Advice for travelling to China (Wuhan in particular)

In My Humble Opinion
1

It looks pretty likely I’ll be travelling for work to Wuhan, China next month. I’m not too concerned about the work part of it, I’ll be working with people I know and talk to (successfully) on a regular basis in English.

But outside of mostly Western or English speaking countries I have to admit I am not a seasoned traveler, and this is way out of my comfort zone. I’m pretty excited, but nervous too.

So, as someone who only speaks English and has never traveled anywhere where that wasn’t a suitable communications medium, what should I expect? I’m pretty sure I’ll be transferring from a US flight to a domestic flight somewhere like Shanghai. Is there something special I should be aware of regarding that process? Will it be chaotic and difficult to navigate if I don’t understand the language? Or are they pretty good about catering to foreigners? I heard that there was something weird about having to queue for the ongoing boarding pass and then having to queue for a stamp on it, but I’m not sure I understood that.

Any advice on getting around, not being ripped off by taxis, etc., etc.? Any minutia like the boarding pass thing that I should expect? My understanding is that places like Wuhan might not be as friendly to English speakers as say Shanghai. I think I’ll have the work location and hotel set and will have Chinese addresses written down. But I’d like to venture out and see the town if possible. Any advice on that in the general sense? Does anyone have any Wuhan specific advice?

Thanks!

2

Airports in China are generally very big, modern and efficient. The people at the counter may not understand English, but they will know words like “passport” and the process is simple. There is no unnecessary bureaucracy like stamping documents there.

OTOH things like banking are still very slow and have strange arbitrary rules. Bring enough RMB to last you a week or more.

Taxis and other services may try to rip off foreigners, but even if they double or triple the price it should still be pretty cheap. For example in Shanghai, the standard rate for a taxi is 14RMB which is roughly $2.50 I think. You can travel a long way in the taxi before the meter will start adding on to that 14.
And that’s shanghai. Other cities I’ve been to have had a base fee of only 7 or 8RMB.
So bear that in mind. If they’re doubling the price, say, it may be easier to just accept it. But if they’re going bananas and asking for 80 say for a short city journey, give them whatever you think is fairer (e.g. 40) and walk away.

There is no tipping. Generally, if you leave extra money for something and leave, they will chase after you to give you your change.

The culture is pushy with regards to lines. If you’re queuing for something and are not alert, people will push in ahead of you.
And by the same token, if you just stand in front of a counter waiting for a teller who is apparently doing something right now to call you forward, then often you will have a very long wait. Because locals don’t wait to be called forward.
This is just something to be aware of when shopping, say, the airport is not like this.

3

This guy, serpentza - YouTube has many videos on YouTube about China, entering, leaving, visas, scams, hotels, travel, food, etc. Worth a look.

4

Traveling around a big city with a modern subway system takes a lot of worry out of the equation for me. I haven’t been to Wuhan, but all of the subways that I’ve used in China (Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen) have been easy to navigate and they have had signs in both English and Chinese.

5

I’ve only been to Wuhan once, having arrived on a train and then shuttled around by my supplier the entire time (WISCO; the W is from Wuhan, anyone that cares can look up the rest). However, I lived in China for five years and transited through Shanghai very often.

First off: ease your mind. When I first went to China on my “pre assignment trip” I was petrified. It was communist and there’s no alphabet and no one speaks English. Keep in mind that I’d lived in Canada and Europe and Mexico at the point, and was’t a neophyte; China is different. But all of those fears evaporated within the first few hours of being on the ground. You will be okay. Anything that deviates from your plan is just part of the adventure, right?

So arrival at Shanghai, you will clear customs and immigration. There won’t be much conversation with the immigration guy, and customs is about following the green arrows. At worst they’ll X-ray your stuff while ignoring the monitors.

Once arrived, you’ll be in China. You can leave the airport if you like, but I’m not sure how tight your domestic connection is. Also, Shanghai has two terminals. You may have to walk from one terminal to the other. It’s not arduous, but it adds time if necessary.

What’s your status with the airline? You can usually get in the short queue for boarding with the most basic status, unlike in the USA. If you have to check in again for the connection, you can get in the short line with status, too, and of course if you’re business class, you get in the short line, too. Desk agents all speak enough English in any line to get you booked.

If you have time, hop on the Maglev train. It’s about an eight minute ride. Hope off, buy a return ticket, and go back to the airport. If you get on it at the right time of day you’ll get up to 450 km/h on the ground, and you also have bragging rights to having actually been in Shanghai. If you have even more time and are adventurous, you’d only be a few subway stops from a good, Western, English-speaking shopping mall in Pudong (the part of Shanghai east of the Pu River, very modern).

Don’t be surprised if the taxi driver can’t read your Chinese address. I’ve had taxi drivers ask people what was written on my written instructions at times! If it’s a major hotel, try to use Google Translate to speak the Chinese pronunciation of your hotel, assuming it’s a large, prominent hotel. (Djo ji joe dian I still remember to this day).

In Wuhan my parting gift from WISCO was their local duck, mostly necks and skinny bits, so that’s probably the local delicacy. If offered any, be polite and try to nibble off the fleshy bits that you can. And if offered a parting gift, try to refuse it a couple of times, just to be polite.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to see much of Wuhan that I wasn’t shown, so no specific Wuhan advice. On the other hand, as an honored guest, I expect that someone will invite you out to dinner every night that you’re there. Accept, and maybe you can get good suggestions/invitations from others there. And the Chinese business or “business” dinner experience is something that’s fun. It’s both formal and informal at the same time, and completely different from most American experiences.

Don’t forget: don’t worry in advance, take it in stride, and have fun and adventure!

6

Hey, if you don’t want your Jingwu duck neck, you can send it to me. I love that stuff!

7

I lived there two years. If you are just visiting, I would:

  • Require taxis to use the meter. No haggling required. Tap the meter if any attempt to work out a price is suggested. They are required to use the meter if they are legit. If they have no meter, get out. It’s a scammer and not a legit taxi.

  • **Many, many workers speak English at the airport. A lot of help is available. **All important signs will be in English, too. Transfering flights will be easy.

  • Your hotel will also have a lot of English accommodations, assuming it is a normal hotel and your business hired a normal, mid or large sized hotel.

  • Relax. China is a pretty relaxed culture, actually. Many, many thousands of business people go there all the time. They can help you.

Wuhan is big, by the way. I don’t think it will be all that hard to handle.

8

Thank you everyone for the advice. Especially Balthisar for the words of encouragement. That pretty much makes sense … its typically the beforehand apprehension rather than the experience itself that is daunting.

I’ll likely be visiting our Australian office first and flying directly from there. Which may give me a weekend to fill. It crossed my mind that I might want to avoid immediately flying to Wuhan and just spend some time in Shanghai and maybe catch a high speed train instead. I’m not sure how practical that is.

Morgenstern, those videos are actually quite helpful, in particular about some of the minutia. I’m probably going to take the broader cultural points he raises with a pinch of salt, based on my experience living in two countries he compared to China (America where his analysis was pretty superficial and South Africa where he was pretty dismissive of essentially ~90% of the population). Still, the details and day to day interaction stuff seems plausible.

9

You have received good advice above, so I will only add this:

  • You may wish to avoid any calls to or from Tsai Ing-wenwhile in China.
10

You’ve received good advice in this thread. Despite the language barrier, China is a relatively easy place to travel. People are generally helpful and with a few exceptions (look up the tea house and art student scams) there isn’t a huge culture of scamming tourists.

While English isn’t exactly common, most people under 25 or so have studied English to some degree. If you get in a bind, chances are you can ask a young person for help. The good news is that nobody expects you to know Chinese. While a few basic words are always appreciated, Chinese people know their language is difficult and are totally comfortable with the idea that visitors won’t know much.

Before heading out for the day, you can ask your hotel to write down the names of the places you’d like to visit in order to show taxis. You can also point to your guide book.

If you plan to do much shopping in outdoor markets, prepare the bargain and look up the hand symbols for the various numbers. They are a little different than ours and knowing them can be helpful.

A bilingual menu is a smart thing to carry- you can find some online to print out. Most restaurants carry a pretty standard set of dishes (with some regional variations) so you can use your own menu to point to what you’d like to order.

There are plenty of online resources on Chinese business culture. Drinking is a huge part of business culture, so it’s smart to read up on the etiquette around that.

11

China’s a big country. The trip from Shanghai to Wuhan will be about six hours. On the other hand, the trains are super comfortable. Second class is better than any airplane, and first class is fantastic and dirt cheap by our standards.

Train tickets are a bit trickier because you actually have to stand in line to buy tickets. Locals can use automated kiosks. And you have to choose the English speaking line (there is always at least one). That’s easy, though, because from Shanghai you’d use Shanghai Hongqiao station, and you can choose the line where other foreigners are queued up (this has worked without fail for me for five years).

You can buy tickets on Ctrip, but you still have to stand in the same line to pick up your tickets. Ctrip might offer a concierge/delivery service, but it’s quite pricey.

You can also go to any agency to buy tickets for a 5 RMB upcharge. There’s one at the terminal end of the maglev, but language might be an issue there.

Shanghai is easy to get around, and I recommend the subways. You can use the ticket kiosks, and they all have English options, and they’re inexpensive. You can get to 90% of the interesting stuff on the subway, and have taxi-notes for the parts that you can’t get to. (And as a car-culture guy from America, it seems really strange for me to recommend subways; they are really that good).

I’m not going to go into what to see in Shanghai. There are a million websites for that. Plus, it was always my refuge when I needed to “do something Western,” so my goals were decidedly less Chinese.

12

How much accommodation is your office willing to make? It’s not unusual for an office to hire a full time tour director to take international guests around for tourism. The director will handle all the transportation, scheduling, ticketing, and explaining. Ask your office if they are willing to provide that service if you’re uncomfortable. It removes a lot of the hassle out of travelling and gives you some more personal insight into Chinese culture.

13

Its a very small office (probably approximately ten developers), so I’m not expecting anything too formal. That being said …

… my timing looks really good. They’ve invited me on their spring outing, which looks like it’ll be a long weekend just after I arrive. They’re going to Zhangjiajie, which looks spectacular. This strikes me as the best of all worlds: a real adventure but with the safety of being with my work colleagues (who all speak some English). Also, its pretty useful for work in terms of getting to know everyone.