10 Things you need to know before coming to China for business trip

If you are planning to visit China for business, you should better prepare something to avoid inconvenience due to the difference of culture & Political policy. Here are some tips and suggestions for you which may help you make your trip successful.

WhatsApp and the other two are blocked in China. If you buy a local Chinese SIM card or connect to a WIFI in a local hotel, you will find that you can not open those websites. There are two ways for you to open them in China:
1) Turn on the international roaming and keep using your original country SIM card. Then you will NOT have any problem with the internet here. However, If you think the roaming fee is too expensive or its not available here then No.2 will be helpful.
2) Buy a local Chinese SIM card & Download VPN. With a local SIM card, normally US$10-20 will be enough for a 7~15 days visit. So you should try to download 2~3 different VPN on your phone before you come to China. The reason why you have to download 2~3 VPN is that VPN in China is also hard, you can not find too much VPN here also not all the VPN work here. So you have to try which one works properly here.

All in all, No.1 is the suggested way as VPN is not that steady here.
By the way, Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Dropbox / Pinterest / Youtube are all blocked here.

As Google is blocked here so Gmail is also blocked here. If you have something in your email which is needed here for working, I would suggest you download the related contents in advance.
Hotmail is working here in China. Yahoo mail is working most of the time.

Here most people can NOT speak English. Most restaurant or taxi driver can not speak English. Hotel for 3 stars and above can speak English.
In the wholesale market, most suppliers can NOT speak English, they mainly speak Chinese. In Guangzhou & Foshan area, some people also speak Cantonese.

Now here no one carry cash for payment like Bus, Taxi, shopping, restaurant, drink…everything, even for begging! Everyone uses e-money like Alipay or Tencent Pay which are very popular and widely use here. With an App on your mobile phone then you can simply scan the QR code for payment.
However, as a foreigner, you may not be able to use the e-money here as you do not have a local debit card. You can still use cash here, people will still accept that for payment.

Here the local currency is called RMB or YUAN. Less people use USD or other foreign currency. If you want to change money then the suggested & easiest way is withdrawal by ATM. As long as your card can go with VISA or MasterCard or other international function. Thats the safe way to avoid getting any fake money.
There are also some money shops here where you can change money. But here not too many money shops. Also some foreign restaurants accept changing money. Just be careful about fake money.
Its really not suggested to change money via local bank as the bank is always busy and need to wait for 2~3 hours even for changing US$100.

Here Saturday & Sunday is weekend, most companies are off for weekend. But all the market, shops, malls are still open during weekend.
Normally here the company open from 9:00~18:00.
The market here normally open from 10:00~18:00. Some will close later like 19:00 or 19:30.
Here restaurant open till night. Most open until 22:00. Some will last until 1:00AM.
The wholesale market is always open during the year, the only close time is Chinese new year.

Here the most common for foreigner could be Taxi. Although most taxi driver can not speak English, if you can just show them the destination in Chinese then they can bring you there. They only accept RMB, do not accept USD.
Rather than Taxi, for better experience you can also book private driver, then the driver can follow you all day, they usually charge US$50~100 for one day depends on the places you want to visit.
Metro provide English service, no traffic jam, clean and comfortable. You can understand without any problem with Metro.

Here there so many different styles of food and each food taste totally different. Like Cantonese food is delicious ,Hunan cuisine is salty, Sichuan cuisine is very spicy, Northwestern cuisine have so many different kinds of noodles.
If you want to check more on Guangzhou Restaurant then you can click here.

Here Chinese people never give tips when they eat in a restaurant or stay in a hotel.
For foreign visitor, if you eat in a restaurant, no need for you to give tips. Only if you stay in a 5 star hotel, and waiter help you with luggage then you can give tips.

If you want to book high speed train ticket or flight ticket ,you can book through C Trip. Its very easy.
The website for C Trip is: www.ctrip.com

Here the policemen hotline is: 110. But most policemen do not speak english.
Medical emergency hotline is: 120.

Tips: If you prefer direct call, Message or email then follow:
David: 0086-18620044981 (WhatsApp, WeChat)
Lilian: 0086-18620045496 (WhatsApp, WeChat)
Email: tanndy@tanndy.com
We will respond in 30mins during working time.