Updated April 2026
The practical guide to China that actually works
Set up your phone, navigate the apps, pay for things, and know what to do when it all breaks. One guide. Written on the ground in Beijing.
Saves you hours of YouTube, Reddit, and stale travel blogs. Everything you need — in the order you need it.
Here's the problem
China blocks Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Your bank card won't work. The apps are in Mandarin. The guides you find online are either two years old, written by someone who visited once, or both.
You end up spending days piecing together fragmented advice from Reddit threads, YouTube videos, and travel blogs — half of which is already wrong because China's digital ecosystem changes every few months.
I live in Beijing. I sit between the Western and Chinese digital ecosystems every single day. I use these apps, fight the VPN, test the workarounds, and update what works. This guide is the result.
What you get
Free Starter Edition
The eight things to sort before you board
- — Visa reality check — which route is yours
- — eSIM, VPN, or both — three setups compared
- — Why payments fail and how to avoid it
- — The 10 apps you need — and why
- — Navigating Mandarin without speaking it
- — Five things nobody tells you
- — Emergency card — screenshot before you fly
10 pages. No email required. PDF download.
Download Free Starter →Full Guide — £9.99
Everything. Setup to troubleshooting. Plus ask me anything.
- — Step-by-step Alipay + WeChat setup with screenshots
- — Which VPNs actually work right now (April 2026)
- — The Wise hack to bypass foreign-card fees
- — How to actually use the apps — daily workflows
- — Dianping discount hack — save 30–50% on meals
- — Troubleshooting — fixes for every common failure
- — Pre-flight checklist + public holiday calendar 2026–27
- → Message me directly. Any question. I respond personally from Beijing.
55 pages. Updated monthly. Includes personal support.
Get the Full Guide — £9.99
I live here. I do this every day.
I'm Sam. I moved to Beijing in February 2025 with my wife, a Beijing native. Before that, 15 years in institutional finance in London. I've been travelling to China since 2016 — and I'm still learning every day.
I use a VPN daily. I fight Alipay. I test every app, every workaround, every update. My wife keeps me honest on the things only a local would know. This guide exists because I got tired of watching friends land in China with broken phones and no way to pay for dinner.
You can't get this level of information from outside China — the Great Firewall makes sure of that. I'm on the inside, and I'm passing it to you.
More about me and why I built this →What this guide does
- ✓ Tells you what you need and how to set it up
- ✓ Shows you how to actually use the apps day-to-day
- ✓ Tells you what nobody else mentions
- ✓ Fixes things when they break
- ✓ Gives you someone to ask — in China, who responds
- ✓ Reduces weeks of research to a few days of setup
What this guide doesn't do
- ✗ 200-page travel encyclopedias
- ✗ Static information that goes stale in weeks
- ✗ Copy-pasted internet advice — everything here is tested in China
- ✗ Book tours, flights, or accommodation
- ✗ Help that stops when you land — the guide is the beginning, not the end
- ✗ Long lists nobody reads. Short, tested, relevant.
Browse the free guide
Every section is available as a web page. Read online, or download the PDF.
01
China Visa-Free Entry 2026
30-day visa-free, 240-hour transit, what actually applies to you
02
eSIM, VPN, or Both?
Three connectivity setups — which one matches your trip
03
Why Payments Fail (and How to Fix It)
The four ways foreign cards break in China
04
The Apps You'll Need in China
10 apps, what they do, and which to open for what
05
Navigating Mandarin as a Tourist
The Pinyin keyboard hack, show-don't-speak, and phrases that work
06
Five Things Nobody Tells You
Toilet paper, power banks, hot water, and the rules of the road
07
Emergency Card
Numbers, phrases, and fill-in-the-blank fields — screenshot before you fly
Coming Soon
Travel routes. Trip reviews. Live recommendations.
Not from the Western internet with a limited view into China. From someone inside the Firewall, testing it every day. Travel planning, live chat, and an app — all built on lived experience.