How to handle daily life in China.

Your first 72 hours: deadlines before convenience.

The exact order varies, but these four checks prevent the most avoidable problems.

1 · Verify accommodation registration

Hotels generally submit registration for guests. If you stay in a dormitory, rented home, or another private address, confirm who is responsible and whether registration has actually been completed. The national baseline is generally within 24 hours for non-hotel lodging, while the channel and evidence vary locally.

2 · Contact the university, employer, host, or sponsor

Tell the responsible office that you have arrived and ask for the current first-week task list. Check the wording and expiry dates on your entry documents before prioritizing apps or shopping.

• Student: international or exchange office
• Worker: employer HR or mobility contact
• Family or visitor: sponsor, host, or inviting organization

3 · Establish reliable local connectivity

Use an official carrier channel and bring your passport. Confirm that your phone accepts a physical SIM if you need a mainland number, especially with eSIM-only models. Compare price, data, contract length, and cancellation rules before signing.

4 · Set up a payment fallback

Try Alipay or WeChat Pay with a supported international card, but keep cash or another working payment method until verification is complete. A foreign card that works for merchant purchases may still not support personal transfers or every mini-program.

Alipay & WeChat Pay with a foreign card

Both accept international cards now. The setup is easy; the traps are in the details.

Setup (both apps, same logic)

• Register with your overseas phone number (works fine).
• Alipay: Me → Bank Cards → Add. WeChat: Me → Services → Wallet → Cards → Add.
• Enter card number, name, passport details, confirm with your bank's SMS code.
• Visa, Mastercard and JCB work on both; WeChat also takes Amex, Discover and Diners.

Fees & limits (roughly, check in-app)

Small payments are typically fee-free (recent rules: under ¥200 per transaction); larger ones carry about 3%. There are monthly and annual caps (tens of thousands of RMB, plenty for normal life). Pay in RMB, not your home currency, to avoid double conversion.

Taxis, metro, bikes and bullet trains

Uber doesn't operate here. Everything below does, through your phone.

Ride-hailing: DiDi

• Skip the app, use the mini-program: search "DiDi" inside Alipay or WeChat, it inherits your verified identity and payment, no separate signup.
• Switch to English in settings. Fares auto-charge your bound card; the estimate shows before you confirm.
• The built-in chat auto-translates between you and the driver, both directions. Use it instead of calling.
• Share your live trip with a friend from inside the app, standard safety habit here.

Metro & bus

In Alipay, tap Transport → choose your city → get your ride QR code (one-time identity check). Scan at the gate, scan again on exit; buses scan once on boarding. Staying long? A physical transport card (bring your passport to any metro service centre) works across the whole region.

Shared bikes

Scan the QR on the bike itself with Alipay/WeChat, HelloRide (the blue bikes) is the most foreigner-friendly. Ride, then park inside a marked parking zone and close the lock until it beeps.

High-speed rail: the 12306 platform

• Use the official 12306 app or English site (12306.cn/en). Register with passport as your ID type.
• Verification is required before you can buy: upload your passport photo page (result by SMS within ~24h) or verify in person at any station ticket window. Do this before the day you travel.
• Pay with Visa/MC/Amex/JCB directly, or via Alipay/WeChat.
• Board with your passport, many gates read the photo page directly. Arrive 30–60 min early; gates close 5 min before departure.

Meituan & Dianping: eating like a local

One company, two apps: Meituan for delivery, Dianping for reviews and deals. Both have English.

Delivery

• Use the Meituan mini-program inside WeChat/Alipay, smoother payment than the standalone app.
• Fill your address in Chinese (copy it from your compound's listing or ask reception), riders navigate by it.
• Riders phone by default to confirm, stressful if you can't answer in Chinese. Paste this into the order notes instead:

放门口，不用打电话
= "leave it at the door, no need to call", the one phrase worth copy-pasting.

In restaurants: QR ordering & deals

Many places skip menus entirely, scan the QR on your table, order and pay from your phone. On Dianping, restaurant set-meal deals often run 30–50% below menu price: buy in-app, show the voucher code to staff.

WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and finding your people

Social life here runs on two apps, and neither works quite like the ones you left behind.

WeChat is the operating system

• People don't exchange numbers, they scan each other's QR codes (Me → My QR Code). New friendships, group chats, event invites: all WeChat.
• Long-press any message → Translate. This single feature carries most foreigners through their first year of group chats.
• Group chats are where everything happens, your compound, your class, your gym, your hiking crew. Say yes when someone adds you to one.
• Moments (the feed) is semi-private: only mutual friends see each other's comments. Don't overthink it.

Xiaohongshu (RedNote) is the local search engine

For "best noodles near me", "weekend trips from Shanghai", "how locals actually do X", people here search Xiaohongshu, not Google. Posts are photo-first, so you can get far even before your Chinese does. Search in Chinese when you can (paste translated keywords), results are far richer than English queries.

The records that keep later steps moving

China uses real-name and address records across many systems. Keep proof, know who is responsible, and confirm local implementation.

Rule 1 · Accommodation registration

• Hotel stay: the hotel generally registers you at check-in.
• Other accommodation: you or the person accommodating you generally need to register with the local public-security authority within 24 hours.
• Online access is not uniform: some provinces and cities provide official online channels or pilots, while others require a local police-station or accommodation-provider process.
• After moving: confirm whether and how registration must be updated. Do not assume the previous record follows you automatically.

Rule 2 · Check the document that controls your stay

Visa, residence, study, work, family, and visitor situations are not interchangeable. Check permitted stay, number of entries, expiry, sponsor, and any instruction requiring a later residence application or extension. Do not copy another person’s deadline.

Rule 3 · Record who owns each task

Write “me,” “university,” “employer,” “accommodation provider,” “sponsor,” or “local authority” next to every administrative step. A task being employer- or university-led does not mean you should ignore the deadline or fail to keep a copy.

Official help

• Immigration and residence: 12367 and the competent local exit-entry administration.
• City public services: local 12345 channels, with language availability varying by city.
• Emergencies: 120 ambulance · 110 police · 119 fire.

Do not leave the closing tasks for the airport.

Start an account-and-document checklist several weeks before your final date.

• Photograph meter readings, the room, keys, and handover condition.
• Save receipts, refunds, deposits, claim files, and cancellation confirmations.
• Keep secure copies of passports, permits, registration records, contracts, and official correspondence.
• Confirm the lawful departure or status-change deadline with your university, employer, sponsor, or 12367.

The only apps you actually need

Install these eight and you're operational. Most also exist as mini-programs inside WeChat/Alipay.

Bonus for paperwork: the Immigration 12367 mini-program (multilingual immigration services) inside WeChat/Alipay.