Travellers' Information

Get in & out of China(copy righted by LP)

Facts for the Traveler

Visas: Visas are required by all foreigners entering mainland China although, at this stage, visas are not required by Western nationals visiting Hong Kong and Macau. Travelers in transit can stay in China visa-free for up to 24 hours as long as they have an onward air ticket for a flight from China to another destination departing within that time period. Visas are available from Chinese embassies and consulates in most countries.
Health risks: Rabies, bilharzia, dengue fever, malaria and cholera are all present. Immunisation against cholera, Diptheria and Tetanus, hepatitis A and B, Japanese B Encephalitis, polio, rabies and typhoid is considered essential.
Time: GMT/UTC +8 (the whole of China is set to Beijing time).
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz; plugs can be three-pronged angled, three-pronged round, two flat pins or two narrow round pins.
Weights & measures: Metric

Getting There & Away

Despite over 115 ports of entry and exit, most visitors to China travel via Hong Kong or Shanghai. The national carrier is the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC, known on international routes as Air China), which also operates a company called Dragonair as a joint venture with the Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific (bookable through Cathay Pacific worldwide). If you are leaving China by air, there's a departure tax of Y90, payable only in local currency, so be sure you have enough yuan to avoid a last-minute scramble at the airport moneychanging booth.

You can travel to China and back from Europe or Asia without having to leave the ground. Exotic routes include Vietnam-China, the Trans-Siberian railway, Tibet-Nepal, Xinjiang-Pakistan and Xinjiang-Kazakstan - but don't even think about bringing your own car, as foreigners are rarely allowed to drive in China. Other entry points include Zhuhai-Macau, Kashgar-Islamabad (Pakistan) via the Karakoram Highway, Urumqi-Almaty (Kazakstan), Kashgar-Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Beijing-Pyongyang (North Korea) and Pinxiang/Hekou-Dong Dang/Lao Cai (Vietnam). You can take a slow boat to China from Japan or South Korea. Popular places to sail to and from include Shanghai, Xiamen (opposite Taiwan), Tanggu (near Tianjin), Macau and - of course - Hong Kong.

Getting Around

Now that private carriers have been allowed to set up operations in China, CAAC has assumed the role of `umbrella organisation' over airlines including China Eastern, China Southern, China Northern, Great Wall, Yunnan Airlines and several others. There is no such thing as a discount, no matter where you buy your ticket and you'll usually be slugged with an agents commisioning fee. There is an airport tax of Y50 payable on all domestic flights.

Long-distance buses are one of the best means of getting around on the ground; they're frequent and cheap (which also translates as crowded and stuffy) but there's extensive services, passable roads and interesting towns and villages en route. An even better mode is the train, which reaches into every province (apart from Tibet) along a 52,000-km network. It's cheap, relatively fast and a safer proposition than buses; the only dangers on the trains is getting your luggage pinched or dying from shock at the state of the toilets.

As land transport improves, the romantic days of domestic boat travel are fading. But there are still a number of popular boat trips to be had between Hong Kong and the mainland. The best known river trip is the three-day cruise along the Yangzi River from Chongqing to Wuhan.