How to Extend a Chinese Visa Smoothly in 2025 A step-by-step guide for foreigners in China on how to extend your visa without stress — requirements, tips, costs, and mistakes to avoid. ✍️ Intro Visa extensions in China can feel confusing — especially with changing rules, language barriers, and long lines. But the truth is: it’s possible to extend your visa without stress if...

🚄 From City Lights to Secret SkiesImagine leaving Shenzhen’s skyscrapers behind and heading deep into China’s wild west—Qinghai Province. That’s exactly what this traveler did to uncover the truth about Chaka Salt Lake, the so-called “forbidden mirror.” 🌌 Walking on Water (Almost)Chaka isn’t just a lake. It’s a massive salt flat that perfectly...

Aside from essential apps like WeChat, Alipay, Didi, Maps, etc., one of the other apps that I use most often here is Dianping, especially for looking up restaurants and bars. It's a great way to find new places, check opening times and addresses, book tables and get some banging discounts.  Almost every restaurant or bar is guaranteed to have at least one kind of deal or discount....

On September 28, the results of the 2024 “Charming China—The Most Attractive Chinese Cities in the Eyes of Foreign Talent” survey were announced. Organized by the Foreign Talent Research Center of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the study evaluated how foreigners living and working in China view different cities. How the Ranking Was Done A total of...

Ever booked a hotel in China, rolled in with your suitcase all excited, only to hear that dreaded line: “Sorry, we’re not qualified to accept foreigners”? Yeah… me too. Awful. It’s been repeated so often it might as well be part of the hotel’s welcome script when a foreigner walks in. And the reason they give? “According to the law…” Well,...