Landing in China: airports, SIMs, metro, taxis and the first 24 hours

You’ve landed. Immigration with a visa-free stamp takes minutes. Now what? Here’s the first 24 hours, compressed.

At the airport

1. Immigration: have passport + onward ticket (transit travelers) ready. Fingerprints for first-timers. The officer stamps; you’re in. The entry stamp date matters — day 1 of 30.
2. Activate your eSIM while walking to baggage claim (you did buy it before departure, per the internet guide).
3. Cash: skip airport ATMs unless you need them; fees are ugly. Alipay handles 99% of everything now.
4. Baggage carts are free. Trolleys, wifi that mostly works, and arrival halls full of metro/taxi signs in English at major airports.

Getting into town

• Metro is the default at most major airports (Beijing Capital/PEK, Shanghai Pudong/PVG, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen): ¥5–10, 30–60 minutes, signs in English, pay with the Alipay transport code (set it up before you fly).
• Maglev in Shanghai (PVG): ¥50, 300 km/h toy train, drops you at Longyang Road to transfer. Do it once for fun.
• DiDi from arrivals: expect ¥80–200 to city centers. Use the Alipay mini-program, set the airport pickup zone, confirm the plate. Legit airport taxi lines are also fine — insist on the meter (打表).
• Unlicensed touts offering rides inside terminals: decline, always. The legit taxi queue is 50 meters further.

Metro, the cheat sheet

• Alipay transport code: Transport in Alipay → select your city → hold the QR at gates. WeChat has the same. No local transit card needed anymore.
• Security X-ray at every station entrance — bags go through, every time. Liquids fine; power banks get a glance, allowed (carry-on only on planes, though).
• Rush hours (7:30–9:30, 17:30–19:30) are packed; the first/last car trick doesn’t exist, but off-peak you’ll always find space.
• Announcements are bilingual in tier-1 cities, Chinese-only in smaller ones. AMap handles navigation to any station exit (exits matter — stations are huge and exits can be 400m apart).

DiDi vs taxis

DiDi (in-app, via Alipay) shows the price before you ride, tracks the route, and needs zero Chinese. Regular taxis are metered and honest in most cities, but you show the driver the address in Chinese characters — a photo of your hotel’s Chinese name card works. Sit front if you like; seatbelts in the back are rarity-level rare.

The first evening

• Hotel check-in: passport, 2 minutes (see the hotels guide).
• Test payment: buy a bottle of water at a FamilyMart/7-Eleven with Alipay. If it works, your trip is functionally solved.
• Download offline maps of your city in AMap as backup, and screenshot your hotel’s address in Chinese.
• Eat: point at what looks good, or say “this one” (这个, zhège). Every restaurant has photo menus; translation apps read them.

Things nobody tells you

• Toilets: squat in most public places, sitting in hotels/malls. Carry tissue (纸巾) — often not provided. This is the #1 small thing travelers wish they knew.
• Drinking tap water: don’t. Kettles in every hotel room; bottled water is ¥2.
• Pollution days still exist in winter in the north; masks are everywhere if you want one.
• VPN-less life: with your roaming eSIM, Google/WhatsApp just work. On hotel wifi they don’t — flip back to cellular when you need them.
• Alipay verification nudge: sometimes the app wants to re-verify your passport in the first days. Do it when prompted; it takes a minute.