How to travel to China on your own? Master Class. Which regions of China can Russians enter without a visa? How to get to China cheaper?

Date of writing: 26.12.2023

Reading time: 20 minutes

To visit China, Russians need to obtain a visa in advance. This takes a lot of time and effort, and not all our cities have visa centers. Over the past decade, China and Russia have done a lot of joint work to simplify the visa regime for tourists crossing customs borders. Governments have officially designated a number of territories with visa-free and simplified visa regimes.

Allows a tourist to cross the state border with only a passport and tickets for the return flight. Sometimes it is necessary to have enough money for the entire period of stay in the country and confirmation of a hotel reservation.

How to get to China without a visa.

The PRC has five zones with visa-free entry:

Hong Kong has been available to Russians for up to 14 days since July 1, 2009. If you need to spend more days, you will have to apply for a visa at the consular department of the People's Republic of China.
From September 30, 2012, it became possible to visit the special administrative region of Macau without a visa for 30 days.
It is possible to relax and receive medical treatment on Hainan Island without a visa for 21 days during a group trip through a travel agency (from two people - for Russians). In this case, tourists are prohibited from leaving the island; they are required to stay with the group in a hotel booked by a travel agency.
Since December 2013, Russians can freely come to the city of Suifenhe (Heilongjiang Province) without a visa and vacation there for up to 15 days.
Since 2004, the city of Heihe, located a kilometer from Blagoveshchensk (across the Amur River), has been accessible to Russian tourists who only have an international passport valid for up to 30 days.

Traveling outside of these regions is prohibited. But if necessary, it is possible to obtain a visa from the Chinese Migration Service.

Regions with simplified entry regime

A simplified visa regime is a case when obtaining a visa to visit a country is mandatory, but it is possible to obtain it at the border or at the airport of arrival.

Just as with the visa-free regime, a foreign passport and return tickets are required here.

On October 21, 2013, a center for issuing visas for 30 days was opened at the Hailar airport. Conditions for obtaining a visa within 10 minutes:
- Arrival from Chita;
- Pre-prepared documents.
Only single-entry visas are issued in Hailar.
Applying for a visa upon arrival in Hainan.
If a tourist arriving on the island plans to visit other cities of the country, you need to immediately apply for a single-entry Chinese visa at Phoenix Airport (Sanya):
- Duration - 15 days (14 nights);
- The flight must be direct.
Since March 17, 2015, Russians have been able to obtain an entry visa to the PRC for 30 days immediately after arriving at Xijiao Airport in the border city of Manchuria.

Transit through China

There are two types of visa-free transit with the right to leave the airport:

For 24 hours - provided that it is an international airport in China (except for Yanji) and tickets to a third country are available;
For 72 hours - if these are international airports of the cities listed below:
- You need to have air tickets to a third country;
- The tourist is only in the city of arrival - and he has the opportunity to rent a hotel room and see the sights;
- The time is counted from the moment the visa concession is issued - from midnight of the day following the day of arrival (that is, the day of arrival is not taken into account);
- Departure is only from the arrival airport;
- During the first 24 hours, you need to obtain registration at the police station.

Airports with 72-hour transit

The first city in China to introduce a visa-free regime for foreign tourists was Beijing (since January 1, 2013).
From January 1, 2013, a transit visa is available to passengers arriving at Pudong and Hongqiao airports in Shanghai.
Guangzhou (since August 1, 2013).
In September 2013, the city of Chengdu was added.
Visa-free transit through Chongqing was introduced in November 2013.
On January 1, 2014, a transit regime was introduced for Russians in the cities of Shenyang and Dalian, Liaoning Province.
In the summer of 2014, the city of Xi'an appeared on the list of cities for visa-free transit flights.
Since July 28, 2014, tourists have been able to visit the city of Guilin, located in southern China, without a visa.
Since March 2015, Russians have been coming without a visa to the capital of Hubei province, Wuhan, according to the Xinghua news agency.
From April 1, 2015, the city of Kunming and the popular resort of Xiamen, from the southern province of Fujian, joined the list of Chinese cities accessible to tourists from Russia without visas.
From August 1, 2015, Russians had the opportunity to visit the city of Harbin, located near the border with our country.

Entry from border regions

Russians living in the Primorsky, Khabarovsk, Trans-Baikal Territories, Chita, Irkutsk and Amur regions are given the right to regularly visit China for a period of 15 to 180 days without the need to obtain a visa at the consulates of this country - they will receive it during the border crossing at the checkpoint upon presentation of a document with registration, passports and invitations.

Crossing the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe-Blagoveshchensk border (across the Amur River):

May – October: transportation on ships for 200 people once an hour;
January – March (depending on the thickness and strength of the ice on the river): transportation by buses over a pontoon bridge;
Off-season (April, November and December): transportation every 20 minutes by hovercraft (Puma).

The distance between the cities is about one kilometer, the journey takes approximately 15 minutes.

Customs crossing in Blagoveshchensk is paid, through one of the halls: general (long queue, especially on weekends and pre-holidays), reversible (increased comfort, the queue is much smaller), VIP. (transition there and back without a queue, in winter there is a special minibus).

On the Chinese side, they pay a fee for entering Heihe and fill out a coupon; at the passport control point they take half of the coupon. The other half of the coupon, like the return ticket, is kept for the duration of the entire trip!

Are there plans to completely abolish visas for tourists?

The government of the People's Republic of China is committed to introducing a visa-free regime throughout the country to increase tourist flows and develop cultural and trade ties. The head of the Department of European and Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Gui Tsunyu, spoke about this on November 10, 2015, according to the Interfax agency.

In conclusion, here is a summary table with information about Chinese cities with visa-free and simplified visa regimes:

Cities and provinces of the PRC	Without a visa	Visa on arrival	Year of introduction
Heihe	up to 30 days	from 15 days	2004
Hong Kong	up to 14 days		2009
Hainan	up to 21 days (group trip)	up to 14 days	2010
Macau	up to 30 days		2012
Beijing	transit 72 hours

1) Bargaining in markets and with taxi drivers naturally comes from your fingers. The main thing to know is that the Chinese show numbers differently than Europeans - they show numbers from 1 to 9 on the fingers of one hand, not two.

2) At bus and railway stations, often no one speaks English. It is better to write in advance on a piece of paper the name of the final destination and the desired time period of departure; this is done with the help of an online translator or dictionary. Just stand in line at the cashier and hand over a piece of paper. The exact time and price will be shown to you on the computer screen or written on a piece of paper. Of course, they will be on the ticket - everything is in Chinese:
In this case, March 7, 14 at 15-40, seat 3, bus number K0935, price 17 yuan, goes to Mengla city

The most important words:
Today – 今天
Tomorrow – 明天
day – 天 (order execution time is 1 day) or 日 (day of the month)
month – 月
year – 年
morning – 上午
noon – 中午
evening – 黄昏
and cities: Guazhou (广州), Shenzhen (深圳), Hong Kong (香港), Guilin (桂林), Kunming (昆明), Beijing (北京), Shanghai (上海)

3) In China there is censorship on the Internet, to the point that messages on social networks are manually moderated!
Facebook and You tube are prohibited and inaccessible, RenRen is used instead of the first, Youku is used instead of the second. For instant messages they use the network and WeChat. Google may be available, but Baidu is much more popular. VKontakte works without problems.

4) Almost all public toilets will not have a traditional toilet. Instead, there will be a floor-standing toilet, familiar to many from our school toilets. You should also carry toilet paper with you. But tourist toilets have a star rating, like hotels.

By the way, you should also carry a supply of napkins with you. Cafes and restaurants do not have them or sell them for a fee.

5) 4 - purely unlucky, it comes to the point that sometimes houses do not have a 4th floor.
8 is a lucky number. Phone numbers of large companies often end in eight.
The main Chinese color is red.

6) Chinese is the name of a large group of languages, often mutually incomprehensible. Each city may have its own dialect. The government is trying to lead a campaign to popularize a common language - Putonghua or Mandarin. In Hong Kong, Macau, Canton (Guangzhou) and overseas diasporas, the vast majority of the population speaks Cantonese. One good thing is that all dialects use the same hieroglyphs, which, by the way, are partially used in the Japanese language. So the spelling of words is the same. If true, there are difficulties with having two writing systems: traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters. If you do not plan to read ancient texts, the latter will be enough for everyday needs.

This all works until you get into areas with Tibetan, Mongolian, Thai-Lao, Burmese or Arabic languages. On top of that, in some villages many people cannot read.

7) The most useful phone application is Waygo, which can translate inscriptions on the fly, without the Internet, using a camera.

Google maps help you not get lost, and the navigation mode can give you the best route for ground transport and tell you which bus to go where, although you need the Internet.

A SIM card can be purchased using your passport. Mobile Internet is very expensive: 300 MB for 96 yuan per month.

Hotels can be booked on Booking, but local players give better prices, it’s worth comparing on RoomGuru

8) A couple of years ago, there were a lot of counterfeit 100 yuan bills circulating in southern China. Until now, such banknotes are carefully checked in any store. Fraudsters may try to replace your real bill and return you a counterfeit one; they say the best defense against this is to wrinkle the corner or fold it so that the crooks do not have the opportunity to repeat the same thing with a fake quickly.

For the same reason, when paying in a taxi, transport cards are handed over in a case - there is no possibility of quickly replacing them with another card with a zero balance.

9) Speaking of transport. Entry to buses is through the front door. Payment at the entrance either by transport card or in cash without depositing in a special box. The fare can be fixed or stepped. For example 1 or 2 yuan in Kunming depending on the type of bus. The exact cost can be seen on the money box, although in Chinese: 一元 (one yuan) or 二元 (two yuan). While in Hong Kong you need to check the fare from stop to stop in advance at the stop, or if you are using a transport card, do not forget to lean it again at the exit, otherwise the maximum fare will be debited.

Transport cards can also often be used to pay in stores and to enter museums and parks (for example, 7-11 and McDonald's in Hong Kong)

10) Washing things in hotels is very expensive. Street laundries are not easy to find, but dry cleaners can sometimes be found. For urgent orders there is usually a double surcharge. You can also stay in an apartment - there is almost always a washing machine there, and you can buy powder at the nearest store.

We encourage experienced sinologists to add to the story in the comments. Indicate your experience of traveling or living in the country.

It is always interesting to discover unknown places, because there is nothing more attractive than new countries. In the hustle and bustle of modern everyday life, we sometimes do not have time to prepare well for a vacation, especially if this vacation should be active. Having chosen to travel to China, you need to devote a minimum of preparation. So, what you need to know to travel to China.

Visa application
Currency
Transport and movement
Where to stay?

Visa application

To open a visa, the most convenient way is to contact an agency providing these services. Professionals will not take up a minute of your precious time, all worries fall on their shoulders, you only need to provide your passport. But this service will cost you a pretty penny. Don’t be upset in advance, because you have the opportunity to do everything yourself. By contacting the Chinese Embassy and collecting the entire package of necessary documents, you can easily obtain the long-awaited visa to travel to China.

Currency

To feel comfortable on a trip, it is, of course, better to prepare in advance. It is advisable to prepare the currency while in your country. Once you buy dollars, you can then exchange them in China for yuan. But you also need to be careful with this, because it’s hard to find exchangers in cities, banks are open until 5, and when exchanging you may be asked for a passport.

It is best to worry about this at the airport, where you can easily find a lot of exchangers with any conditions. Don’t be lazy to walk around and find an exchange office with a good exchange rate, because sometimes there are better conditions there than in the city. It is best to change all the currency at once so as not to waste time searching in the city; this will be very useful information for traveling on your own.

Transport and movement

Electric buses

Within the country, getting from one point of the city to another is not particularly difficult, just like from one end of the country to the other. Almost all settlements have airports, although getting there by plane is quite expensive, but it is very convenient and fast. Perhaps the most popular form of transport is the bus. There are a lot of offers, both on routes and types of buses. When traveling to this country, everyone is faced with the problem of choosing transport. So, to go to China, you can choose absolutely any type of transport, it can be a train, a plane, or a bus. But for the most economical people, hitchhiking is offered. It all depends on your capabilities. It's no secret that air travel is the fastest, but also the most expensive. There are both direct flights and with transfers, depending on where you will be getting from.

Sleeping buses are very attractive, where instead of seats there are sleeping berths. If, nevertheless, you are a fan of trains, then you are very lucky, since, compared to other types of transport, train tickets will cost an order of magnitude cheaper. This will make up for all the inconveniences on these trips, because sometimes getting a train ticket is quite problematic.

Where to stay?

Due to the huge choice of accommodation, it is sometimes difficult to answer the question: How much does it cost to travel to China? Great competition allows you to find a wide variety of options, from the cheapest to the most expensive. Based on this, you have the opportunity to choose housing based on your financial capabilities. Hostels of any level are quite popular; you can share a neat room with several more people.

Last year, several familiar bloggers visited Blagoveshchensk. They wrote a lot about the capital of the Amur region, but for some reason almost nothing about the Chinese side. When I asked why, everyone gave different reasons, but I was even afraid that flash drives were forcibly formatted on the road and the memory was erased. After all, it can’t be that when a person finds himself in another country for the first time, he won’t write anything about it!

Fear is fear, but interest is stronger. I captured the stages of crossing the border, despite the fact that photography is strictly prohibited there.

Residents of Blagoveshchensk constantly travel to China; they do not need a visa. Previously, it was every weekend, but now it has become more difficult due to the increased exchange rate of the yuan. For some reason, Russians in other regions are convinced that only those with Amur registration in their passport can travel without a visa.

In fact, any resident of Russia can enter the border city of Heihe if he has a foreign passport. Theoretically, you can even get to Beijing without a visa or arrange a trip throughout China. In practice, this adventure will most likely end in failure - when boarding a train or plane, your documents will be checked by border guards. But Heihe will have enough color for you, especially if you have never been to China.

1 When getting ready to travel, the first thing I did was exchange rubles for yuan. I did this in Blagoveshchensk, fearing that the exchange rate on the Chinese side would be worse. Don’t repeat my mistake: for now the situation is such that the Chinese will give you more: the ruble has become worth twice as much, they are happy to come to us to buy their own goods. In general, if we are talking about a small one, change it wherever you want.

2 The trip to China starts from the river port. In winter and summer, the only difference is what will transport you to the other side: in winter it’s a bus, in summer it’s a boat.

3 Prices are steep. A regular ticket costs 2150 rubles. In summer it’s not much cheaper, maybe 200 rubles. The whole embarrassment of the situation is that the trip will take a maximum of five minutes; the bus will simply transport you to the other side of the river and drop you off at Chinese customs.

4 This is still on our shore. Chinese beauty doesn't freeze at -25!

5 The waiting rooms of the river station could certainly be renovated, with the money they receive for travel. And now there are so few people; before the exchange rate jump, large crowds were rushing to China, people missed two or three buses, they couldn’t get in. The income is huge. There is duty free, where the cat cried.

6 Buses run every 15 minutes. It is, of course, made in China. But the numbers are Russian. And the driver is Russian. And I, with a Russian passport, also get on this bus.

7 For some reason, the Chinese have their own transport. Apartheid in the Far East. They say that travel with a Chinese transport company is several times cheaper. But we can't go there.

8 Hovercraft are not used. Apparently, they are simply not needed; the flow of people moving is minimal. After all, if I haven’t messed something up, these ships can also move on ice?

9 We go down to the floating bridge. These are five barges coupled together. In winter, they block the Amur River, and people can drive along them. Private transport is prohibited, only buses and occasionally Chinese trucks.

10 Actually, with such passenger traffic and active trade, a normal bridge suggests itself. In addition, our neighbor is China, which is famous for its ability to build roads and bridges in the shortest possible time. The first shuttles began to travel en masse in the early nineties, twenty years ago. And ten years ago, in 2004, our countries agreed on visa-free entry through this border crossing. There are even more people. Time to build a bridge? No, it's time to buy new boats and buses.

They say that every time people in Moscow wonder why there is still no bridge across the Amur in Blagoveshchensk, representatives of local authorities go to the capital and somehow settle the issue. It’s too profitable a business to charge two thousand rubles for five hundred meters of road. This is what people call it - the “golden mile”.

Perhaps things will move forward by next year, when they promise to build a cable car here. Although this is also not an easy path at all, and you can charge the same two thousand for travel. Isn't it easier to build a bridge? No, we have a special path.

11 The arrival hall is very smoky. This is the first thing that catches your eye. They smoke inside the station and are not shy. The interior looks like a small airport, everything is much more decent than in the port of Blagoveshchensk.

Border formalities are completed quickly, but you still need to pay a little. On their side, the Chinese are asking for another 100 yuan (today about a thousand rubles) for two coupons. One appears to be the visa fee and the other is the entrance fee. Yes, a ticket to enter China.

12 As soon as you leave the border zone, a million Chinese rush towards you, who begin intrusively offering their taxi services and assistance with accommodation. If you imagine Domodedovo Airport at rush hour, you should understand what I mean. Only here they bombed ten times more, and they pestered ten times more actively. I didn’t even know how to fight them off.

Suddenly the hall was filled with uniformed men armed with shields and batons. Military police. The coolest guys from Chinese law enforcement. They began to run circles around the room, knocking their boots on the tiled floor and their batons on their asses. This is how you need to fight obsessive bombers, learn!- I thought.

In fact, they simply walked in a circle and went to another room. Chinese authorities introduced such security measures after a bloody attack at a train station last year. They have no frames at the entrance.

13 Here I am free. The Ferris wheel, which so beckoned from Blagoveshchensk, turned out to be unfinished nearby. The builders made a mistake, and he was not accepted due to safety regulations. Or maybe on purpose? Is this a Potemkin village?

14 The city, which lives entirely on trade with Russia, is now going through hard times. We need to change the schemes: Heihe is the very north, and by the standards of China, a distant province. And they brought a lot of goods.

15 The building closest to the customs office is the Ostrov shopping center, the hottest place in the city. By the way, we really are on an island; moreover, it once belonged to Russia. I don’t know at what point and how the Chinese ended up there, tell me. After all, they fought for the uninhabited Damansky in the sixties, but this one was given away without a fight?

16 Inside, at first glance, there is an ordinary shopping center with all sorts of junk. The main thing, as I understand it, is not to rise above the first floor. They say that they can beat up a tourist there if you stop to look at the window and then don’t buy anything. It’s especially dangerous now when there are no Russians in the city. Or maybe they're pushing it.

17 Funny Chinese signs in Russian start here.

18 Although what awaits us in the city itself is much cooler. There will even be a separate post about them!

19 Vodka store is my favorite!

21 There is another shopping center just behind the Island. The same Yuan Dong that is so clearly visible from the Blagoveshchensk shore. Near it there are buses that go to the center. Usually everyone uses taxi services: it’s inexpensive even now, within a hundred rubles around the city. But the bus costs ten.

22 What is the first thing you should do in China? It's time for breakfast. In the morning the stomach is empty. Even if the noodle shop is not open yet, but is open, come in, they won’t leave you hungry.

23 Igor met me in Heihe. He lives in China, speaks the language fluently and is involved in business, helping to transport goods across the border, and then sending them by transport companies throughout Russia. Igor is the king of shuttles :) And I, dumbass, will never learn how to take normal photographs with goPro - people don’t turn out the same as they are in life.

24 Now I’ll tell you about the way back, it’s also interesting. I’ll definitely tell you about the two days I spent with the Chinese.

25 The border guards will ask for 35 yuan. This is the ticket out of China, yes. Not a bribe, an official fee. I seem to like taking photos with my phone - the quality is poor, but it's not as bad as it used to be. But secrecy is the best weapon of a spy and photoblogger. In the summer, you can even shoot border guards if you put your phone in your shirt pocket.

26 The same “Russian” bus and the cheerful driver, who said that the cable car, it seems, will really be built, and then he won’t have a job. Because in the summer the same driver is the captain of the boat.

27 I was driving back in good weather and was able to photograph this miracle bridge. This is a normal bridge. You can’t drive along it quickly, but it’s also several hundred meters long. The pontoons were built half from Chinese barges, half from Russian ones. This is the Chinese part.

28 And this is ours. Noticeable difference, right? And the point is not that the barges themselves are older and narrower, although that too. But couldn't the road be cleaned properly? No you can not. Just like you can't build a bridge.

29 Such is the trip. Nothing extreme, as you can see. But I’ll tell you how scary China is, how it’s portrayed, in the next report.

How to organize an independent trip to China in 2019! Visa, tickets, hotels, food, transport, security. How much does it cost to travel to China? Cost calculation, tips and observations.

The material was prepared based on the personal experience of the author of the text’s independent travel to China: three months of living in Shenzhen, as well as trips to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

China is huge and very diverse, so it is impossible to clearly say where prices and conditions are. I will start from Shenzhen - the center of all electronics, a young and rapidly growing city in the very south of China, which borders on Hong Kong. I will tell you what a tourist can find useful when planning an independent trip to China in 2019, and I will also give my own observations about the country and tips for travelers.

How to get a visa to China yourself

A visa to China is required for Russians, except in rare cases. A regular single entry costs 1,500 rubles, a double entry costs 3,000, and a multiple entry costs 4,500 rubles. Plus a bank commission of 2.5% per person is charged.

Urgent single entry - 2400, urgent double entry - 3900, urgent multiple entry - 5400. There is also an express review, which costs more.

Airport in Beijing (Photo © Enzojz / flickr.com)

How much do hotels cost in China in 2019?

When going to China on your own, you will have to decide where to live. Some choose the usual hotels, while others rent an apartment or room.

Hotels. Double rooms in hotels in the center of Beijing cost from $30 in the summer, and from $13 in the low season. In Shenzhen off-season - from $22. We recommend looking for hotels on Roomguru.

It is better to stay in chain hotels, as they care about their reputation. A night in such a hotel costs from $30-40 for a double room. Chain hotels in Shenzhen: Greentree Inn, Sheraton, Novotel, etc.

Adviсe:

Look for a hotel with good soundproofing - the Chinese are noisy.
Photos of hotels do not always correspond to reality.
Sometimes a room may be clean and comfortable, but have foreign odors, such as dampness. Or the windows look out onto the courtyard, where there is a landfill or a Chinese street cafe (which produces odors no better).

Rent. If you want personal comfortable housing, look for a room, apartment or house on Airbnb. The choice of housing is huge. Renting an apartment in Beijing costs approximately $30-50 per day, in Shenzhen - from $27. You can rent an apartment on Airbnb for $600-$1,500 for a month (rooms cost $500-$900). The price depends on the city, area and condition of the house. For example, in Shenzhen, near the beach in a resort area, an excellent apartment was rented for $600. There are discounts for long-term rentals.

Food and cuisine of China

Another challenge you will face when traveling to China on your own in 2019 is food. It is very specific here, so going to a cafe can cause problems, especially if you don’t know the language. But here McDonald's and KFC come to the rescue. There are also many well-known European chains where you can order food from pictures. However, their prices are much higher - for example, a side dish with meat costs from $6. Sometimes tea is included in the price. At McDonald's, a Big Mac (potatoes, cola, double cheeseburger) will cost about $5.

In general, you can eat in a cafe for $5 or more; in restaurants, a simple dish costs from $10.

Where you can eat inexpensively and deliciously in China:

Cafe for locals. You can eat a hearty meal there for $1.50, but no one guarantees the quality of the products and compliance with sanitary standards. The downside is that it is difficult to order dishes, since often there are no pictures or there are few of them, and if there are, it is not clear what it is.
"Muslim women"- these are local cafes run by Chinese Muslims. The food there is prepared in compliance with all standards and is really very tasty. I really love their noodles and recommend you try them. They cook it in front of you, and it’s interesting to watch this process. Cost from $1.5 for a huge portion.
Supermarket. A kilo of bananas costs $1-2, apples $2-3, tangerines $1-2. I do not recommend buying sausages. This is not at all what we expect: Chinese sausages are made from soy with a bunch of spices and additives. They taste sweet and have a specific smell, but for the sake of curiosity you can try them once.

Internet and cellular communications in China

All SIM cards are sold only with a passport in specialized places. The cost of mobile communications is quite high - from $20 per month, plus the same amount is charged for purchasing a card and choosing a tariff plan. To purchase a normal tariff and understand everything, you need to know Chinese. If you need internet in China, it's easier to use Wi-Fi while traveling - in big cities it can be found everywhere.

There is another problem that many people face - blocking all Google services, YouTube, Instagram. To access them you need to install a special VPN program.

Transport in China

Transport in China is excellent. The infrastructure is very developed. Planes, ferries, trains (including high-speed), buses, subways and taxis. You can get to any point without any problems. Travel on buses - from $0.3, in the metro - from $0.5.

If you are going to China for a month, buy a travel pass. The plastic card can be topped up and used in the metro and buses, and then returned and received money back. Cost 4$. This is very convenient: you don’t need to find out the cost of tickets, buy tokens, or stand in lines. Accordingly, the problem of language disappears. For trips within one city, $10-30 per month is enough.

A very common type of transportation is electric mopeds. Essentially this is a taxi, only less comfortable, more extreme and cheaper - from $2. The main advantage is the absence of traffic jams, since mopeds go wherever they want. The only negative is the language. You need to agree on the price and destination.

ATMs and cards

Be prepared that many stores may not accept your Visa or MasterCard card, since in China there is another payment system - UnianPay. This card can be issued at any bank for free. If you need to withdraw money from yours, there are many ATMs for this.

Chinese mentality

Don't be surprised if in China you feel like a monkey that everyone wants to take a photo with. For a Chinese, having a photo with a European is an indicator of coolness and status, so you will always be the center of attention. They will always turn around at you and, without hesitation, look straight at you. In addition to increased interest, the Chinese will try to make money on the “white man”. For them, we are walking money, so bargain in all stores. For example, we once reduced the price of a shirt from $35 to $5.

We can talk for a long time about the culture and upbringing of the majority of Chinese. Giving way to a girl, letting her go ahead, letting people exit a vehicle, throwing garbage in the trash bin - this is not about them. They also have no sense of tact. Don’t be surprised if at the first meeting you are asked about your personal life, salary and health. The Chinese themselves are very cunning and enterprising, but at the same time good-natured.

Useful words in Chinese for a traveler:

Security in China

Do you know where the tradition of wearing a backpack on the front came from? From China. Petty theft is very common there. In big cities you can find a policeman everywhere who will gladly help in any situation. Also, there are cameras on all buses, subways, shopping centers, and even just on the street, so in big cities there is nothing to be afraid of when walking along the streets in the evening. From personal experience: I walked with photographic equipment, and not once did anyone try to pester me.

Also in China there is an unspoken rule that animals, children and laovayam(for foreigners) anything is possible.

How much does an independent trip to China from Russia cost?

Let's calculate how much a trip to China costs for two for 10 days when departing from Moscow:

Single entry visa - $52.
Flights from Moscow to Beijing and back - from $586. Find a ticket >>
Hotel in the center of Beijing in low season - $130. Find a hotel >>
Meals in eateries for locals - $120.
Insurance - $23.
Transport and attractions - approximately $200.

So, how much does it cost to travel to China on your own? The minimum cost of the trip, if you are ready to save, is approximately 1111$ for two for 10 days.

If you are used to living comfortably, then the trip will cost approximately 1711$ for two (accommodation in a 3* hotel - $250 and meals in cafes and restaurants - $600). We spent $1,500 a month for two of us.

Check out our helpful tips for traveling to China on your own in 2019:

Before you travel, watch how the Chinese count on their fingers. The match with our score is only up to 4, then everything is different.
Be sure to download a translator to your phone.
Take the necessary medications, as you are unlikely to find anything familiar in Chinese pharmacies. You are more likely to encounter dried toad than activated charcoal.
Download the Baidu program and maps of the cities where you plan to live on your phone. This program will help you choose the route, time and type of transport, and determine the best route option. You won't get lost with her. I highly recommend it!

I hope you have a general idea of prices and conditions. And the problem of language, as you see, is not so terrible. Travel, because there are so many interesting things in the world!