excellent wherever you go

I have had one or two bad meals in China. As long as you don’t eat unsafe buffet food or street food, you’re good. The specialties in each region are very distinct, but within big cities, food from most regions is represented. Trying famous regional specialties in their regions for the first time, like Peking Duck, Xiaolongbao, or Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles is an experience you’ll always remember fondly.

The public transportation is increasingly extensive and easy to use

While New York City can’t stop delaying the date of opening for its Second Avenue Subway Line, China has already built the world’s largest network of high speed trains in the years since 2007. But High Speed Trains arent the only vehicles that make Chinese transportation great. There are sleeper trains, new metro systems in cities, buses, sleeper buses, and a variety of airline options that all make getting around China a breeze. Just make sure that for longer routes, you buy your train tickets in advance. Also, it helps to know when your stop is on the train timetables for your route, since english announcements are not common on the trains that aren’t bullet trains. Check out rail.assistanceinchina.com for route schedules and maps. chinahighlights.com is a great place to buy tickets.