Start With the Two Giants: WeChat and Alipay
WeChat is China’s super-app: messaging, payments, taxi hailing, translation, and countless mini-programs live inside it. Alipay is the payment alternative with excellent travel features, including an English interface and a built-in translation tool. Set up both before you arrive and link an international card — they accept Visa and Mastercard for foreign users, which has made travel dramatically smoother in recent years.
Once payments work, most daily friction disappears: scanning a QR code to pay at any shop, street stall, or restaurant is the norm, and cash is increasingly rare.
Maps and Getting Around
Google Maps is unreliable in China. The two apps that actually work are Amap (Gaode Maps) and Baidu Maps. Amap is generally the better choice for visitors: it has an English mode, integrates with ride-hailing, and its public-transport directions are excellent. Both apps show vegetarian restaurants if you search “素食” (vegetarian).
For ride-hailing, DiDi is the domestic equivalent of Uber and works with international cards. For trains, the official 12306 app is the source of truth, though Trip.com offers an English interface that many visitors find easier — it can also book flights and hotels.
Translation: Your Everyday Superpower
Machine translation quality for Chinese has become genuinely excellent. WeChat’s built-in translation handles chat instantly, and camera-based translation apps let you point your phone at menus, signs, and ingredient labels. Download an offline-capable translation app before you fly — connectivity can be patchy on trains and in rural areas.
A practical tip: for food, translate the characters rather than relying on photos alone. Search for “素食” or “素菜馆” to find vegetarian restaurants, and keep a saved note with your dietary phrases so you can show it to staff.
Finding Vegan Food
Dianping (Dazhong Dianping) is China’s Yelp — and it is powerful. Search “素食” and you will find vegetarian restaurants ranked by local reviews, with photos, prices, and map links. The app is in Chinese, but the interface is learnable, and your translation app will fill the gaps.
HappyCow also has listings in major Chinese cities and is a good English-language starting point, though its coverage is thinner than Dianping’s. For deeper support, many cities have active vegan and vegetarian WeChat groups where locals share recommendations in real time.
Connectivity: VPN and eSIM
Some international services (including Google, Facebook, and many email providers) are blocked in mainland China. If you rely on them, set up a reliable VPN before you arrive — do not wait until you land. Download it at home, test it, and keep the login details somewhere you can access them offline.
For connectivity itself, a travel eSIM is the simplest option: you can install it before departure and have data from the moment you land, without hunting for a local SIM. Keep an offline map downloaded as a backup for train journeys and remote areas.
Your Pre-Departure Checklist
Before you fly: install WeChat and Alipay and link your card, download Amap and Dianping, save your dietary phrase card to your photos, set up a VPN and test it, and install an eSIM. Do this once, carefully, and the rest of your trip will feel almost like home — except the food is better.
