https://chinatripcompass.com/ A free, in-depth English guide to travelling in China: visas, payments, trains, food, etiquette, itineraries and city guides written for first-time foreign visitors. en https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/china-with-children/ https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/china-with-children/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Travelling in China with children: the child rail fares that changed to age in 2023, metro height limits, food, and where China is easier than you expect. https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/chinese-customs-on-arrival/ https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/chinese-customs-on-arrival/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China replaced six customs baggage rules with one order in April 2025. If you do not know which channel to take, the rule says you must take the red one. https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/make-up-workdays-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/plan/make-up-workdays-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China grants 13 statutory holiday days but takes nine off at Spring Festival. The difference is borrowed weekends, repaid on six make-up days in 2026. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/accessible-travel-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/accessible-travel-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT What wheelchair access in China is really like: the 2023 accessibility law, step-free rail and metro, and the discounts a foreign passport cannot claim. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/lgbt-travel-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/lgbt-travel-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT What LGBT travellers should know before visiting China: what the law says, what changed after 2016, and the dating apps pulled from Chinese app stores. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/business-travel-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/business-travel-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Most short business trips to China now need no visa at all. What the visa-free scheme covers, where work crosses the line, and why you ask for a fapiao. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/halal-travel-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/halal-travel-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China is easier for a Muslim traveller than expected. What the 清真 sign guarantees, why certification was withdrawn, and where pork hides. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/hiking-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/hiking-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Hiking in China happens inside ticketed scenic areas, mostly on stone staircases. Going outside the open area is prohibited, finable and now billable. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/theme-parks-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/theme-parks-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Beijing tie every ticket to a named passport and a fixed date. Turning up and buying at the gate is not an option. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/watching-sport-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/watching-sport-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Tickets to any event over 5,000 people are tied to your passport and checked at the gate. What is worth watching, and when each season runs. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/luggage-and-left-luggage-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/luggage-and-left-luggage-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Chinese high-speed trains have no baggage hold, so every bag rides with you and is screened. Where to leave one, and what the limits are. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/sending-things-home-from-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/sending-things-home-from-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Posting purchases home is easy, but it forfeits your VAT refund — the rules require you to carry the goods out yourself and show them at customs. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/booking-chinese-attractions/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/booking-chinese-attractions/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China dropped reservation rules at most sights in July 2024 — but kept them at the ones you most want to see, and free museums still sell out. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/laundry-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/laundry-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT How to wash clothes on a long China trip — why budget hotel chains beat luxury ones, why laundromats barely exist, and the ¥2,000 rule at dry cleaners. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/smoking-and-vaping-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/smoking-and-vaping-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China has no national indoor smoking ban — it is city by city. The one rule with real teeth is on trains, where it costs a fine and a 180-day ticket ban. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/theft-and-lost-passport-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/theft-and-lost-passport-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT If your passport is stolen in China, go to the police before your embassy — doing it the other way round adds a step. The full sequence, and the deadline. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/missed-trains-and-refunds-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/missed-trains-and-refunds-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Miss a Chinese train and you have until midnight to switch to another one that day, free — but only in person at the station you were leaving from. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/flight-delays-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/flight-delays-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Whether a Chinese airline owes you a meal and a bed depends entirely on the cause — except at a stopover or after a diversion, where it always does. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/long-distance-buses-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/long-distance-buses-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Coach tickets in China are real-name on any route crossing a province or a prefecture — and if you lose the ticket, the seller must reissue it free. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/driving-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/driving-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Your national licence and your International Driving Permit are both invalid in mainland China. The permit that replaces them takes days and lasts months. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/typhoons-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/typhoons-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China warns of typhoons on a four-colour scale. Orange is when classes, business and transport stop — and the worse it gets, the less notice you get. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/chinese-scenic-areas/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/chinese-scenic-areas/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Every managed Chinese attraction carries an A-grade and a legal daily visitor ceiling. Both are public, and both tell you what kind of day to expect. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/lost-property-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/lost-property-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT China holds found property rather than binning it, and the railway runs a national search service. What to do in the first hour, and the law behind it. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/injured-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/injured-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT An injury routes differently from an illness in China. Emergency departments triage into four levels, a twisted ankle is level four, and level four waits. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/sleeper-trains-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/sleeper-trains-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT The berth you get is a fare class you choose at booking, not a bed you are assigned. Here is what soft and hard sleeper actually mean on a Chinese train. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/tour-shopping-stops-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/tour-shopping-stops-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT A jade factory on the itinerary is not a quirk of Chinese tours. It is unlawful, and you have thirty days after the trip to make the agency take it back. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/mini-programmes-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/mini-programmes-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Booking a Chinese museum, a coach seat or a lost-property claim means opening a mini-programme. Here is what that is, and why it wants your passport number. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/buying-jade-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/buying-jade-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT This site tells you five times not to buy jade because it cannot be judged. One question about it is settled by national standard, on a certificate. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/marked-prices-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/marked-prices-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT This site treats China's fixed prices as etiquette. In fact they are a legal duty — the marked price binds, and no unmarked fee may be added on top. https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/hotels-and-foreign-guests-in-china/ https://chinatripcompass.com/guides/hotels-and-foreign-guests-in-china/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Some Chinese hotels refuse foreign guests. The refusal is real — but it is not what the law says, and seven departments told them to stop it in July 2024.