Faq

It depends on your passport and the length of your stay — China’s visa-free and transit-visa policies vary by nationality and are updated periodically. Use the visa checker on the Trip Mode homepage for a dynamic, date-based answer, and always confirm with your nearest Chinese embassy or consulate before booking, since entry rules can change without notice.

Three things make the first 24 hours dramatically easier: (1) link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay, (2) activate an eSIM so you have data the moment you land, and (3) save offline hotel address cards in Chinese. All three are covered in our step-by-step guides.

Your phone will work, but many apps you rely on at home (Google services, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, X, Line, KakaoTalk) are blocked by China’s firewall. See our “China Connectivity, eSIM & Firewall Survival Guide” for how to keep them working without hassle.

In most cities, yes — Alipay and WeChat Pay are accepted almost everywhere, from street food stalls to high-speed rail. Our Alipay & WeChat Pay Guide walks through linking a foreign credit card with zero fees under 200 RMB per transaction.

The official 12306 system requires passport ID verification at booking. Our 12306 Train Reservation guide walks through the exact steps, including how to collect a paper ticket at the station if you need one.

DiDi (China’s equivalent of Uber) supports an English interface and lets you drop a pin instead of explaining your destination out loud. Street-hailing works too, but is harder without Chinese — that’s what our offline hotel address cards are for.

Trip Mode is a day-by-day planner keyed to your actual travel dates and city. Instead of a static article list, it surfaces the specific tool or guide you’re likely to need at that point in your trip — pre-travel prep, arrival-day setup, in-city logistics, and so on.

Guides, tools and the emergency kit are available without an account. Creating a free account lets Trip Mode remember your trip dates and city so the planner stays personalized across visits.

Key tools — hotel address cards, allergy cards, and the emergency kit — are designed to be screenshotted or saved before you lose signal, since mainland connectivity can be inconsistent, especially outside major cities.

The site supports English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Malay, Persian, Arabic and Spanish — switch languages any time from the selector in the header.

Check your spam folder first. If it’s still missing after a few minutes, contact us with the email address you registered with and we’ll sort it out.

See our full Privacy Policy for details — in short, we only collect what’s needed to run your account and never sell your personal data.