No matter where you’re travelling, it’s important to be prepared. China is no exception.

There are a few things you really don’t want to come to China without. Some you can’t acquire once you’re in China. Others you may be able to find after you arrive, but who has time for admin shopping when they’re on holiday?! Come prepared and make the most of your time.

This post will uncover the 10 things you MUST have to survive in China.

1. China-friendly VPN

As you may know, China blocks a lot of foreign websites and social media platforms. Nothing Google will work – no Google, no Gmail, no YouTube… You won’t have access to Instagram or Facebook, nor WhatsApp or Messenger. For those who didn’t know this before, I understand the shock of that reality. But fear not, there’s a simple solution. This is a solution that all foreigners and a good handful of mainland residents use.

Download a VPN for your phone and/or laptop. Ensure that the VPN actually works in China – not all do. Additionally, download it before you arrive in China – it can be more difficult once you’re in the country. I personally use Mullvad on my laptop and ShadowRocket on my iPhone. They both work unbelievably well as of this year (2024).

HOWEVER, there’s an even easier solution to this if you’re just travelling with your phone. An e-sim purchased from an outside provider will ensure that all your apps work just fine without needing to use a VPN. If you are working on your laptop, however, you’ll want to come prepared.

2. Basic Chinese

Just like anywhere you go, speaking the local language helps in numerous ways. It can help you out of a sticky situation, it demonstrates respect for the country you’re visiting, and it often helps to create a unique connection with the locals. In China, very few people speak English, and those who do are often too shy to use it.

It’s amazing the difference in interaction you’ll experience when you don’t bother with any Chinese and when you whip out some very basic Chinese. The locals love it! They really appreciate it. Often even if you know a few basic words or phrases, it’ll be enough to receive invitations to eat and drink with locals. They’re then happy to use a translation app to chat further. Check out my list of Essential Chinese vocabulary to Survive China.

It’s also a good idea to have a translation app. My go-to is Baidu Translate. It’s free, it translates text, sound and images, and it’s accurate. This is a lifesaver when you walk into a restaurant with several lists of food but no pictures. These are often the cheapest and best restaurants, so you don’t want to miss out! It’ll be worth the effort, I promise. (Plus, you’ll have a good laugh reading the things that simply don’t translate to English properly).

3. Thermos Water Bottle

The third tip on things you must have to survive China is a simple one, but it’s important. A water bottle, specifically a thermos type, is an item you’ll see many Chinese people carrying, too. You’ll fit right in, and for good reason.

First and foremost, it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do. If you travel, you should have a reusable bottle, no objections. If you have your own bottle, you don’t need to accept those tiny water bottles on planes and buses or use the single-use bottles provided in hotels. As travellers, we’re responsible for doing the right thing. It may seem like something small, but how many single-use bottles will you get through on your holiday? 1 week – 7-14? 2 weeks – 14-28? It adds up.

Okay but why is a water bottle so important in China? An easy, common snack in China is pot noodles. These pot noodles are sold EVERYWHERE. They’re cheap and delicious. If you’re travelling in China, you’ll no doubt spend some time on trains where you’ll find locals slurping up their pot noodles. Having a thermos water bottle means you can fill it up with hot water and have your noodles on the go – in a national park? No problem, pot noodles. Need a quick snack? No problem – pot noodles. Note, many public spaces such as trains and stations do provide hot water dispensers for you to use directly, but having it hot water on hand can be, well, handy!

4. Walking Shoes

Alright, this may seem like a no-brainer that applies to many places, but I felt like it was particularly important for China. China is a huge country. It has huge cities and huge national parks. All of these places will be new and exciting, so you’ll no doubt want to explore place to place on foot. I swear every time I have an exploring day in China I end the day on 20 – 30k steps! The best way to get away from the crowds in tourist locations is to get off the easy/obvious track. The point is, you’re going to be doing a lot of walking – and you’ll need comfortable walking shoes to do so. You can’t go wrong with a pair of Keen sandals, Teva sandals or some trusty sneakers.

5. WeChat

China is a tech country. Everything is done on your phone. There is an app for every service you could possibly imagine. This includes making payments, using share-bikes and ordering taxis. As a tourist, you’ll need to become equipped with some of this technology. Otherwise, you will not get very far in China. Alipay and WeChat are the two must-haves in China. As a visitor, consider WeChat your social app and Alipay your everything else app.

With WeChat you’ll be able to add locals as friends and use a simple translation feature that allows you to seamlessly chat in any language. Some hostels/hotels will ask you to add them on WeChat to provide you with extra details or, again, for ease of communication. You can use the search bar to find groups to ask questions or pages of restaurants, attractions and events.

6. Alipay

Alipay will be your payment app. You can easily add your international card to Alipay and use the scanning/reading QR code function to pay/receive money. Be mindful that you’ll even use QR codes to pay for the cheapest street vendor. Take some time to explore Alipay to see the other services it offers. These are the ones I think will be most useful to you as a traveller:

• Transport – Select ‘Transport’ on the home screen and go through the verification and approval prompts to receive QR codes for the transport in the city you’re in. This will use location services to automatically adjust accordingly.
• Share Bikes – Select ‘Scan’ on the home screen to rent share bikes (most used: Meituan and HelloBikes). This is a fun way to explore cities in a unique way and it costs very little.
• Food Delivery – Ask your accommodation to help you fill in the delivery details and order food to your door.
• Train Tickets – Book train tickets using ‘Railroad 12306’ to avoid paying a booking fee. If it doesn’t accept your international ID/card – use Trip.Com instead. More on that later.
• Taxi (DiDi) – Use the ‘DiDi’ mini-program to order a taxi. You can call regular taxis using this application, too.

7. Tissues

Unless you’re in a (nice) mall, Chinese toilets do NOT have toilet paper. Make a habit of grabbing a handful when possible or taking the toilet paper roll from your hotel before you go. It may seem cheap, but trust me – this will be your top survival tip when you find yourself on a public toilet after an especially spicy dinner.

8. Hand Sanitiser

The toilets also rarely have soap. This even applies in restaurants sometimes. Make it habit to pocket some hand sanitiser or get a cute bag attachment that you can refill before and after your travels! An extra savvy tip for my cheap backpacker readers: refill your hand sanitiser bottles at big chains like hotels and malls so you never run out.

9. Portable Charger

Because you rely on your phone so much in China, the battery drains quickly. You’ll have your phone out for payments, translations and navigation – plus all the other things you usually use your phone for. Your screen time will probably go up! Bring a portable charger. These are lifesavers in China. Some days you may need to re-charge your phone several times!

If you’re in a dire situation, you can also use Alipay to rent a portable charger from one of the many portable charging stations you’ll see in restaurants and shops. You’ll need to pay a deposit and a small fee for every hour of usage before later returning it to a station operated by the same company.

10. Variety of Clothing

It’s no news to anyone that China is a big country. In the same trip you might find yourself surfing at the beach and hiking through snow. It could be mildly cool in a city and suddenly sub-zero temperatures in the mountains nearby. Remember, you’ll often catch fast trains to new destinations that cover immense distances in a short period – the weather changes can be really unexpected. For example, I took a weekend trip to the national park Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu and the temperature difference was almost 20 degrees Celsius!

If you’re travelling in China, come prepared with a variety of clothing options. Research the places you’re visiting, even if you’re only going to them for a few days and you think they aren’t that far away. That being said, China isn’t a country that has much prejudice about what you wear (man or woman). People also rarely care if you choose to underdress, overdress or whatever-you-want-dress, so get as weird or comfortable as you’d like!