China Step by StepPractical intelligence

Your first 24 hours in China

Your first day is not a list of sights, it is a sequence of things that each block the next one. The order below is by what stops you: the arrival card, keeping your passport on you, registering where you sleep, whether you can pay for anything, whether you can get online, and how you actually reach the hotel. Each step says what the decision is and links to the page holding the detail, so nothing is explained twice.

Should I do it before China?

Partly — some of it belongs before you fly

Almost every step here is executed after you land, so the honest verdict is partly. But the sequence only runs if a few things were settled at home, and two steps on this page carry a before-arrival badge for exactly that reason: the Alipay metro ride code is issued only after identity verification passes, and the Chinese-character address you will show a driver is something you prepare before you need it. Read the page before you fly; perform it after.

How

  1. Can do in ChinaIf you did not submit the arrival card online before flying, complete it at the port: a self-service device, the port QR code, or a paper card. Online submission became available on 20 November 2025, but it is not the only permitted method.1
  2. Can do in ChinaFrom the moment you clear the border, keep the passport on you. Article 38 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law requires foreigners aged 16 or over to carry the passport, travel document or stay permit on their person and to produce it for inspection by public security organs. The caution against relying on a photocopy or a phone photo is this site’s note on that record rather than a line in the law, so carry the original.2
  3. Can do in ChinaIn a hotel, registration is done for you: the hotel performs the police registration and issues a Registration Form of Temporary Residence showing the address and the hotel stamp. Ask the front desk for a copy and keep it with the passport. The procedure repeats on every trip to China.3
  4. Can do in ChinaIn an apartment or any non-hotel accommodation there is no front desk, so you or your host must register with the local public security authority. The two official sources set the clock differently: the Chinese Exit and Entry Administration Law counts 24 hours from moving into the accommodation, while the Romanian foreign ministry states 24 hours from entering the country. Work to the stricter reading and count from entry; both sources are listed below, and the detail is on the accommodation registration page.34
  5. Can do in ChinaNext question: can you pay for anything? The official payment guide lists five categories — foreign bank cards on POS terminals, mobile payment, cash, a domestic bank account and e-CNY — and does not promise that a given shop accepts a given one. Carry the combination rather than one method: a QR wallet, one physical Visa or Mastercard, and some cash.5
  6. Can do in ChinaGet the first cash at the port. The same guide points to ATMs at entry ports that accept international bank cards, and to exchange providers and self-service exchange machines at the ports; bank branches, some hotels and marked exchange points serve the same purpose in the cities.6
  7. Can do in ChinaOne withdrawal limit is published and only one: the Bank of China English site says its ATMs accept UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express cards issued outside China around the clock, with a single-withdrawal limit of CNY 3,000 in China, other limits and fees being set by your own issuer. No other bank publishes a comparable figure, so do not assume the same number elsewhere.7
  8. Can do in ChinaExchanging cash at a bank needs the passport in hand, showing the visa or the Chinese entry stamp as applicable. Keep the exchange receipt: it is also what you need to convert unused renminbi back later.8
  9. Can do in ChinaThen: can you get online? Do not let free airport wi-fi be the plan. Venues offering public wi-fi in China are required to verify user identity, and the usual implementation is a phone number plus an SMS code. Our record here comes from media reporting of police requirements rather than from the regulation text, and no official source says whether a foreign number can receive those codes. Roaming or a travel eSIM arranged before departure is the dependable path; hotels normally hand over a room number and password at the desk.9
  10. Can do in ChinaBuy a local SIM only if you actually need a Chinese number. The Beijing municipal government English portal describes counters at Capital and Daxing airports, and carrier-owned stores, selling SIM cards on a valid passport, up to five numbers, with no handling fee beyond the tariff. That is Beijing guidance and says nothing about other ports. The page itself advises bringing someone to translate and phoning ahead, and counters keep opening hours, so a late-night or early-morning landing may find them shut.10
  11. Do before arrivalThe airport-to-hotel ride is the one part worth settling before you land: a Trip.com airport transfer can be booked and paid with an international card, which avoids doing app registration and card binding in the arrivals hall. Failing that, both Alipay and Weixin hail cars from inside the wallet, so not having a DiDi account is not a dead end.11
  12. Can do in ChinaNow choose how to reach the hotel, and let the luggage decide. The Beijing metro passenger rules cap carried items at 30 kg, 1.8 m in length and 0.5 m in width and height, so a normal large suitcase fits — but the rule limits size, not the number of pieces, and moving two cases through long interchange corridors and stairs at peak time is the actual problem. With heavy luggage on day one, take a taxi or a hailed car. Other cities set their own numbers.12
  13. Can do in ChinaMetro security screening is mandatory rather than a spot check: the Beijing passenger rules let screening staff refuse entry to anyone who does not submit to it, and every bag goes through the scanner at every entry. Add the queue time to your plan, especially at peak hours.13
  14. Can do in ChinaCheck the hour as well. Chinese metros do not run around the clock: on the Shanghai operator timetable most lines finish somewhere between 22:00 and 23:00, one suburban line as early as a 21:00 departure towards Longyang Road, and ticket sales for the last train stop three minutes before it arrives. A late landing means a taxi or a hailed car, not the metro.14
  15. Do before arrivalIf you do take the metro, the ride code is not something to discover at the gate. The Alipay flow is Travel, choose your city, pass identity verification, and only then obtain the metro QR code, and the guide covers only some apps and some cities without publishing a list. That is why this one sits on the pre-arrival checklist rather than here.15
  16. Can do in ChinaWithout a ride code, buy a single-journey ticket at the window or a machine. The transport ministry rules require at least one working cash-capable ticket machine in every machine group, and extra staffed windows when machines fail across a station. What is guaranteed is cash acceptance, not change for a 100-yuan note, so break large notes early.16
  17. Do before arrivalFor any taxi, show the destination in Chinese characters rather than saying an English or pinyin name: a hotel card, a screenshot of the Chinese address, or the Chinese name selected in a map app. We have no single official source for this, so it is recorded as our own inference — but the failure it prevents, being driven to a different branch of the same hotel chain, is a common one.17
  18. Can do in ChinaIf every phone payment fails, cash still has legal backing. PBOC Announcement [2020] No. 18 states that no organisation or individual may refuse renminbi cash, and names transport operators including railways, buses and taxis among those that must accept it. That does not mean a driver can break a 100-yuan note or take your Visa on the in-car terminal, so keep small notes for this.18

What can go wrong

You land at 23:00 and head for the metro with the rest of the plan intact.

What to do instead Most lines on the Shanghai timetable finish between 22:00 and 23:00, some suburban services earlier, and last-train ticket sales stop three minutes before the train arrives. Take a taxi or a hailed car for a late arrival and check the specific station time for the following days.14

You take two large suitcases onto the metro at rush hour on your first evening.

What to do instead Every bag is screened at every entry, and the size and weight rules govern each item but not how many you drag through an interchange. Use a taxi or a hailed car for the airport-to-hotel leg, then use the metro for the rest of the trip.12

You open the Alipay ride code for the first time while standing at the gate.

What to do instead The code is issued only after identity verification passes, the city has to be selected, and the guide names no list of covered cities. Buy a single-journey ticket at the window or a machine, and clear the verification before your next trip.15

Every phone payment method has failed and you are standing at a taxi rank.

What to do instead Cash is the legal floor here: the PBOC announcement names taxis among the operators that may not refuse renminbi cash, and the metro rules guarantee a cash-capable ticket machine in every machine group. Carry small notes so that this fallback actually works.18

You are staying in an apartment rather than a hotel, and the first day passes without anyone registering you.

What to do instead With no front desk, the guest or the host must register with the local public security authority. Count the 24 hours from entry, which is the stricter of the two official readings, and have the host make the first registration with you.4

You planned to install the travel eSIM using free wi-fi at the airport.

What to do instead Public wi-fi in China generally puts an identity check in front of the connection, commonly a phone number and an SMS code, and no official source says whether a foreign number receives those codes. Arrange roaming or install the eSIM before departure; at a hotel, the front desk gives out the connection details directly.9

Something about your entry formalities or the arrival card is unclear on the day.

What to do instead The National Immigration Administration operates a dedicated line for exactly these questions, +86-12367, named both by the administration itself and by the Romanian foreign ministry. Its hours and the languages served were not verified, so treat it as worth trying rather than as guaranteed.19

Last verified and sources

Each record below is shown as provenance: who published it, what kind of document it is, how far it reaches and when we last checked it. The source’s own wording is not reproduced here — most of these documents are published in Chinese, and a translation of ours would be a paraphrase standing where a citation should be. Follow the link to read any of them in the original.

Related