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Most things you hear are a lie, whether it be regarding travel to China or quite frankly any other topic. Go on Instagram and look at any reel and you will see unlimited comments: “it’s a communist country!” “I don’t want to eat dog!” “This is China propaganda”.
NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN THERE OR HAVE PROBABLY LEFT THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
Is it the easiest country to go to? No. But for 54 countries there is a 144 hour transit visa (which I used) and the process was extremely easy. Arrive, fill out a form, show you have a flight out, and enter. Sadly, I have only visited Beijing, so keep that in mind, but here are my tips for how to navigate Beijing.
Sure it’s going to depend where you are from, but once you arrive you’ll be like “wow, this feels very….normal”. The citizens are proud of their country and are very grateful you are seeing it with your own eyes. Yes the language barrier is quite difficult but people will help you with a smile on their face.
WILL YOU BE SAFE? Without a doubt. What you have heard about the cameras is actually the truth (LOL), they are EVERYWHERE. But I mean it didn’t bother me personally, it felt like I could’ve put my phone on the ground and it would be there in an hour. Beijing is up there in the top safest to solo travel for me.
EFFICIENCY: Not joking, you do not need cash. EVERYTHING is on your phone. The taxi driver. The 90 year old street food vender. The train. Shopping. Everything. It was truly mind blowing and honestly a bit dystopian not bringing any cash or cards the entire time. I will go more into that here (soon).
On that note I might as well share my affiliate link for NORDVPN. You will need a VPN in China in order to access a lot of sites you are normally used to.
FOOD? Hot Pot is now ruined for me, that’s all I have to say. It was an incredible experience eating hot pot in China. Nothing was in english and nobody spoke english but the hostess sat with me and helped me order on the ipad. Different servers would come over to me and make sure I knew how to eat it throughout the entire meal.
Society: There’s A LOT of people as expected. SO many kids and families. At night it was very refreshing to witness that because of all the negative things we hear. You wouldn’t believe how many people wanted to practice English and were so excited to talk to somebody who was fluent in English.
It is a MASSIVE country so it’s hard for me to say “visit this part”. Shanghai is a 2 hour flight from Beijing and then Chongqing is another 900 miles from there. Do not expect it to be like taking the train from Amsterdam to Brussels. But what I CAN say… THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA IS ONE OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE THINGS YOU CAN SEE. Pictures and words don’t even do justice. You can read my guide for that here.
I guess to answer the question “Why travel to China in 2025?”…..because it’s very important for you to see it with your own eyes. Whatever country you are from probably has a different opinion on it, and I’m sure it’s a controversial one. So visit China, come home, overhear somebody talking about it, know they are wrong, and just sit and smile to yourself.