China is not only known for its Wonder of the World, the Great Wall of China. There is another well-known wall that is hard to crack: the Great Firewall. In a nutshell, the Chinese government blocks access to Western apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Google and so on. The aim is to prevent citizens from accessing our social media. As a tourist, you are pretty much at a loss without preparation: No Google Maps to get your bearings. No WhatsApp or Gmail to stay in touch with family. And it’s no longer possible to quickly “google” something on the Internet.
Don’t worry: China has very good apps, some even better than ours, you just have to know them and, above all, be able to read the Chinese characters.
Surf the Internet
One way to access the internet is with an eSIM (embedded SIM). An eSIM is permanently installed in the device and you can buy an eSIM with a certain amount of data from various providers. Many people opt for an eSIM from a company based in Hong Kong. You pay a one-off fee for activation and a certain data volume, e.g. 1 GB per day. The advantage of Hong Kong is that you are not affected by internet censorship, even if you are in mainland China. Depending on the offer, however, the eSIM is only possible for one device, hotspot is limited and calls and text messages are not included.
We have had good experiences with buying an additional Chinese SIM card. There are shops from telecoms providers such as China Unicom, China Mobile etc. in every city. I got a SIM card from China Unicom for 159 RMB (approx. 20 EUR/USD) with 40 GB of 5G data and 700 call minutes (without SMS) for one month.
Because the use of VPN (Virtual Private Network) to circumvent internet censorship is prohibited, we did not use it. However, we did meet some tourists who downloaded an app like Express VPN from an app store before their trip. Once you’re in China, it’s too late. Express VPN seemed to work well. Other providers like NordVPN did not work (as of October 2023). However, the Great Firewall is constantly changing and new providers are always being added to the “blacklist”, which then try to find another loophole. With ExpressVPN, you can buy a subscription for one month and then cancel it. It is available for several devices. As I said, these are just the experiences of other tourists.
Important Apps
Pay with cards? Not in China! I’ve never experienced a situation where you couldn’t pay with a debit or credit card in a shop. If you don’t have cash with you or the most important apps available online, you’re pretty much stuck. We survived while travelling thanks to these apps:
1. Alipay: Whether booking trains, translating texts, paying at the till: We used Alipay by far the most. After registering, you can save a credit card that is used for all transactions. In China, you pay with QR codes. Either you show the QR code generated shortly beforehand in the app at the checkout and the cashier scans it. Or you have to scan a QR code with the app and then confirm the payment. The booking platform for trains is also stored so that you can book trains via Alipay (12306.cn). The advantage of this is that Alipay translates most words directly in the app, whereas the official app of the train company (12306.cn) only shows Chinese.
2. Wechat: Wechat is similar to Whatsapp, but has more functions. Many of our hotels didn’t have an email address. You could only contact them by phone, which is a bit difficult if you don’t speak Chinese. With Wechat, we could search for the hotel’s phone number, send a request and chat with the staff. The same works with private individuals. Wechat (like Alipay) has a payment function using a QR code. Some providers only accept payments via Wechat (rarely). You can install the app before your trip and deposit your credit card. However, it can only be activated in China with the help of a Chinese person who has to scan a QR code with their cell phone.
3. Amap – Gaode Maps: Thanks to Amap, we were able to explore the city on buses and trams like locals. Although Amap does not have an automatic translation function, it is easy to understand. You can add places to your favourites using the star. The route descriptions are also particularly practical. At the beginning of the trip, we searched for many routes on the Internet and with experience reports. But these often didn’t help us. With Amap, we were shown the right buses and trams. We even knew which exit to take at the railway station and in the metro. And the blue dot always showed us where we were on the route.
4. Maps.me: The Asian alternative to Google Maps. Google Maps does work if you have downloaded the offline maps beforehand, but we cannot recommend it. Some of the maps have not been updated for years and the roads are completely out of alignment. Where there was a forest on the satellite images, there is now a town. So everything is out of date. You can also download offline maps from Maps.me and even share the bookmarks with friends. Maps.me was important when we didn’t have internet access or when the Chinese characters in Amap were too much for us.
Route description of Amap – Gaode-Maps:
Conclusion: You can survive well in China. You just have to know how. It’s certainly easier with two people. You can buy two different SIM cards. If you don’t understand something, someone can take a photo of the other person’s screen and translate it. And if someone doesn’t have internet, the other person will most likely be able to use it.
You can find more tips for travelling to China in my blog.