about us

china insiders guide is the guide we wished existed the first time we landed in pudong with a dead visa card, no vpn and a vague plan involving “dumplings.”

china is having a moment. visa-free entry for dozens of countries, the 240-hour transit, bullet trains that make every other country look slow, and cities that look like the future rendered at 8k. but the info out there is either ten years old, written by a hotel chain, or buried in a 40-minute video.

so we write it down. lowercase, honest, updated when the rules change (which is, like, monthly).

who writes this

hi, i’m brandon. i first landed in china in spring 2024 on visa-free entry, fully expecting it to be hard. it was not hard. it was confusing for about 48 hours and then it was the best trip of my life. i’ve been back four times since, with survival mandarin, terrible tones and a carry-on that’s gotten smaller every trip.

the guides are the practical stuff. the stories are what actually happened, mistakes included.

how we keep it free

some links on the site are affiliate links — if you book a train, esim, tour or hotel through them, the company pays us a small commission. you pay the same. we only recommend stuff we’d tell our friends to use. full disclosure here.

say hi

spotted something out of date? got a tip? hello@chinainsidersguide.com. we read everything.