[Guy Secretan]

Who here has visited China? If so where did you stay and what did you do when you were there?

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

I went to Shanghai and stayed in a 5 star hotel in the Lujiazui region of the city.

I would also like to visit Hangzhou, Lijiang, and Sanya.

But China is difficult, not only because of language difficulties, but also because they ban YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (oh, and IMDB)!!!

[Guy Secretan]

(Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel)
I went to Shanghai and stayed in a 5 star hotel in the Lujiazui region of the city.

I would also like to visit Hangzhou, Lijiang, and Sanya.

But China is difficult, not only because of language difficulties, but also because they ban YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (oh, and IMDB)!!!

What did you get up to when you were there. Also was it difficult to get a visa and did you flub economy because isn't the flight really long?

[Mcnubn]

Beijing - lived and studied, stayed in an apartment, checked out the main sights and bars
Shanghai - cheap hotel, went to the bund etc., usual touristy stuff
Hangzhou - hostels, cycled around the lake and went to some of the museums and temples
Chengdu - stayed in 4star hotel, saw the pandas, the giant buddha of lashan and generally wandered around the city (also saw my first CSL game )
Haikou - stayed with friends, beach stuff mainly
Sanya - cheap hotel, beach stuff mainly
Xitang - paid for a room in a locals house, wandered around the village and bought some of the specialities
Nanjing - hostels, checked out the nanjing massacre museum, Rabe's house etc.
Beihai - beach stuff
Qingdao - Beer festival and beach stuff

sooo much to see -.- its like a continent!

[multiplexing-gamer]

(Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel)
I went to Shanghai and stayed in a 5 star hotel in the Lujiazui region of the city.

I would also like to visit Hangzhou, Lijiang, and Sanya.

But China is difficult, not only because of language difficulties, but also because they ban YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (oh, and IMDB)!!!

I heard Japan was quite English friendly, how come China isn't?

[apolocreed]

(Original post by multiplexing-gamer)
I heard Japan was quite English friendly, how come China isn't?

Ummm dude, check out your flag...

[katles]

I've been to China probably about 10 times before, I go nearly every year because the majority of my family live there

Some memorable places/activities:

- Scuba diving in HaiNan. SUPER fun and this was my first time scuba diving. HaiNan is perfect if you go in the spring or summer, it's full of coconut trees and beaches and there are monkeys everywhere (these are the vague memories I have of 6 years ago...)

- Skiing in Harbin. This is pretty much the only place to skii in China, it's wayyy up north. I went in Winter and it was freezing, my second time skiing and it was really fun, but not the best location - limited number of good hotels and good restaurants.

- Tourist group in Zhang Jia Jie - I went here last summer and the sights there are amazing. This is where the Pandora landscape in Avatar was inspired from!


- Shang Hai is a really nice, modern, more Western-friendly city than others. It's got excellent restaurants and shopping districts.

If you're planning on going:
- To get past the firewall in China blocking all the social networking sites, my Dad purchased a VPN which worked really well.
- Most people working in hotels/restaurants can speak a bit of English. Shang Hai has probably been the most English-friendly city I've been to so far (e.g. from what I remember they have English translations in the menus etc.)
- I'd recommend you to not go during the middle of summer as it gets EXTREMELY hot. And not even nice-hot, like stuffy, dry, humid, sauna-type heat. Depending on where you go, China's mostly perfect to go to during Spring or Autumn.
- I'm afraid I can't recommend many restaurants as I forget names. But this one in ShangHai, on the top floor of the Radisson Hotel rotates so you get a lovely 360 view of the city whilst you're eating. I think they have buffet dinners as well. And the food was really good.
-I'd recommend going with a tourist group if you're worried about finding your way around in areas where people don't speak English.

[multiplexing-gamer]

(Original post by apolocreed)
Ummm dude, check out your flag...

I'm not Chinese, I put it as that as the English flag is boring on here!

[apolocreed]

(Original post by multiplexing-gamer)
I'm not Chinese, I put it as that as the English flag is boring on here!

I was thinking you were some chinese spy trying to figure out why the 'other country' was so popular

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

Highlights of Shanghai region of China:

Nanjing Road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGkwrON0Qnc

The Bund

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw9TIKGf-DA

Yuyuan Gardens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB-iiViuqwA

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

(Original post by multiplexing-gamer)
I heard Japan was quite English friendly, how come China isn't?

What you need to understand is that only educated people in China receive the ability to learn a language. Outside of hotels and airports, you won't see many people being able to talk English.

In McDonald's, they give you a product list to point at so they know what you want. In taxis, you MUST have your destination written down in Chinese otherwise they won't understand what you mean. If Chinese people knew a second language, then they wouldn't be driving taxis.

Even names of famous shopping malls and Metro stations are completely different. You cannot say 'Lujiazui station', even though that is what it says on the Metro maps. Everything has a different meaning in Chinese.

In contrast, my experiences in Tokyo were less difficult. More people there are confident enough to engage in a little conversation, even if it is just a few words.

[Mcnubn]

(Original post by Ano1)

was that face for o.O

[Ano1]

(Original post by Mcnubn)
was that face for o.O

sorry I deleted the comment.

I got Sanya and Lhasa mixed up


I would like go to Sanya 1 day. Anyway, for OP, China is amazing! Try and visit at least 4 cities, there's so much to see and do!

[Mcnubn]

(Original post by Ano1)
sorry I deleted the comment.

I got Sanya and Lhasa mixed up


I would like go to Sanya 1 day. Anyway, for OP, China is amazing! Try and visit at least 4 cities, there's so much to see and do!

hehe fair enough

that does remind me though, also saw Chengde which has a copy of the potala palace as well as some quite nice temples

[lemoncha]

I've been to Shenzhen once like 13 years ago, couldn't remember a thing except from the noise and the smog! I go to Hong Kong once every 2/3 years, which is (to my knowledge) very different from much of mainland China, since their political and economic culture is more westernised and almost everyone (except the older populace) can speak English.

I have family in Hong Kong and my parents have a flat in a village, so I often stay there. But the city (and surrounding towns) are in most cases very modern. They have an amazingly efficient transport network - with trains, trams, buses, shuttle buses, taxis all interconnected - you can almost go anywhere using public transport! HK is a heaven for food, as you'd find a massive range of cuisine (Chinese, korean, japanese, SE asian, european etc). It's also great for shopping, from very cheap products from markets to high-end branded stores in lavish malls. HK is culturally rich - martial arts, films, literature, religion etc. And it also has a lot of green open space like nature reserves, wetlands and mountains (since it's a mountainous region).

Anyway, check it out if you have the chance =P

[No Future]

Hong Kong > mainland China

[leona1020]

I'm in Beijing right now. Welcome to Beijing, China. If you want to have a short-stay, you may book a hostel before you come to Beijing, which is cheaper than hotel. Beijing has a lot of famous places, such as Great Wall, Summer Palace and Forbidden City. Meanwhile, it's a modern city now.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[goape]

(Original post by Guy Secretan)
Who here has visited China? If so where did you stay and what did you do when you were there?

I've been to Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Hong Kong. All of which I would recommend, particularly Guilin (put Li River cruise, Seven Star Park and reed flute cave into google and you will see why).

[Laozi]

(Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel)
What you need to understand is that only educated people in China receive the ability to learn a language. Outside of hotels and airports, you won't see many people being able to talk English.

In McDonald's, they give you a product list to point at so they know what you want. In taxis, you MUST have your destination written down in Chinese otherwise they won't understand what you mean. If Chinese people knew a second language, then they wouldn't be driving taxis.

Even names of famous shopping malls and Metro stations are completely different. You cannot say 'Lujiazui station', even though that is what it says on the Metro maps. Everything has a different meaning in Chinese.

In contrast, my experiences in Tokyo were less difficult. More people there are confident enough to engage in a little conversation, even if it is just a few words.

Not true at all. You really can't given your opinion on China if you stayed in a 5 star hotel in Shang-hai.

Almost everyone under 20 can speak basic to advanced English as it's compulsory in all schools. It's really only the Cultural Revolution generation that cannot speak English. I live in a small town on the Tibetan plateau and almost all the children in my school can write excellent English and speak basic/intermediate English.

Of course McDonald's give you a list because they know you're a laowei and can't pronounce any of the food in Chinese. You're in their country, you should speak their language.

Names of shopping malls are not different. Did you really not know that Chinese is a tonal language? So you need to get the tones right on each word for them to understand. It is 'Liujiazui chezhan' but you probably said it in a monotone so they couldn't understand.

[Kolya]

(Original post by Laozi)
Names of shopping malls are not different. Did you really not know that Chinese is a tonal language? So you need to get the tones right on each word for them to understand. It is 'Liujiazui chezhan' but you probably said it in a monotone so they couldn't understand.

Hmm? Problem isn't really the tones, especially when the context is clear. It's just that lliujiazui is impossible to pronounce anywhere close to correctly if you don't know pinyin.


Anyway, regards getting around, the advice is sound:

if you're taking a taxi, get the address written down and show it to the taxi driver. Most drivers won't know anything more than the names of the biggest international hotels.

Metros are easy to use because they have self-service machines which are in English.

Big train stations usually have an English-speaking ticket counter.

Avoid buses.