What You Need To Know
\t\t\t\tWhat DOESN'T change in Rural China
\t\t\t\tNo matter if you are in Rural China or Urban China like Shanghai, Shenzhen or Guangzhou, in both cases we highly recommend reading our China Travel Guide, because these tips do not change, even when in rural China, e.g paying by phone is vastly common, even in rural areas. It might be a little bit more common to pay in cash, and street vendors might carry change in a higher probability, but by far the most common payment is still by phone throughout the whole country. No matter if you are in the remotest town of Qinghai province.
Same accounts for all the apps, including taxi apps (ride hailing), food, taobao, etc. All these things are vastly the same in rural China. The only thing that might change is availability. If you are in the most remote corner, you might not be able to find a Didi (taxi), so you need to make arrangements before, we will talk about this in the transportation section.
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What DOES change in Rural China
\t\t\t\tTransportation:
Transportation is probably the biggest change when traveling to rural China. In big cities you will always be able to find taxis, or metro, whereas in rural China that can be scarce. If you travel in small cities like my hometown Guangde, you will still find taxis and things are quite normal there. But as soon as you go to real villages (village = several hundreds to a few thousands inhabitants) taxis become really scarce.
In this case you basically have two options: First, arrange a taxi beforehand. Usually, you would stay in a hotel somewhere nearby, and the hotel receptionist can get you a taxi or a driver. Be prepared to use your translation app if you do not speak any Chinese (it often helps to learn some basic Chinese to get better prices). Also, try to bargain, or at least agree on the price before you take the taxi, otherwise you might pay way too much. If you get a driver like that, you usually get their Wechat contact and you arrange.
Alternatively, if you got the Chinese tourist driving license you can also rent a car to travel through rural China. That’s actually the most convenient way, but you need to get the tourist driving license.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tForeigner-Only Hotels:
We already wrote a whole article about that topic here. Just be prepared, that some hotels do not know about the regulation change of 2024, so they might think they still do need a special certificate. In order to avoid that, you can either call the police (phone number: 12345), however chances are high that it will be tough without speaking Chinese. In this case we highly recommend to just do your booking through Trip.com. Trip.com, usually shows you all the hotels that will surely host foreigners, so there shouldn’t be an issue.
When it comes to foreigner-only topics, be also aware of areas that are restricted to foreigners.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHygiene & Toilets
This is probably one of the things, that most people will notice, but no one talks about. First things first, hygiene in China has significantly improved over the last 2-3 decades. Food quality is highly controlled, and the risk of food poisoning is very low, even in the remotest parts of China. Chinese cooks, and kitchen staff mostly wear masks and desinfect their hands, food supply chains are highly secured, so the risk is really little. Nevertheless, food poisonings can happen, therefore we would advise you to take normal precaution, same than what you would do in any country, take some anti diarrhea pills, and something agains nausea with you.
Apart from food, there is another thing that changes in rural China: the toilets. If you are comfortable with squatting, you won’t have an issue, however I noticed that many foreigners, especially from Western countries (including my hubby Flo) struggle to use squat toilets. In public places in rural China those toilets however are far more used than normal seating toilets. Also, take toilet paper or tissues with you when going to toilets. Often, especially public toilets do not have any of those.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLanguage
China as most of the countries has a huge variety of different dialects, so even if you can speak some Mandarin, chances are high that when traveling rural China you will struggle to understand people. Flo’s Chinese for instance, is really not bad, but the first time he talked to my dad he couldn’t really understand, and when my mom repeated the exact same wording he suddenly could understand. This example should just show you how different dialects can be, and that language really changes in rural China compared to big cities where mostly mandarin is spoken. Besides dialects, you should keep in mind that China is a vast country comprising 56 ethnic groups which most of them have their own language. E.g. if you travel to Sichuan, Qinghai, or Gansu province you will start noticing different scripts on offical signages, mostly Mandarin, Tibetan, and Mongolian. In Xinjiang, you would see Uyghur script, in Guangzhou you would hear Cantonese, in Jilin you will see Korean script, etc.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCulture & Food
Rural China’s cultural etiquette can be quite different too. People will be much more interested in you as a foreigner, simply because most foreigners never go to real rural China. So be prepared that people will stare, or talk to you if they are not too shy. Tip from us: do not take it as offensive if people are staring, most of them are just too shy to talk to you, but 99.9% of the people are really nice and just curious, no matter where you are from or what skin color you have.
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere are also plenty of events going on in the rural areas, China officially is a 90% atheist country, but in many regions local folk religions exist. Check out our destination page and pick the province you are traveling to and learn more about their local events and celebrations.
With all these different ethnic groups and regions comes also a lot of different food. The term “Chinese Food” is actually not really precise, it would be like saying “European Food”, what precisely does it mean? Pizza? Pasta? Grilled Sausage? Macarons? Sauerkraut? Pelmeni? Gyros? All these foods come from different countries, and as the European cuisine is very diverse so is the Chinese. Guangdong Cuisine is mostly small dishes, Wontons, Dumplings, Vegetables. Northern Cuisine is mostly noodle based, southern cuisine is more rice based. In Guizhou and Yunnan they eat rice noodles etc. Xinjiang is much more central Asian influenced, there is Pilaf (Plov), grilled lamb etc. To learn more check out our article about Chinese Cuisine.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Pleasant Surprise
\t\t\t\tThe landscape & people
\nOnce you have familiarized with the “struggles” of traveling rural China as a foreigner, it offers an amazing experience. Nowhere else you will find authenticity of this vast country as much as you will in the rural areas. From landscapes, to the people, culture, food, you name it, there is something for everybody.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKeep in mind China’s 56 different ethnic groups, so already China itself is as diverse as Europe: People look different, speak different languages, have different cultures and foods. Embrace the culture and talk to people, chances are high that you will get invited every now and then, and therefore it’s helpful to learn some basic Chinese and have your translation apps ready.
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Travel Checklist
\t\t\t\tDon’t forget the most important things:
\n- \n
- Translation app \n
- Install E-SIM before arrival \n
- Buy SIM card \n
- Always bring passport to the train station, museum, attractions etc. \n
Check our China Travel Guide so you don’t forget anything
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelated Topics
\t\t\t\tExplore next:
→ Must-Have Apps
→ Transportation in China
→ Internet & VPN
→ Payments in China
→ Safety as a tourist in China
→ Restricted Areas for Foreigners
→ Self-driving in China