About this guide

What this is

China Unfolded is an independent, free guide for people who are curious about China and planning to go. It covers one continuous journey: understanding the place, getting in legally, getting around, eating, seeing things, and leaving without drama.

It is not a travel agency, it is not affiliated with any government body, and it does not sell tours. Nothing here is sponsored content disguised as advice.

• Free, no account, no app. Open it on the plane and read it.
• Plain language. Written for someone who has never been to China and does not know the vocabulary.
• Structured. Every page stands alone, but they are built to be read in order.
• Corrected, not dated. When a rule changes, the page is fixed rather than re-dated.

How the information is put together

1. Start from the official source

   Visa, customs and tax rules come from the National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Administration of Customs — never from a forum thread or a summary of a summary.

2. Then add what the official source leaves out

   Official pages tell you the rule. They rarely tell you what the officer actually asks, how long the queue is, or which form is on which counter. That part comes from real traveller experience.

3. Prefer specifics over adjectives

   Not "get to the airport early" but "T-minus 3 hours: customs refund desk first, then check-in". Not "book ahead" but "released about 7 days ahead, sells out in minutes".

4. Say when we are not sure

   Where a rule is genuinely ambiguous or changes in practice, this site says so and tells you who to ask. Guessing would be worse.

5. Fixed when a rule changes

   Visa policy changes several times a year. When that happens the visa page is corrected, so you are never left reading a rule that has already been replaced. Found something stale? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.

What this site cannot do for you

• It cannot guarantee you will be allowed to board or enter
• It cannot tell you the rule that will apply on the exact day you travel
• It is not a substitute for travel insurance, or for reading your own government's travel advice

How this site is funded

The site is free because it shows advertising, and because some outbound links are affiliate links.

• Advertising is served by Google AdSense. Ads are placed so they never interrupt or cover the text, and there is a limit on how many appear inside an article.
• Affiliate links to booking, eSIM, insurance and tour services may earn a small commission. This never increases the price you pay, and it is disclosed wherever such links appear.
• No one pays to be recommended. Recommendations are editorial. A hotel, agency or service cannot buy a mention here.

You can support the site simply by using it, and by telling one person who is planning a trip.

Found a mistake?

Please say so. Visa and customs information is the kind of content where being wrong costs a reader real money, so corrections are taken seriously and made quickly.

• Write to [email protected] — it is in the footer too.
• Tell us which page, which sentence, and — if you can — what the official source says now.
• If a rule changed, we will fix the page as soon as we can.

Who writes this

China Unfolded is written and maintained independently, by people who have spent years travelling and living in China and keep going back. It is not run by a government body, a tourism board or an agency. Nobody pays us to recommend a hotel, a tour or a restaurant, and there are no paid placements hidden inside these guides.

Every page starts from first-hand experience and is then checked against official sources wherever the rules actually matter — visas, customs, tax refunds. The policy pages get corrected whenever the rules change, and we say so when we are not sure about something instead of guessing.

Found a mistake, or noticed something has changed? Write to [email protected] and we will fix it — corrections are welcome and always credited.