Land knowing exactly what to do first.
From the visa rules to the eSIM that beats the Firewall — the whole pre-trip path, in order, with the traps the tour sites leave out.
Solo-run · No ads, no agencies · Last verified Jun 2026
Start here
Your China prep, in order
Four things to sort before you fly. Do them in this order and the rest of the trip mostly takes care of itself.
Where to point the radar
City & region guides
Field notes from the road — what's worth your days, and the tourist traps locals quietly skip.
Beijing
Empire-scale sights and the hutongs hiding between them.
Shanghai
Art-deco Bund, a skyline from the future, and great coffee.
Chengdu
Pandas, peppercorns, and the slowest teahouses in the country.
Xi'an
Terracotta Army by day, the Muslim Quarter grills by night.
Guilin & Yangshuo
Karst peaks, slow river drifts, and bike-able backroads.
Yunnan
Old towns, rice terraces, and air that smells of pine.
Kept current
Fresh from the ground
The rules change often. These are the updates that actually affect your trip — re-checked, not recycled.
Why this exists
One traveler, keeping the answers current.
China Travel Radar is an independent, one-person project — no agency behind it, no affiliate tours to sell you. Just the things I wish someone had told me before my first trip, re-verified each time the rules shift. English first, with Korean, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Italian, and German rolling out.