Before You Fly: Preparing for Beijing 11. Can Foreigners Use Alipay and WeChat Pay in Beijing? ✅ Quick Answer Yes. Most international visitors can now link eligible overseas Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover and certain other international bank cards to Alipay and...
50 Essential Questions Answered by Licensed Beijing Guides Planning Your First Trip to Beijing Starts Here Beijing isn’t just China’s capital—it is the political, historical and cultural heart of one of the world’s oldest continuous civilisations. For many first-time visitors, however,...
Optimising Your Travel Energy to Experience China’s Greatest Capital Quick Answer If you’re visiting Beijing for the first time, here’s our advice in one sentence: Don’t optimise your itinerary—optimise your experience. Many first-time visitors focus on squeezing as many famous attractions...
Eight Places. Eight Lessons. One Civilisation. When Elaine and I planned our first trip to Beijing, our itinerary looked much like everyone else’s. The Forbidden City. The Great Wall. The Temple of Heaven. The Summer Palace. Qianmen. Tiananmen Square. Every one...
The day Elaine and I stopped collecting attractions—and started discovering China “Reading ten thousand books is not as rewarding as travelling ten thousand miles.” 读万卷书，不如行万里路(Dú wàn juàn shū, bùrú xíng wàn lǐ lù) There is an old Chinese saying that has...
The Beijing we imagined… and the Beijing we discovered. Quick Answer Ask ten people what Beijing is like, and you’ll probably hear ten different answers. Some describe it as an ancient imperial capital. Others picture a futuristic megacity filled with skyscrapers...
Why every first-time traveller should begin their journey to China here. Quick Answer If you’re visiting China for the first time, start with Beijing (北京, Běijīng). Not simply because it is China’s capital. Not because it is home to world-famous attractions like...
Everything to Do Before You Fly—and After You Arrive No Google Maps? No Mandarin? No Chinese bank account? Passport checks, enormous railway stations, QR-code payments and apps you may never have used before? When first-time travellers begin researching China, the list...
“Dad… Why Do We Keep Going Back to China?” One evening, Elaine asked me a simple question. “Dad… lots of people compare China and Japan. Why do we keep travelling to China?” Before I could answer, Cheers had already jumped onto...
“Dad… We’re Really in China!” After months of planning… After countless YouTube videos… After checking your passport for the tenth time… Your aircraft finally lands at Beijing Capital International Airport (北京首都国际机场 | Běijīng Shǒudū Guójì Jīchǎng). As the aircraft door opens, the...
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