China travel
Must have apps
WeChat Pay / Weixin Pay / 微信支付
This app is essential, especially for paying for almost anything. You pay by either presenting your WeChat "send payment" QR code for the vendor to scan, or by you scanning the vendor's QR code with your WeChat app (more common for amateur vendors or small shops).
In the past it was very hard for tourists to pay for services in China, but recently China has opened up for foreigners to use the WeChat Pay service (which is used virtually everywhere). You can link a credit/debit card like Visa/MasterCard and then pay using it in China. Some reports that the card has to be added from outside China (not sure if VPN from China works)
200CNY no-fee limit
If you transfer 200CNY or less per transaction, the transaction will not incur any fees from WeChat. If not, a 3% fee is added to the amount. A common workaround to get a free payment above 200CNY is to ask the vendor to split the payment into <=200CNY transactions. This works, but note that when I transferred 3 payments of 200 to a Chinese person, the 4th transaction got rejected.
AliPay
Can also be used for payments.
Better than WeChat in that it is more foreigner-focused - many mini-apps are translated to English. There's a global "translate to English" function built into the UI. Popular mini apps include public transport tickets (train, metro, bus), and for ordering take-away.
Apple Maps
Apple's Maps app is notoriously bad in the western world, but in China it's one of the best! They import data from Chinese sources/APIs and shows almost every shop and restaurant along with reviews. Maps are not obfuscated like Google Maps. It even has multi-level mall maps!
Google Maps
Not so popular in China but sometimes it can be useful to find western-perspective reviews of certain attractions. Maps are obfuscated (meaning satellite data will be off by a few hundred meters).
Organic Maps
Offline Open Street Maps. This is useful in every country, also China (but to a lessess extent due to lacking quality of maps).
Baidu Maps
Cannot be downloaded by foreigners (of many countries).
Apple Translate
Can download translations offline, allowing you to translate text, camera/image and voice without an internet connection (although most of China does have good internet connection!)
VPN / connection with the outside world
See censorship.
Wise 1
Invaluable for international travel / payments.
Trip.com 1
One of the best apps to book hotels and attractions in China for foreigners. Singapore based.
Skype
Make international calls (almost) for free. Update: Skype is now defunct.
Ride hailing
DiDi: Can be hard to download / use for foreigners, but it can also be found as a mini-app inside AliPay.
Robotaxi / self driving taxis
Shanghai
Eight companies—including Pony.ai, Baidu's Apollo Go, SAIC Motor, and Qiangsheng Taxi—may now operate cars with no safety driver in the front seat.
- Pony.ai fleet - Pudong area (Near Shanghai Science and Technology Museum): Use WeChat Pony.ai mini program. See this post.
- Apollo Go WeChat mini program - Jiading District See this article.
- ZhixingZhilian (致行智联) mini-program - Lin-gang Special Area See this page
High speed train
Shanghai Maglev
From Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road. Maximum cruising speed of 300 km/h, reduced from 431 km/h to save cost (air resistance and electricity cost increases exponentially at such high speeds).
Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail
This is the world's fastest train in commercial operation, covering the ~1300 km route in about 4.5 hours at speeds up to 350 km/h. Average speed of 291 km/h for the whole journey.
Power banks
Surprising to many is that China is one of few (the only?) countries in the world that doesn't allow powerbanks on planes and trains, unless the powerbank has a CCC-marking on it (I jokingly call it Chinese Communist Charger ☭🙊). So make sure to get a power bank with a CCC-marking (they can be bought in China). If your powerbank doesn't have this marking, you have to leave it at home! Or try to hide it in your luggage and hope for the best, or put a CCC-sticker on it. 😇