Stays & Food Safety

1. Stays: “foreign-guest capable” is the keyword

China historically required hotels to hold a foreign-guest licence. Rules have relaxed (a 2024 nationwide push removed the restriction), but small-city hostels may still decline with “our system can't register passports.” When booking:

• Listings bookable on Booking/Agoda/Trip.com are essentially all equipped;
• Check-in requires your original passport (photographing it is law);
• Listings marked “Mainland Chinese guests only” don't take foreigners yet — just pick another;
• Remote areas (west Sichuan, some Xinjiang county towns) are thin — confirm a day ahead.

2. Check-in expectations

• Checkout is usually 12:00–14:00; late stays may add half a day's rate;
• Deposits: some hotels hold ¥200–500 cash — refunded at checkout, get the receipt;
• Need a fapiao (invoice) for expenses? Ask at checkout;
• “Breakfast included” usually means a Chinese buffet (congee, buns, stir-fries); international hotels add western options;
• Firm beds are normal — local wisdom says it's good for your back; ask the front desk for an extra mattress pad (“加一床褥子” — show the phrase); mid-to-high hotels stock them;
• No coffee machine is normal: rooms come with a kettle and tea; coffee lives at the desk or the convenience store. Soundproofing and fixtures drop off sharply away from big cities — set expectations accordingly.

3. Water safety

4. Street food: yes or no?

Yes — filtered by common sense: long queues, fast turnover, cooked in front of you, clean utensils almost always means safe. Lower the risk:

• Favour made-to-order hot cooking (grilled, boiled, fried); be careful with cold dishes sitting at ambient temperature;
• Raw seafood (pickled oysters, live sashimi styles) — leave it to iron stomachs at high-turnover vendors;
• Adjust oil and chili: “mild / less oil” works everywhere;
• Go bland on day one — give your gut 24–48 hours to acclimatise.

5. Allergies & special diets

Kitchens don't default to allergen awareness — “allergy” often reads as "dislikes". Do this:

1. Prepare a card saying “I have a severe allergy; this can be life-threatening” in Chinese and show it when ordering;
2. Interrogate the sauces: peanut, sesame, shrimp paste, fish sauce and oyster sauce hide everywhere;
3. Vegetarians: broth bases, lard and chicken-powder MSG are common — “I don't eat meat” must include the broth;
4. Celiac / gluten: soy sauce is everywhere and woks/pots are shared — "no soy sauce" doesn't remove cross-contact. Severe cases: self-catered food plus halal/chain kitchens, with the danger card;
5. Halal: dense in the northwest and every big city — the reliable way to dodge pork AND uncertain kitchens; famously clean operations make it many foodies' safe bet on the road;
6. Severe allergies: carry your epinephrine auto-injector (prescribed) and teach your travel partners.

6. The stomach kit

• Diatraceous/montmorillonite (anti-diarrhoeal)
• Oral rehydration salts
• Probiotics (acclimatisation)
• Personal meds + prescription copies

Pharmacies (green cross, 药店/药房) are on every corner and beat convenience-store medicine aisles. Staff mostly speak Chinese only — preload “拉肚子 / 发烧 / 感冒” (diarrhoea / fever / cold) in your translator.