Sapore di Cina

Learn Chinese, Travel or Work in China

How to Buy Chinese Tea Online Directly from China

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buychinesetea

If, like me, you love quality Chinese tea but aren’t about to pay an arm and a leg to buy it from the fashionable boutiques in the center of Milan nor drive 200 km to get some, then this article should appeal to you.

For some time, I buy Chinese tea online on TeaVivre, a website created by a group of passionate tea lovers that live in China.

The prices, as you’ll see as I continue with the article, are more than acceptable, especially if you consider that we’re talking about certified tea, often organic. As far as shipping goes, once you place your order the tea will arrive at your house within 6-10 days (if you decide to pay 8.9 American Dollars) or 12-20 days (if you opt for free shipping).

To finish, TeaVivre offers a “satisfaction or money back” guarantee for 15 days.

Click here to get tea directly from China!

Keep reading to find prices and characteristics of the most popular Chinese teas (note that the prices are all in American Dollars)! [Read more…]

Great Wall of China: A Short Review of The Top 14 Best Sections

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Great Wall of China

I’ve always been fascinated by the Great Wall of China (长城, Chang Cheng in Mandarin). The first time I had enough time and money to afford an intercontinental travel I took a flight from Paris to Beijing and I went straight away to see the Great Wall section of Mutianyu.

This was in February 2008 and since then I’ve visited the Great Wall other four times, once per year.

Great Wall of China – Index

  1. Where to visit the Great Wall of China?
  2. The head of the Great Wall: Badaling, Juyongguan, Mutianyu, Simatai, Jinshanling, Gubeikou, Jankou, Huanghuacheng and Huangyaguan
  3. Where the Great Wall meets the sea: Shanhaiguan
  4. The back of the dragon: Zhenbeitai and Yanmenguan
  5. The tail of the dragon: Jiayuguan and Yumenguan
  6. If you want to know more

[Read more…]

The Phenomenon of Internal Migration in China: Hukou and the Floating Population

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The phenomenon of internal migration in China

Following the improvement of communications and transport systems due to modern processes of urbanization and industrialization, the phenomenon of migration has become an issue of worldwide importance. The term migration indicates a movement from one area to another, which usually includes passage across more borders happening in a precise interval of time and includes a change of residence.

From a demographic point of view, migration, together with the fertility and mortality rates is a fundamental component for measuring the population growth in a determined area. In China, the term migration indicates citizens that prior to receiving authorization from the Office of Public Security, move their place of residence from one area to another.

The official figures from the last census of Chinese population in 2010 show that for the first time in the history of China, there are more people that live in the cities than the countryside. In 1950 only 64 million people lived in urban areas while in 2010 the number reached 636 million.

What has caused the phenomenon of internal migration?

Beginning in 1978, when Deng Xiaoping instituted the era of reforms (改革开放), migration from the rural areas to the cities has become an endemic phenomenon and the root of the process of industrialization, economic growth and urbanization in China. The movement of the work force from low productivity sectors to high productivity sectors has become one of the principal components in Chinese economic growth and the main reason of the growth of internal migration. [Read more…]

144 Hours (or 72 Hours) China Visa Free Travel Permit – The Complete Guide

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How to transit China for 72 (or 144) hours without a visa Pudong International Airport, Shanghai

Need help to get your Chinese visa?
Click here to find out more!

Before you begin

When traveling in Asia, oftentimes you’ll have to pass through a Chinese airport. For some time now, if you have a stopover in one of the airports listed below, you have the option of visiting China (for a maximum of 3 or 6 days, depending on the city where you arrive, see below for details), without needing Chinese a visa.

Note that the visa exemption only applies under specific conditions, thus we suggest you to read the whole article!

Also, you can check this new tool released by the Chinese government: just enter your nationality and the city of entry (Beijing, for instance), and the tool will let you know if you qualify for the exemption and for how long (72 or 144 hours).

Keep in mind that even though we’re happy to respond to all comments, we cannot absolutely guarantee that you’ll get an exemption, since we are not in any way affiliated with either the Chinese Immigration Office (which issues exemptions on your arrival in China) or any transportation company.

In fact, if you’re traveling by plane, ship or train, it will be your transportation company that will evaluate if you qualify for exemption (and thereby let you get off the transportation you took to China without a visa).

In this article, I limit myself to sharing my own experience (I did in fact get an exemption at Pudong Airport in Shanghai) and giving a general answer to the most frequently asked questions regarding 72 or 144 hour exemptions.

P.s. Click here if you need a hotel in China for a couple of nights.

[Read more…]

How to Obtain the 5-Days Visa (VOA) for Shenzhen

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5-day visa shenzhen

Temporary visas for Shenzhen are issued for tourism purposes only. In the article below, we go into further details and update the information offered in our previous article on business visas, as well as give answers to the following questions.

How to Obtain the 5-Days Visa (VOA) for Shenzhen – Index

  1. Why visit Shenzhen?
  2. Who can get a temporary visa for Shenzhen?
  3. Where can I get a temporary visa for Shenzhen?
  4. What are the requirements for obtaining a temporary visa and how much does it cost?
  5. How long does the temporary visa last and how many entries does it allow?
  6. What are the steps for requesting a visa?
  7. With this temporary visa, can I visit other Chinese cities in addition to Shenzhen?
  8. Can I get this visa at my embassy or consulate?
  9. Does this visa allow me to work in China?
  10. Can I get a similar visa at the border between Macao and Zhuhai?

[Read more…]

The Writer Yu Hua: His Life and Most Important Works

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This is the first article of the new category “Readers of SDC: Guide to Chinese literature”, centered around the writer from Hangzhou, Yu Hua.

His life

Yu Hua (余华) was born April 3, 1960 (one of Yu Hua’s works is entitled “What happened on April 3”, 四月三日事件) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. At about one year of age, Yu Hua’s father left Hangzhou to become a surgeon in Haiyan. His father’s name is 华自治, his mother 余佩文 (Yu Hua takes his surname from his mother).

In 1977, after finishing high school, he was admitted into the “Lu Xun” institute of literature in Beijing, where he would get to know his wife, the poet 陈虹 (Chen Hong). Yu Hua lived in Beijing for more than ten years because his wife worked there; now he lives in Hangzhou. Before becoming a writer, Yu Hua worked as a dentist.

In 1973, the local library reopened and Yu Hua’s father, Hua Zizhi, bought his two children a library card that would allow them to read many works, especially long novels. Yu Hua read many of the works of Hao Ran (浩然), but his absolute favorites were: 《闪闪的红星》(Sparkling Red Star) and 《矿山风云》(“The Unrest in the Mines”). Nevertheless, he only got the first books of his own when he was 18 years old.

[Read more…]

10 Things not to Underestimate Before Going to China

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things not to underestimate before going to China

We’ve received and publish this article written by Antonella Moretti, a blogger and writer. Author of the novel “Parsley & Coriander: Life in China with Italian flavour“.

I’ve been living in China for six years, and in my city’s Italian community I’m considered to be a bit of a veteran. In this period of time I passed through all phases of the expat parabola, seen the incredible changes in the city where I live, and I’ve even started to buy things on my own on Taobao and have ordered food from Elema.

But it wasn’t like that in the beginning. If I think of how I was when I arrived in Suzhou the first time…

What advice would I give to someone, who like Maia the protagonist of my book, arrives in China a little vulnerable, young and inexperienced? What are the things not to underestimate when you live in a country like this? Let’s look at it in detail!

1. The cultural differences

It might seem like banal advice, since everyone knows that the Chinese culture is different than the European! But encountering it for the first time can be quite tough.

For example you could get angry when in the middle of a discussion someone laughs in your face. In reality it’s their way of expressing embarrassment. Your exuberance could be quashed by the composure of the Chinese: their sense of humor is very different. Here nobody likes the loud and noisy joking that we enjoy when in a group. [Read more…]

Your Guide to Visit the Everest Base Camp

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Everest Base Camp

This article, a complete guide to visit the Everest North Base Camp, was written by Harley Greenberg, who arrived in China in 2008 as a Peace Corps Volunteer. When not teaching he would always crisscross the country and his first visit to Tibet was in 2009. Today Harley is a manager at WindHorseTour.

Your Guide to Visit the Everest Base Camp – Index

  1. Can you visit Tibet on your own?
  2. When to visit the Everest
  3. How many days do you need to visit Everest Base Camp?
  4. Should you join a private or a group tour?
  5. How to get to Mount Everest
  6. The most popular route: Lhasa to Kathmandu via Everest Base Camp
  7. Food and Guest Houses at Base Camp
  8. What to do at Everest Base Camp?
  9. Frequently asked questions
  10. Need a travel agency for Tibet? Ask a free quotation

[Read more…]

Golden Week Escape to Tonglu, in Zhejiang Province

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Golden Week escape to Tonglu

The week of the Chinese national holiday is called 黄金周, or Golden Week: in China, on the first of October they celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Chinese People’s Republic of China, which is followed by an entire vacation week where schools and offices close and only restaurants and hotels work hard during these days which I would define more like “fire” than “gold”.

On my third Golden Week here in China I already know that it’s best to avoid the most touristy areas and the big cities, as well as train stations and airports: a simple trip outside your door could become a real ordeal.

It seems that all the Chinese take advantage of this vacation week to take a trip with their families or return home to see their parents or relatives: and so it was that I regretted having used this week off of university classes during my first year in China to go to Beijing, travelling for nearly 30 hours on a dirty overcrowded train without even a place to sit only to arrive in Beijing without even being able to visit the Forbidden City because the daily allottment of tickets was already sold out by 9 in the morning.

Moving along in procession in a Tienanmen full of Chinese tourists armed with smartphones and cameras, I promised that I would never again travel during Chinese holidays at the risk of staying shut inside my university dorm. [Read more…]

A visit to the Unit 731 Museum in Harbin

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Harbin Museum Unit 731

It’s about ten in the morning when we leave our hotel in the center of Harbin and we quickly hurry towards the closest bus stop looking for bus number 338 which, according to the tourist map taken from a hotel near the station the night before should bring us to the Unit 731 Museum.

“If we’re lucky it will pass right by here” – I think – while little by little along with my wife Yan, we cross the street and check an information board that immediately dashes my hopes.

We look around for someone who can give us directions and the most trustworthy person we find seems to be a young man with headphones and an iPhone who I presume was listening to music.

I go up to him and in my broken Chinese I ask if he knows the closest stop on our bus route. He doesn’t know but is very helpful, and after a quick check on his cell phone he completely ignores me and gives my wife directions.

“It’s about 20 minutes from here” – Yan explains to me in English (we speak English among ourselves for more complex matters and Chinese for simpler ones) – “but once we reach a certain intersection we’ll have to ask someone.”

“Great!” – I think while we walk in the way we were directed. [Read more…]

Karaoke (or KTV) in China Singing or Sex Club?

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KTV in China

I wrote this short story in 2011. It was firstly published in another website, but the website closed down last year, so we decided to republish the story here on SDC, as we think it’s still interesting, and relevant!

A nice encounter

Muse Club, Shanghai, almost one a.m.

I’m more bored than ever and I decide to contact a girl from Anhui province that I met two days ago on the pedestrian bridge at the intersection between Yan An Road and Xi Zang Road. I send her a text message:

“我在Muse, 你干什么?” (I’m at Muse, what are you doing?)

She answers:

“我在KTV工作.你们几个人?” (I’m working at the karaoke. How many of you?)

“我一个人，你要来吗?”　(I’m alone, wanna come?)

“和你聊天跳舞，你给我钱吗?” (If I talk and dance with you, will you pay me?)

“Oh shit, another prostitute!” I think while I give up and order a Carlsberg. [Read more…]

How to Book a Hotel (or Hostel) in China

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hotels china

How to Book a Hotel (or Hostel) in China – Index

  1. What online portal do you have to use to book a hotel in China?
  2. How to get a hotel booking valid for the visa application process?
  3. What type of hotel should I choose?
  4. Internet connection in Chinese hotels
  5. Where to book your hotel
  6. Are Chinese hotels safe?
  7. The best hotels in the top Chinese cities
  8. The best hotels in other popular Chinese cities
  9. The best hotels for your Transsiberian trip
  10. Frequently asked questions

Before you begin

The purpose of this guide is to show you how and where to book a hotel in China. If you’re interested on booking a hotel in a specific Chinese city, you can head directly to our hotel reviews.

Before going on, you need to be aware of these points:

  • Chinese hotels must register all of their customers with the police station. So, you will always have to show your passport when you arrive at the hotel.
  • Not all hotels in China have a license to lodge foreigners. Because of this, I recommend that you make a reservation in advance and avoid having to try several hotels before you find one that you can stay at.
  • In order to obtain a tourist visa for China, remember that you’ll need an invoice of the hotel/hotels with the full name of all the people that will stay at the hotel and need a visa as well (unless you have a letter of invitation). Below, in this article, we explain how to get this document.

[Read more…]

Traveling to the Autonomous County of Tujia and Miao of Youyang, near Chongqing

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Traveling to Youyang

We’ve received and publish this great article from Manuel Recchia

Located to the southeast of the Municipality of Chongqing, the most extensive and populated of the four Chinese municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing), the autonomous county of Tujia and Miao of Youyang (酉阳土家族苗族自治县) is the largest county of the Municipality.

Called Youzhou in ancient times, Youyang represents a real cultural cradle for the 18 ethnic minorities that live there. Among these, the most consistent is the Tujia ethnic minority (whose history might go back to the Ba people who occupied the area of the modern province of Chongqing about 2,500 years ago), followed then by the Miao, Han, Hui, and other ethnic minorities.

Without a doubt the crown jewel of this county is Taohuayuan, 桃花源, or “The peach blossom spring”, a scenic area that got the highest rating of 5A (AAAAA).

How to get to Youyang

There are two main ways to get to Youyang, both starting from Chongqing: the first is to take the train from the north station of Chongqing (Chongqing Beizhan, 重庆北站) and the second is to take a bus from the west station in Chongqing (Chongqing Xizhan Qichezhan, 重庆西站汽车站). [Read more…]

Crossing the Border of China and Vietnam on Foot (Hekou – Lao Cai)

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Crossing the border of China and Vietnam on foot

In this article I’ll tell of how you can get to the Vietnamese city of Lao Cai on foot, crossing the border at the Chinese city of Hekou, focusing on my personal experience and my feelings on the day I crossed. I hope that by reading this article you’ll want to travel slowly and lose yourself in the magic of the borders!

Who knows what shape borders will take over time, whether they will increase or disappear to allow people to get around without too many problems. I always imagine them to be impervious and silent places, where the sound of the wind and some stationary soldier accompanies the rivers and mountains, and where you can meet intrepid travelers.

But my imagination was for the most part influenced by the ancient prose of explorers and travelers who passed through these areas.

Then my imagination met reality, and the rivers and mountains took the form of runways and dusty desks, the sound of the wind became a speaker that reminds you to take your passport out and stay in line. And it’s like this that the majority of us see borders in airports, never having crossed a border by land. [Read more…]

How to Choose Your Travel Insurance for China (and why you need it)

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health insurance in china

Note: If you are only interested on getting a free quotation for a travel agency, then we recommend World Nomads (click here to get your free quotation).

Travel Insurance for China – Index

  1. Why do I need an health insurance when I travel to China?
  2. Hospitals in China
  3. Privacy at the hospital in China
  4. What insurance do we recommend?
  5. What should a good insurance cover?
  6. What should I do when I need medical assistance?
  7. Frequently asked questions

When I decided to go to China for the first time, finding an affordable and comprehensive health insurance was one of my first concerns, as I knew that, while in my country I was covered by the welfare system, in China I was on my own. This also applies for short-term travelers: unless you have international insurance, you won’t be covered while traveling around Asia.

Why do I need an health insurance when I travel to China?

Health insurance isn’t compulsory when you travel, so you can still go to Asia without any insurance and hope to never get sick, have an accident, lose your luggage or having your flight canceled by a storm.

However I won’t do it myself. It’s too risky. Especially when you consider that a good travel insurance only costs you a couple of USD per day.

Chinese hospitals are business oriented and they won’t help you unless you can pay cash in advance or they can verify that you’re covered by an adequate medical insurance.

I repeat, if you can’t pay nobody will help you. Also, the international hospitals in China (where doctors and nurses can speak English) are often more expensive than hospitals in the U.S.

I’ve heard plenty of horror stories of western tourists or expats that were left to die or lose a foot in an Asian hospital because, after being a victim of an accident or bad food poisoning, they didn’t have insurance or enough cash to pay for the emergency treatments they needed. Can you afford to pay 5,000 or 10,000 USD cash? [Read more…]

How to Organize Your Trip to Tibet as a Foreigner

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Travel to Tibet: Our Guide – Index

  1. Why it’s compulsory to join a travel tour to visit Tibet, what the Tibet Permit is and how to get it
  2. How to spot a good travel agency
  3. How much does it cost a trip to Tibet?
  4. The pros and cons of reaching Tibet by train (instead of flying)
  5. Planning your trip: how long to stay, what to visit and when to visit Tibet
  6. Some general advices
  7. Frequently asked questions

If you want to book a Tibet tour but you aren’t sure what travel agency to choose we can suggest you a reliable agency. Click here to contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

p.s. For more in-depth information on traveling around China (insurances, vaccines, ATMs, internal flights, common scams, internet, food, etc.) you may have a look at my complete guide to travel to China. It’s massive, around 4,000 words, but you don’t need to read it all, just jump on the sections you find interesting to you. You can also download a travel phrasebook Chinese-English. [Read more…]

Business Visa for China – The Complete Guide

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Business Visa for ChinaThe old commercial visa (F visa), now called M visa

Need help to get your Chinese visa?
Click here to find out more!

Business Visa for China – Index

  1. What is required to obtain an M visa?
  2. Where can I apply for an M visa?
  3. How long is the M visa good for, and how many entries can I get?
  4. Can I renew my M visa in China?
  5. How much does an M visa cost?
  6. How can I read an M visa?
  7. How can one get an M visa on arrival at the Shanghai Airport?
  8. How can one get a 5 day visa on arrival at the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen?
  9. Can I work in China with an M visa?

The business visa (or M visa) is issued to those coming to China for commercial activity.

If you’re interested in finding out more about tourist, student or work visas, click here to read our guide to Chinese visas. If instead you’re interested in a visa to visit relatives (your husband, son, etc) then click here. If you’re interested in obtaining a visa for Taiwan, click here. [Read more…]

Traveling to Ningxia, the Smallest Province in China

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Traveling to Ningxia

Ningxia (宁夏), whose capital is Yinchuan (银川), is technically the smallest Chinese province, but also an autonomous region in China on the border with Inner Mongolia with a population exceeding six million three hundred thousand inhabitants.

In Yinchuan there’s an airport with a discreet network of connections, but this shouldn’t scare you off: Ningxia is very small, you can easily get around by bus and train. The complete name for this place (Ningxia Huizu Zizhiqu, 宁夏回族自治区) gives us information about the ethnicity of its inhabitants: Ningxia is in fact the main dwelling place of Chinese of the Hui ethnicity (even though there’s no shortage of Han, especially in the capital). In 1954, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu (甘肃), but in 1958 it became an autonomous region.

Ningxia, with a surface area of about 66,400 square kilometers, is a very harsh territory that alternates between bare mountains and dusty plains; additionally, this area is practically divided in half by the Yellow River.

Ningxia, as part of the 黄土高原 (Huangtu Gaoyuan), known as the Loess Plateau, is primarily made up of arid mountain chains and high-altitude plains. It is important to mention the Loess Plateau because it’s thanks to this that the Yellow River got its name: Loess is a sedimentary rock that gives a yellowish color to the waters of this famous river. [Read more…]

Chinese Tourist Visa (L Visa) – The Complete Guide

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travel visa for China

Need help to get your Chinese visa?
Click here to find out more!

Chinese Tourist Visa – Index

  1. Do I need a visa to visit China as a tourist?
  2. When should I apply for a Chinese visa?
  3. Where can I apply for a Chinese tourist visa?
  4. How long will a Chinese visa last?
  5. How much does a Chinese visa cost and how long will it take to get one?
  6. What documents will I need to get a visa?
  7. How do you read a Chinese visa?
  8. Can I extend the length of my Chinese visa?

If you need information about how to obtain a tourist visa (or L visa) for China, you’ve come to the right place.

If instead you’re interested in another type of visa (work, student, business, etc) then click here to read our complete guide on Chinese visas. [Read more…]

The 130 Top Things to See and Do in Shanghai

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Traveling to ShanghaiShanghai in a small model on display at the Shanghai World Financial Center

Travel to Shanghai – Index

  1. Main tourist attractions in Shanghai
  2. Shopping in Shanghai
  3. Where and what to eat in Shanghai
  4. Bars and clubs in Shanghai
  5. Museums and shows in Shanghai
  6. Parks and amusement parks in Shanghai

Before you begin

This article contains a brief review of the main tourist attraction in Shanghai. For every attraction we’ll also specify the address and closest metro stop. Here you’ll find an interactive map of the Shanghai metro, while here you’ll find our guide designed for those who wish to move to Shanghai.

To conclude, here you’ll find our reviews on the best hotels in Shanghai.

Note: in this article we indiscriminately use the words “Road” and “Lu”. The meaning is the same, since both have the meaning “way” or “street” (the difference is that the first word is in English and the second is in Mandarin).

[Read more…]