A foreign traveler with a rolling suitcase waiting on a bright modern Chinese high-speed railway platform The first time I stood at Beijing South Railway Station with a paper ticket…
A foreign traveler scanning a QR code at a Shanghai convenience store with the Alipay app open on their phone When I landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport on March 14,…
Update (2026): China expanded its visa-free transit from 144 to 240 hours (10 days) in December 2024, now covering 55 countries, 65 ports and 24 provinces. Read our fully updated…
Standing in line at Beijing Capital Airport at 11 p.m., a first-time visitor turned to me and whispered, “I have no idea how I’m supposed to pay for anything here.”…
The Temple of Heaven isn’t a temple and it isn’t one building — it’s a 273-hectare walled park in southeast Beijing where Ming and Qing emperors came to pray for…
The best time to visit Beijing is spring (April–May) or autumn (September–October), when daytime highs sit in the comfortable 19–26°C range and the skies turn that famous postcard blue. I’ve…
Summer Palace Beijing is the one imperial garden I tell every first-time visitor to put at the top of their list. Spread across 290 hectares in the city’s northwest (Haidian…
If you’re wondering where to eat Beijing duck on your trip, you’re asking the right question — because in a city with thousands of duck restaurants, the difference between a…
Looking for a complete Forbidden City guide tickets rundown for 2025? Here’s the short version: admission is online-only and sells out on busy days, entry costs ¥60 in peak season…
Written by Karl · Updated July 2026 Stand on the Bund at 6:15 p.m. and watch the Pudong skyline switch on. One second the towers across the Huangpu River are…