Payments that take up to 72 hours to activate. Sights that sell out a week before you arrive. Trains your passport unlocks. Six working tools that turn the things that strand first-timers into a plan you can finish today.
China runs three different visa-free schemes at once, and they are not interchangeable. Picking the wrong one — for example, booking a round trip and expecting the transit scheme to cover it — is how people lose a flight. Answer three questions; the checker applies the current rules for your passport.
Policy basis: China's unilateral 30-day visa-free policy currently covers 50 countries and runs to 31 Dec 2026 (Russia to 31 Dec 2027; Brunei has no fixed end date); the 240-hour transit scheme covers 55+ nationalities (57 since Aug 2026, when Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added), 65 ports and 24 provinces. Entry is always at the discretion of the border officer — re-check your route before you fly. Sources: Chinese Visa Application Service Center notice on the visa exemption policy; Consulate General of China in Barcelona — FAQs on visa-free entry (updated 21 May 2026; 50-country list); 240-hour transit scheme — country list and Aug 2026 expansion.
Almost every arrival disaster in China is a timing problem, not a knowledge problem: card verification, account reviews and ticket windows all run on clocks that start days before you fly. Enter your departure date and the checklist re-dates itself around it.
The arrival failure chain is always the same: airport Wi-Fi login wall → no data → payment setup fails → no ride to the hotel. Do these in order and the chain never starts. Everything here works even if your payment apps are still verifying.
Payments still verifying? Use cash + the metro. Most big-city sights and malls also accept foreign cards directly at staffed counters — ask before assuming you're stuck.
No data at all? Airport information desks and hotel concierges will order you a taxi and write addresses in Chinese. Screenshot everything you need (hotel address, bookings, this page) before you fly.
Map pin in the wrong place? English map apps can offset addresses in China. Search by the Chinese name, or navigate with Amap (高德地图) once you have any data connection — it is the source local drivers use.
Police — 110 Ambulance — 120 Fire — 119 Immigration service hotline — 12367 (English available)
Save these in your phone before departure, along with your embassy's number and your hotel's front desk.
China is close to cashless: street food, metro gates, museum shops and taxis all run on QR codes. You don't need a Chinese bank account — both major apps link foreign cards — but you do need to finish setup before the verification clock becomes your problem.
You can survive on cash alone, but you'll pay for it in friction: exact change, taxi drivers who can't break a ¥100 note, and ticket machines that prefer QR. Set up the apps at home, carry ¥300–500 in small notes as a bridge, and keep one physical card for hotel deposits — most hotels still pre-authorise a card at check-in.
China's headline sights are real-name, reservation-only and capped. There is no queue to join when you arrive — if you didn't book inside the window, you don't get in. Tick the sights on your list, set your visit dates, and generate your personal booking calendar.
Nothing generated yet. The Forbidden City and one train journey are pre-ticked above — adjust the dates and build your calendar.
Windows and prices verified 22 Oct 2026 against the venues' published rules. Release patterns change around public holidays — treat the generated date as your alarm, and buy in the first minutes of the release where a time is shown.
High-speed rail is the best way to move between Chinese cities — Beijing to Shanghai in about 4.5 hours, station to station in the city centre. Tickets are fully electronic: your passport is your ticket. Both booking routes below sell the same trains; they differ in friction, not in trains.
Source: Trip.com's step-by-step 12306 guide for foreign travellers, updated Oct 2026.
Tickets go on sale 15 days before departure, at a release time that depends on the departure station. Popular Friday and holiday trains can sell out within minutes of release — the deadline generator above includes trains, so your calendar will carry the date.
Refunds are straightforward and mostly free until 8 days before departure, then tiered (5% / 10% / 20%) as departure approaches. One free-ish change per ticket is allowed online.
Since the 2026 upgrade, overseas visitors get VAT back on purchases from just ¥200 in one store on one day — and at stores offering “instant refund” (即买即退） you can have it back before you've left the mall. Almost nobody explains the maths honestly: here's the calculator and the process.
The refund agency deducts a service fee of about 2% of the purchase, so roughly 9% of what you paid lands back with you on standard goods.
Below the ¥200 minimum — no refund. The threshold is per store, per day: receipts from different stores can't be combined (branches of the same chain can).
90 days: goods must leave China with you within 90 days of purchase.
Unused means unused: worn, opened or consumed items fail inspection. Food and services don't qualify.
Forms matter: no application form from the store = no refund at the airport, whatever your receipts say. Get the form at the till, every time.
Sources: China National Tourist Office — departure tax refund policy update; Eventurus tax refund walkthrough (updated 17 Oct 2026).
You don't need Mandarin — you need twelve sentences a driver, clerk or waiter can read off your screen. Tap copy, paste into any note or keep this page open. Big type, no ambiguity.