Traveling to China – What to Expect

So, you’ve decided to go to China for your study abroad trip. Now that you’ve made the decision, it’s time to start doing your research for your trip. It’s important to understand a country’s cultural before you go, so that should be your starting point for research before your trip. Today I’m here to tell you what to expect when you get there and some things you can on your free time.
Lines? What Lines?
Let’s start with the first thing that took all those on my abroad trip by surprise; lining up to pay. In the U.S and European countries, we’re all used to lining up to pay for things and waiting our turn. We are used to waiting for the person in front of us to gather up their things and move before we go up to the counter. That’s not the case in China.
In China they don’t wait for you to gather up your things. I ran into several cases where I would still be trying to pay and a local would come up to the counter by me and set their stuff on mine. You’ll also have a situation where you think you’re in a line, only to find the locals don’t care where you’re standing. Now in the malls they do line up at the registers but forget about personal space while standing in line. I know it can be frustrating, but this system seems to work for them so it’s best to adapt and just go with the flow.
You Might be a Celebrity:
Imagine, you’re standing around with your tour group listening to your tour guide and you turn around to find locals are posing for pictures in with your group. This will happen to you while in China. I found it happened more in Beijing that Shanghai, but it’s still something to prepare for. A local may come up to you wanting to take a picture with you. It will happen more in tourist areas like the temples because that’s where locals from rural areas will be and most of them have probably never seen a tourist before.
Now, if you don’t want to take a photo with them that’s fine. But remember to be polite about. Smile and shake your head then walk away. I would recommend taking the chance to pose for photos with them though. Those who want a photo with you are very excited and you may find you’ll have a lot of fun posing with the locals.
Language:
It’s something we all fear when traveling abroad, the language barrier. But like in all countries, we can learn to get around that barrier. China is no different. You’ll find during your trip that you’re more likely to find a local that speaks a little English in Shanghai or at the large malls and hotels, but that’s about it. Don’t worry though, it’s surprisingly easy to get around that barrier. When ordering food, we found almost all the places we ate at had pictures of the dishes on the menu. Just point to the one you want and there you go.
Now, it is important that you do have a translation app on your phone though. Most of us didn’t tend to use it, but it did come in hands on some occasions when we needed to ask for things like a fork at a restaurant. So just be prepared for that, but the language barrier is something you can work around.

Money:
The last important thing you should be aware of before you go is the money. Everything out there is paid for in cash or by WeChat app (which you need a Chinese bank account to use.) now the big stores in the mall do take credit cards, but anywhere else you will need cash. It was also clear, that even the mall stores didn’t like using credit cards.
Knowing this, make sure you head to the bank before you leave and either get the Chinese currency from them or just cash that you can exchange at the airport or hotels. Also make sure your bank knows you’re going out of country so you can access your account from the ATM without having issues.
As for the ATMs, the hotels your stat at will be located close to an ATM and your guides will be sure to tell you where they are when you arrive. However, many of us found when we got to Shanghai that we couldn’t use the ATM by our hotel. We discovered this was because it was through a local bank, so our cards wouldn’t accept it. I would recommend just going to the international bank of China. You’ll find this is the bank that almost all credit card transactions go through, so it’s your best bet to get money from. Don’t panic if your card doesn’t work at first though. A couple of us found that we had to walk to a couple different ATMs before we could get cash sometimes. To avoid the ATM fees, I would budget out your trip and just get the cash before you leave for China.