What do I need to know for China?

[ExtraSlow]

A trip to China for work may be unavoidable. Will be mostly babysat by a local, but I hate to be unprepared. What do I need to know there? Is mastercard accepted anywhere? Cash? Power converters, shit like that?

Probably stock up on Tibetan flag Tshirts and VPN advertising pamphlets.

If things go well I won't be there long. I have some reasons I can't elaborate on here for wanting to avoid or minimize this trip.

[dj_rice]

Remember dont speak badly of China. They are listening. But I think the payment method of choice is WeChat there

[suntan]

Don't type google.com into a browser.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Start practicing your actions with the classic "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees - look at these!" and you should be fine.

That's basically how I opened when I met Kenney and his twin brother Rage, and, everything went fine.

... But I'm pretty sure they are Laotian, so YMMV.

[vengie]

Do not fuck around, or you'll find out.

[max_boost]

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Do not fuck around, or you'll find out.

Okay you can fuck around a little bit you gwai lo - lo fan

But if you side trip to North Korea, you most definitely don’t want to fk around

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Also china is huge bro lol where In china man aha and 1 time zone good luck

[littledan]

Byo toilet paper and gl w/ scooting toilets.

Also, hot pot with 16 different types of red meat.

[eblend]

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Byo toilet paper and gl w/ scooting toilets.

Also, hot pot with 16 different types of red meat.

This. If you are out and about and need to use a shitter, either find a western hotel, have TP on hand, or be prepared to use your boarding pass that you found in your bag to wipe your ass....don't ask how I know

I have travelled many countries.....China takes the cake for the amount of crazy bathroom stories I have Pro tip: Learn to shit standing up....as sometimes the flushing doesn't work and the mountain of shit in the squat toilet is as high as your knees....Another pro tip....avoid many of the situations above by not being adventurous and trying yogurt in a street market..

[ExtraSlow]

Probably staying in Beijing, for the cippe. Potentially Chengdu.

[lilmira]

Go get some peking duck at a nice restaurant, it'll change your mind about peking duck else where. I went to Duck de chine few years ago, nice upscale restaurant in an old courtyard. Just about any restaurant has better peking duck than here.

If you have time, get a guide to hike up the unopened section of the wall.

I'd love to go to Chengdu. Go see some panda I guess and food.

Food food and more food

Yes toilet can be interesting outside of any modern buildings.

Pay attention to the english translation on any signs for entertainment.

[ExtraSlow]

Very good chance I don't do any tourist things. Almost certainly zero panda or wall visits.
Restaurants are likely pre-arranged by the babysitter. Probably be some decent ones.

[bjstare]

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Very good chance I don't do any tourist things. Almost certainly zero panda or wall visits.
Restaurants are likely pre-arranged by the babysitter. Probably be some decent ones.

If you're being forced to go all the way over there... why not take a couple extra days to see a couple things?

[ExtraSlow]

There are reasons I won't share that mean I may not have control over my travel schedule. Whatev.
Looking for more "nuts and bolts" shit to know then places to visit.
The tip about TP is a good one.

Do taxis exist and do they take cash or speak any English? In Beijing is it mostly a subway system to get around? How prevalent is English?

I got around Japan no problem, but Japanese is easier to speak than Chinese for my English mouth. And tons of Japanese people know some English.

[lilmira]

Toilet shouldn't be much problem if you stay mostly in the modern part. It is common to carry a pack of tissues in asia in general.

Don't expect to be able to communicate with the locals in English. Interesting enough, the guy that drove me around one day was communicating with me by using his phone to translate. Hilarity ensures but it kinda worked.

Subway is quite easy. All the lines are colour coded.

One thing to know if you are using any western map like Google, the location is off by a block or so. I looked it up and it's a thing. If you use any chinese map it's fine but then it'll be in chinese.

[ExtraSlow]

Okay, what's the best way to flex on the locals? I'm thinking being a six foot tall white guy helps. Thinking a handlebar moustache is good too.

[lilmira]

I dunno, show up with cowboy boots and hat, tell them you are an outlaw gunslinger in the west? ask for a horse?

[2Legit2Quit]

Wear lots of Winnie the Pooh merch, very big and loved over there

[R-Audi]

I went with work many years ago... host brought us to a karaoke bar. While the bar itself was fun, just be aware that any of the ladies hanging around are for hire. They brought them in the room to drink with us (on our tab) and apparently when they go change clothes it means they would like to continue the party elsewhere. None spoke english, so it was easy to simply walk away... but just a heads up.

[XylathaneGTR]

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Okay, what's the best way to flex on the locals? I'm thinking being a six foot tall white guy helps. Thinking a handlebar moustache is good too.

Your experience may vary, but when I was in China 10 years ago, I grew my beard out for four months prior to the trip. I was in a (relatively) rural area (the city we spent most of our time in had 5M people though...)and quite a few people wanted to touch my face/beard, or take pictures with me; people just weren't used to see a tall beardy white guy. Taxis and rickshaw drivers were excited to shuttle us around, too. Might be different in Beijing and Chengdu, though.

Also something else that was weird: we had to surrender our passports for a brief period of time when checking into hotels - they actually took them from us, took the passports somewhere else out of view, then returned them to us later. We were with a university group so that may have had something to do with it, but it still felt super sketchy.

[ExtraSlow]

you surrender your passport in Europe too, or you used to. I haven't been it Europe for a long time.