You are Chinese with a PRC Passport or want to go abroad with a Chinese friend/girlfriend/wife? Unfortunately many countries have quite tight visa restrictions for Chinese holding a PRC Passport. Going on a holiday trip on short notice is usually impossible. There are a few exceptions though. In this article we will present all countries [...]
1. Chinese New year / Spring festival: an introduction
Chinese New Year is called “Spring Festival” (chun2jie2 / 春节) by Chinese people. New year in “Western” culture is one day, with the main celebration being done on the last night of the year. Spring Festival is different. It covers a period of 2 weeks. It begins [...]
Finding an apartment to rent online
Finding an apartment to rent online is not easy in China. There are thousands of apartments on the Internet and it is hard to tell the quality, even if they look very good in the picture. You will have to spend some time at it. If you see a really [...]
Learning Mandarin in China – a country introduction
China is a super-sized country that has more than twice the area of the European Union and is comparable in size to the US. Its population is without contest the largest one on earth. The most populated province, Sichuan, has a population equivalent to Germany (82 million) while [...]
In China, you have a wide choice of accommodation options. You can choose star-level hotels, vacation resorts, economical chain hotels, youth hostels, or low-end hotels. Differences between them are reflected in both quality and price.
Different types of hotels:
1. Star-level HotelsStar-level hotels in China can have between one to five stars based upon the design [...]
International Medical Insurance
Insurance companies in China require patients to first pay for treatment, and then send all claims and receipts to the insurance company. Some of the best hospitals in China have direct billing arrangements with certain international health insurance companies. These arrangements are still the exception rather than the rule. Contact your insurance broker [...]
Traditional Chinese medicine is not as popular in China as in the past, so the number of TCM pharmacies and TCM hospitals has been declining in recent years, but there are still some good TCM pharmacies and hospitals left. You can find more typical TCM treatment in small towns or rural areas. Local people use [...]
Pharmacies in China, indicated by green crosses, abound in larger cities. A few of them are open 24hr a day. The number of pharmacies has increased rapidly in recent years and you can find a variety of different pharmacies in bigger cities or major towns. In rural areas, it’s harder to find a proper pharmacy, [...]
Local Hospitals
In China, there are two types of hospitals, national hospitals and private hospitals. In larger places, you can find all kinds of divisional hospitals, especially in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In smaller places, you will have less choice. In most of the cities in China, you will find a hospital called [...]
China is one of the few countries that does not allow foreigners to drive a car/motorbike using a foreign or even an international driving license. You have to apply for a chinese driving license, but only have to do the theoretical exam.
Got to the responsible office for driving licenses in your city. You can ask [...]