It comes down to five things, plus one that almost everyone leaves until the last minute. Below is the order that actually works, and for each one, the official place to check it yourself.
Five things decide whether the first week goes smoothly: your entry permission, a payment app that works with a foreign card, a phone number that still receives texts, a hotel that can register a foreign passport, and the 24-hour registration rule. Everything else you can solve standing up, with a phone in one hand.
The one most people forget: a phone number
A lot of what you set up in China is tied to a phone number that has to keep working: your bank sends codes there, Alipay and WeChat verify there, and some restaurant menus ask for it before they will open. Decide before you fly whether you are keeping your own number on roaming or buying a local SIM, and check that your banking app can receive a code abroad. Two working routes beat one perfect plan.
There is more than one way in. A visa issued by a Chinese embassy or consulate; a visa-free arrangement between China and certain countries; or a transit exemption when you are passing through China on the way to a third destination. They differ by nationality, by purpose of travel, and by how long you stay.
These rules are set by the Chinese government and get revised with little notice, so the only reliable answer is your own passport checked against the official pages. This page lists where to look. It does not tell you which rule applies to you.
Anything you read on a blog, including this page, is out of date the moment a rule changes. Book flexible, and re-check in the week before you fly.
Install Alipay or WeChat Pay at home and bind a foreign card to it. One working app covers most counters, taxis, train tickets and vending machines — you do not need both, and you do not need a Chinese bank account.
Binding needs a passport check and often a code your bank texts you, which is much easier to handle on your own network with your banking app open than at an airport with no signal. Two things break the process: your own bank flags the transaction, or the name on the card does not match the passport character for character.
Cash is a real fallback, not a last resort. Merchants in China are required to accept RMB notes, so a shop showing only a QR code still has to take your money. Carry a few hundred yuan in small notes for the day your phone dies.
Choose before you fly: keep your own SIM on roaming, or buy a local SIM after arrival. Roaming keeps the number your bank and your accounts already know. A local SIM is usually cheaper for data but hands you a new number, and anything registered to the old one will keep texting the old one.
Assume nobody will speak English — not the driver, not the shop assistant, not the hotel desk at midnight. A translation app that works offline plus about twenty written phrases covers almost every ordinary day, and costs nothing to prepare.
If your phone is also your map, your wallet and your translator, carry one thing that needs no battery: your hotel address written in Chinese, on paper.
Not every hotel in China can check in a foreign passport. The gap is widest among cheaper domestic chains and some apartment rentals, and you find out at the desk, at night, with your bags already out of the car.
Book on a platform that lets you filter for properties accepting foreign guests, and keep the confirmation in writing. If you are refused anyway, ask the platform to move you the same night — cheaper than solving it yourself at 11pm.
High-speed rail is how you move between cities, and tickets can be bought online with a passport. Ride-hailing works without cash once your payment app is set, and no Chinese phone number is needed to book a car.
Two steps fail most often: the identity check on the rail booking system that stays pending, and the passport that will not scan at the station gate. Both have a workaround, and both are much worse at 7am on the day you travel.
Your hotel registers you with the local police automatically when you check in. If you stay anywhere that is not a hotel, registering within 24 hours is your own job. Carry your passport: it is the ID for trains, hotels, SIM cards and any police check.
Day one is where small things compound: a SIM that has not activated, a card never tested, a translation app that still needs downloading. Land with the payment app working and one successful payment behind you, and the rest of the week stays boring.
Most problems in China are small, and a few in the emergency list are genuinely serious. Every case below has its own page: what you will see, why it happens, and the first step out. All 62 are free to read.
For the serious ones, call first and read second: 110 police, 120 ambulance, 119 fire. English-speaking operators are not always available, so have your hotel name written in Chinese ready to show.
Five things: check that your passport has the right entry permission, install Alipay or WeChat Pay and bind a foreign card, sort a phone number that can still receive SMS, book a hotel that accepts foreign guests, and know the 24-hour registration rule. Everything else can be handled on the ground, with a phone in your hand.
Yes. Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept foreign cards, and you can install the app, register with your home number, add the card and finish the passport check before you fly. Doing it at home is easier because your bank can text you codes and you can call them if the card is blocked.
It depends on your nationality and on how you enter. China issues visas through embassies and consulates, has visa-free arrangements with some countries, and allows visa-free transit in some cases. The rules change with little notice, so check your own passport on the official pages. This page does not decide it for you.
Not much, but carry some. Mobile payment covers most of daily life once your app works, and merchants are required to accept RMB notes, so a shop showing only a QR code still has to take cash. A few hundred yuan in small notes covers a dead phone or a card your bank has frozen.
Your phone will work if you either keep your home SIM on roaming or buy a local SIM after arrival. Roaming keeps the number your bank and accounts already know, which matters because verification codes go there. A local SIM is usually cheaper for data and gives you a Chinese number that some services ask for.
Book through a platform that lets you filter for properties accepting foreign passports, and keep the confirmation in writing. Not every hotel can register a foreign guest, and the gap is widest in cheaper domestic chains. If you are refused at the desk, ask the platform to relocate you instead of searching yourself.
Yes, with a passport. The official rail booking service accepts foreign passports, and third-party platforms sell the same tickets with an English interface. The step that fails is identity verification, which sometimes stays pending. If it does, buy at a station counter with your passport instead.
Hotels register foreign guests with the local police automatically when you check in. If you stay somewhere that is not a hotel, such as a friend's flat, you are expected to register at a local police station within 24 hours. Bring your passport and your host's address.