Arrival card

Your first hour in China

The order to do things the moment you land — and the rescue card for when your card won't pay, the internet drops, or you hit the phone-number wall. Open it once and it works offline; bookmark this page before you fly.

First hour →Card won't pay →Internet drops →Phone-number wall →Numbers & phrases →
Set this up before you board, while your home SMS still works: install Alipay + WeChat and link your card (how →), and buy your eSIM (how →). On the ground there is no chicken-and-egg: data and payments are already live.

Make it yours

● online

Your hotel, ready to show a driver

Paste your hotel name and address in Chinese (it's on your booking). We keep it on this device so you can show it at the taxi rank without any signal.

Gate to hotel

The first hour, in order

  1. 1

    At immigration

    Passport + the arrival card. Fingerprints are normal for most nationalities. Keep the address of your first hotel handy — they may ask.

  2. 2

    Cash before you leave the airport

    One ATM withdrawal, ¥300–500, as a backup. Look for the UnionPay logo; Bank of China ATMs accept foreign cards most reliably. You will rarely need cash, but the first day is when you might.

  3. 3

    Turn on your data

    Activate the eSIM you installed at home (do NOT wait for a verification SMS you can’t receive). Test it: open amap.com in your browser. A foreign eSIM roams on the China network, so your normal apps work without a VPN.

  4. 4

    Get to your hotel

    Official taxi rank, or DiDi through the English mini-app inside Alipay/WeChat (not the standalone app). Never accept a "taxi?" offer in the arrivals hall — that is the classic overcharge. Show the driver your hotel address in Chinese.

  5. 5

    Hotel registration

    The front desk photographs your passport — that IS the required police registration, nothing to fear. Staying in an apartment instead? You must register at the local police station within 24 hours.

  6. 6

    Make one tiny payment

    Buy a bottle of water with Alipay to confirm your card actually charges. Fix a payment problem now, at a kiosk — not later, mid-meal, in front of a queue.

Rescue

When your card won't pay

Declined after a few small payments

Your bank’s fraud system flagged the foreign activity. Call your bank (or use its app) and ask them to allow merchants named "Alipay" and "Tenpay". Meanwhile switch the in-app payment to your other card — keep a Visa AND a Mastercard linked.

The QR code won’t accept your card

You’re likely scanning a person’s personal QR (street stalls, small vendors). Foreign cards only work on a business/merchant QR. Ask them to scan YOUR Alipay "Pay" code instead, or pay cash.

A mini-program or app rejects the foreign card

Some in-app mini-programs (delivery, some tickets) only take mainland cards and won’t let you top up a balance. Use a different route: official site, the hotel concierge, or cash. A Wise or Revolut card linked to Alipay clears some of these.

The fee / limit surprise

Foreign cards via Alipay/WeChat are fee-free under ¥200 per transaction and take ~3% above it; there are per-transaction and annual caps. Split a big payment, or use cash for the one large bill.

Golden rule: keep two cards (a Visa and a Mastercard) linked in Alipay, plus a little cash. Treat a single decline as routine, not a crisis. Full setup on the payments guide.

Rescue

When the internet drops

eSIM data died indoors / didn’t activate

Restart the phone; toggle the eSIM line off and on; confirm data roaming is ON for that line. If it still fails, the hotel’s Wi-Fi will at least let Alipay and maps work (Wi-Fi reaches the China internet directly).

Hotel Wi-Fi works for paying but your VPN won’t connect

Hotel Wi-Fi often blocks VPNs. That’s fine for Alipay, maps, DiDi and Chinese sites — none need a VPN. You only need the VPN for Google/Instagram/WhatsApp; for those, switch back to your eSIM data, or install a second VPN as backup.

Google Maps is blank or wrong

Google Maps barely works in China even with a VPN. Use Amap (高德) — it now has an English mode — or Apple Maps. Don’t troubleshoot Google; just switch apps.

The big idea: eSIM data for your home apps (Google/WhatsApp), Wi-Fi or Chinese data for paying and maps. Two paths so one failing never strands you. More on the eSIM & VPN guide.

The wall nobody warns you about

The Chinese-phone-number wall

Payments, DiDi and maps work fine without a mainland number. But a few things demand one — food delivery, shared bikes, and some attraction reservations that dead-end in a Chinese-only mini-app.

  • The workaround: ask your hotel if you can use their phone number for the verification code — front desks do this routinely.
  • Tickets that won't take a passport online: many sights let you buy at the physical ticket window with your passport when the app blocks you. Find the staffed window — your foreign passport often won't scan at the self-service machine.
  • Check the booking rules and official channels first on the reservation wall or your city page.

Keep this

Emergency numbers & survival phrases

110Police
120Ambulance
119Fire
12345City services hotline (English escalation)

Please take me to this address.

请送我到这个地址。

Where is the human ticket window?

请问人工售票窗口在哪里？

My foreign passport won’t scan at the machine.

我的外国护照在机器上刷不出来。

Does this dish contain meat / pork?

这个菜里有肉 / 猪肉吗？

I’m allergic to peanuts / seafood.

我对花生 / 海鲜过敏。

Can I use your phone number to register? (at hotel)

我可以用你们的手机号注册吗？

Please scan my pay code.

请扫我的付款码。

Show a phrase to a driver or server, or have them read it. For menus, the menu scanner turns a photo into English with allergen flags.

This card is built to load once and stay readable on a weak signal. Add TravelerLocal to your home screen, or bookmark this page, before you fly. Planning the trip? Build your booking alarms on the trip planner.