ChinaTravelTips

The Most Honest China Safety Analysis You’ll Find By Joran | 10+ years living in and traveling China Every safety article about China falls into one of two traps: either it paints China as a dystopian hellhole where tourists get arrested for nothing, or it overcorrects into “actually it’s super safe, nothing to worry about.” The truth is more nuanced and more useful. I’ve been robbed once (2014), scammed a dozen times, had food poisoning three times, and needed hospitals twice. After the hospital incident, I learned the hard way why travel insurance for China is non-negotiable. I’ve also walked home alone at 3 AM through Chengdu’s coolest neighborhoods without a single uncomfortable moment. ...

China’s High-Speed Rail: How to Book Tickets Like a Local Hey, Joran Here I once spent 3 hours at Xi’an North Station because I showed up to the wrong terminal for a train that was boarding in 20 minutes. If you’ve never navigated a Chinese station before, read our train station survival guide first — it’ll save you tears. The station was the size of an airport. I sprinted. I sweat through my shirt. I missed the train. I bought another one at the counter and paid double. ...

How to Survive a Chinese Train Station (And Not Look Like a Lost Tourist) Hey, Joran Here I want to start with a confession: I have cried in a Chinese train station. Not proud of it. It was Xi’an North Station, 2019, I was 6 months into China life, my Chinese was terrible, and I was convinced my train had left without me when it had actually been delayed. The station staff found me crying by a vending machine. They gave me tea. They walked me to my platform. They were incredibly kind. But still I cried. ...

The Foreigner’s Guide to Chinese Food Delivery (Meituan & Ele.me) Hey, Joran Here In my first month in Chengdu, I ordered food delivery 47 times. I counted. Not because I’m lazy (okay, partly because I’m lazy) but because I was too scared to order in restaurants. My Chinese was “nihao and thank you,” and menus were walls of indecipherable characters. Meituan and Ele.me became my lifeline. Today, I order delivery like a local and I want you to be able to do the same, even if your Chinese is worse than my martial arts (which, trust me, is saying something). ...

How to Use WeChat Pay as a Foreigner…

Complete step-by-step guide for foreigners to use Alipay and WeChat Pay in China without a Chinese bank account. Learn how to bind foreign credit cards and pay like a local.