China

China (中国 chūgoku) is a huge country with the world's largest population. Getting there is a lot easier from Japan than from generally all of your respective home countries, so why not have a jaunt to China sometime while you're in Japan?

Visas

Pretty much everyone needs a visa and must apply for it in advance, though Hong Kong and Macao have their own rules.

If you have any of the following, you will not be allowed in the country:

• A mental disorder
• Leprosy
• AIDS
• Venereal diseases
• Contagious tuberculosis
• Other infectious diseases

There is a travel agency in Matsusaka that can help you procure a visa. It's called 三交旅行 (Sanco Ryokō) and it's on Route 42. Their telephone number is 0598-21-4135.

You could do the visa run to Osaka or Nagoya yourself, but you'll need to take nenkyu to do this and make at least 2 trips to drop your passport/paperwork off, and another to pick it up. Postal applications have not been accepted in the past though it's worth checking the current situation with the embassy. It's perhaps easiest to apply through a travel agent, though it's expensive. For a 30 day tourist visa it costs Australian passport holders ¥13,000 through No. 1 Travel in Nagoya. Visas cost significantly more for Americans, though not sure about other nationalities. There was about a 10 day turnover in 2009. You need to take in your passport and 2 passport sized photos. They have forms available for you to fill out. It's good if you have your employer's address/phone number handy as they will ask for that.

You are required to list a rough itinerary for your trip, though they don't ask for any evidence of hotel bookings etc. so you don't need to be too specific (i.e. make it up).

As always, you should ensure that you have 6 months validity left on your passport.

Getting there

By Air

• China Eastern Airlines

  Totally fine to use. It covers a load of places in China. The food is pretty lame, but the service is decent.

• Air China

  I've heard people bitch and moan about Air China but I have no personal experience with them.

• China Airlines

  This is a Taiwan-based carrier that flies via Taipei to HK but not to mainland China. Obviously good for HK flights or parts of Southern China.

• Asiana Airlines

  A budget airline based in Seoul. Excellent airline.

• Korean Air

  Top notch airline.

• JAL

  National carrier.

• ANA

  National carrier.

• Cathay Pacific

  Cathay are a fantastic airline and would be great for flights to HK, though if you wish to fly elsewhere in China you will have to connect THROUGH HK which is rather circuitous if you are going to somewhere like Beijing/Shangers.

Borders

Note that Hong Kong and Macao are both Special Administrative Regions and most people will not need a visa (incl. Australians, Americans, Canadians, Brits, Irish, South Africans, Kiwis and most Europeans) unless staying for extended periods.

If you are going to leave mainland China to visit HK/Macao or any other country, and then return, you will of course need a MULTI-ENTRY Visa. Much easier to do in advance than when you're already traveling.

Hong Kong

You can travel visa free for stays up to 180 days (UK), or 90 days (EU citizens, Australians, Americans, Canadians).

Macao

You don't need a visa for stays of up to 30 days (Australians, Americans, Canadians), 90 days (EU countries except UK), and 6 months (UK).

Tibet

If you wish to travel to Tibet, check Lonely Planet Thorn Tree for the latest updates on the permit situation. Before travelling to Tibet, you need to get a Chinese visa. On top of that, you need to get a Tibet Travel Permit. Read the link on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree (above) for further info.

Others

• If you are travelling into Vietnam, you need to get a visa in advance.
• Travelling into Laos, you can get one at the border (though this may change anytime).
• You will need a visa in advance if you wish to travel to Russia.
• If you are dead-set (haha no pun intended) on going to North Korea, you also need to get the visa in advance and can ONLY travel there on a guided tour.

If you are entering China from HK or Macao, you need to get your visa in advance. I believe HK is a reasonably good place to get a visa with a turnover of about 5 days - a good amount of time to see HK.

Money

China uses the Yuan RMB. As of 17 July 2009, the exchange rate was ¥100 to 7.28RMB. Check the latest on xe

ATMs are widely available in big and medium sized cities and many accept foreign cards with Cirrus/Plus/Maestro.

If you need to exchange money at a bureau de change/bank, you need to take your passport and ideally the address/phone number of your hotel. They will simply refuse to exchange your money if you don't have your passport and MAY refuse if you don't have your hotel/guesthouse details. Annoying bureaucratic bollocks much.

It seems that there is a lot of counterfeit money circulating in China at the moment, so don't be surprised or offended if your money is checked every time you pay for something.

Be sure to change your RMB before you leave as it's pretty useless elsewhere and can be hard to change in some places.

Major Airports

• Beijing Capital Airport - PEK

  Airport Express - the airport express train from Terminal 2/3 (I think from 1 you need to take a bus to another terminal) to Dongzhimen subway station(25RMB, takes about 20mins) and jump on the subway from there (2RMB to anywhere on the subway network. This is fine if you don't have too much luggage, though is ofen quite a bit of walking in subway stations, and if you have to make several changes, can be pretty tiresome.

  You can take a cab for around 120RMB. Official Beijing taxis use the meter. If you wish to take a taxi, only take one from the official taxi rank. Don't go with any of the dudes who accost you upon disembarkation. It's about a 30min trip into central Beijing, but could be significantly more with traffic.

  There are several buses that run into town too. Airport staff should be able to advise which bus is the easiest to take. Though with the airport express up and running, it hardly seems necessary.

• Shanghai Pudong Airport - PVG

  • Maglev - This is a super-fast magnetic train that'll travels at about 500km/h - it'll do the 30km from the airport to Longyang Road Metro Station in 8 minutes!! It costs 50RMB one-way and 80RMB return. It only runs between 06:45 and 21:30 though, which sucks if you have an early/late flight.
  • Buses - There are a tonne of buses running between the city and the airport. It's useful if you have the address of your hotel written down to show to staff at the airport. They should be able to point you in the right direction. Buses cost around 16RMB one way.
  • Taxis - It'll cost you around 200RMB into Shanghai city, but of course it depends on traffic. Again, you should take taxis from the official taxi stand only.

• Shanghai Hongqiao Airport - SHA

  I haven't been to this airport so not sure. It's closer to town though, so prices are cheaper for taxis and buses.

• Xi'an Airport - XIY

  The airport is actually in Xian Yang about 40km from central Xi'an. Airport buses cost about 25RBM and Line 1 operates 24 hours, to and from the Bell Tower (pretty much in the middle of Xi'an). If you want to get a taxi to the airport it'll cost about 100RMB. Make sure the meter is switched on.

  Hamande Cafe serves HORRIBLE, OVERPRICED COFFEE - it's not worth your patronage.

• Guilin Airport - KWL

  Shuttle buses depart every half-hour (6.30am - 8pm) from the airport to the CAAC building in downtown Guiln. 20RMB one way. Trip takes about 40mins. Taxis between airport and the city cost about 100RMB.

  If you want to go from the airport direct to Yangshuo, it'll cost you around 300RMB. I don't know if that's the metered price, but that's the price airport information staff quoted me. In the reverse direction from Yangshuo direct to the airport it'll cost you around 200RMB or 240RMB if you take the freeways.

Transportation

Air

Given how massive China is, planes can save you a lot of time and can be a reasonably inexpensive option.

A good website for booking flights is ctrip.com. In case you were wondering, the prices are listed in RMB not Yen - the symbol looks the same as the ¥ though. You need to join the website to book here. It's a reliable site for booking though.

Airlines

I've used all these airlines at would use all of them again. I can't comment on any other airline within China. You may wish to check the safety records of some carriers, particularly in more remote regions. Have a look at Sky Trax for airline ratings.

• China Eastern Airlines

  Totally fine to use. It's pretty comfortable and the service is fine. It covers a load of places in China.

• Asiana Airlines

  A great airline based in Seoul. You can't take internal flights on it but it does fly from Nagoya to Beijing via Seoul.

• Korean Air

  A superb airline that flies from many destinations in Japan to China via Incheon (Seoul).

• Air Asia - based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

  A great budget airline and can be handy if you are looking to fly onwards from China (from Guangzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Hangzhou [2 hrs from Shanghai], Shenzen [very close to HK] and Tianjin [30 mins on bullet train from Beijing]. You will have to fly through KL to connect to other destinations. If you can pick up a cheap flight to KL, this could be an affordable way to enter China.

Rail

Major cities are pretty well connected though remember that distances can be great and you need to weigh up the money you might save in train travel vs time it'll take. e.g. it'll take you about 26 hours to get a train from Guilin-Shanghai, but only 1.5 hours flying.

Overnight sleeper trains can be of very high standard. You basically have a choice between soft sleeper and hard sleeper. Soft sleeper berths are very comfortable - you'll be in a 4-bed cabin with bathrooms at the end of each carriage. Hard sleeper berths are purported to be just as soft as soft sleeper berths. The main difference is that you're in a more open carriage with 3 berths stacked up vs 2.

On some lines you can also get deluxe soft sleeper tickets. The tickets are considerably more expensive than those for regular soft sleeper/hard sleeper but they are super comfortable. In my opinion, I'd prefer to save the cash than shell out the extra cash, however, ticket availability is greater, hence you can more easily get tickets at short notice.

Rail Tips

• You should aim to buy tickets as early as possible as they will sell out. It's possible to buy them yourself at whichever train station when you are in China. If you wish to do this, it's a good idea to know which train you wish to catch in advance and to have the date/time/train number written down to show the ticket desk. In bigger cities, you will likely have ONE counter where someone speaks some English, but it's not guaranteed. In smaller cities, it's unlikely you'll find an English speaker. The queues for the English ticket counter can be pretty long too, so if you can fumble your way through at a regular Chinese counter(it's totally doable), it can save a bit of time. As long as you know the date/time/destination (written in Chinese - use your guidebook or get someone to write it for you in Chinese) and train number (see websites below), it's not that hard.
• It's not possible to buy tickets in China too far in advance. I believe this is because of the tendency of agencies to bulk buy tickets and sell them at inflated prices.
• Do NOT buy tickets from touts outside the stations.
• Many hotels/hostels/travel agents can book your ticket for you. Of course you will have to pay commission for that service but it CAN save you time, effort and confusion.
• You can use these websites to buy tickets in advance as well as look up train timetables and find train route numbers to show at train stations - very handy!
  • China Trip Advisor
  • China Train Tix
  • Seat61

Subways

There are awesome subways in Beijing and Shanghai and in several other cities in China. Tickets are cheap and the subways are really easy to use. Maps are in English and Chinese and the signage is great. Tickets in Beijing cost 2RMB for journeys of any distance. Tickets in Shanghai cost around 3RMB but can be more if the journey is great.

In Hong Kong you have the MTR which is superb. Been a while since I last visited so unsure of current ticket prices. You can buy an octopus card which you can use for many journeys. I believe you can also put credit on it to make small purchases at konbinis.

Buses

In the large cities, I'd probably avoid buses as much as possible. They are crowded, get stuck in traffic and can take a long time to get anywhere. In more rural areas it's often your only choice. In some cases you buy your ticket on the bus. In other cases, you can buy before at the ticket office. The good thing about buying at the ticket office is you won't get overcharged for the tickets. Bad thing is that you might not find the right bus! Your ticket should have the time and destination (in Chinese) written on it. It's easy enough to match the Chinese on your ticket to the Chinese on the bus, but give yourself enough time to find the bus. Most likely, someone will happily point you in the right direction.

There are apparently some pretty nice sleeper buses (i.e. with beds!). Also some have air-con/toilets/television.

Taxis

I very seldom take taxis anywhere, but it was ridiculously affordable in China, and in the searing summer heat, a pretty good option. Meters in Beijing start at 10RMB and go up fairly slowly. You can usually travel a couple of kms for 10RMB, which is really handy if it's very hot, and there is no convenient subway route to your destination. Taxis are air-con and comfortable and run on the meter. The drivers in Beijing will most likely turn the meter on, though keep an eye on it and give them a gentle reminder to turn it on. Chances are that the driver won't speak English so have the name of the place you want to visit written in Chinese (usually Lonely PLanet will suffice) and it's a good idea to carry the name/address of your hotel with you too.

In Shanghai, the meters start at 12RMB and tick over fairly slowly.

In Xi'an the meters start at 6RMB! You can get from downtown Xi'an to the Big Goose Pagoda for about 11RMB.

If there is a taxi queue, use it.

To wave down a taxi on the street you should stick out your hand with your palm facing down and wave it up and down.

Bicycle

Can be a great way to get around, though you need to be very vigilant of what everyone else around you is doing. They can drive like nutters and while it's likely, they'll dodge you, there's nothing to guarantee it!

Many hostels/guesthouses hire bikes for the day (some great mountain bikes are available) for pretty decent prices. Make sure they have locks available.

Tuk Tuks

Hell on 3 wheels.

Places

• Beijing
• Shanghai
• Great Wall
• Xi'an
• Yangshuo
• Suzhou
• Hua Shan

See also

• China - Wikitravel