How safe is China as a solo Western tourist? Never been to Asia but I like historical tourism and markets. Apparently Shenzhen is the global centre of tech gadgetry & fakes.
Shenzhen?
How safe is China as a solo Western tourist? Never been to Asia but I like historical tourism and markets. Apparently Shenzhen is the global centre of tech gadgetry & fakes.
It's extremely safe. But also I think I would hate Asia with passion if Shenzhen was my first entry point. You can't quite imagine how crowded it is until you experience it. Then again, that can be viewed as part of its charm, and I must say I did feel more alive there than compared to the West. There's always something happening. I would 100% go at least as fat as Guangxi just to be able to see something that's not one massive polis.
Crowded places can be a lot of fun as long as you feel safe where you can pop into a bar having a drink and just live in the moment. When you are constantly have your defenses raised all the way up crowded cities just become mentally exhaustive.
The most accessible cities in China as a solo western tourist are Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai. I wouldn't recommend Shenzhen as your first encounter.
bump
quite curious about this exact topic. Since china is a huge country and id probably assume my first visit to be about 3 weeks, i figured i would either go for Guangdong/ Fujian province first, visiting Shenzen, Hong Kong, Shiamen and Guangzhou.
Other alternative would be more up north with Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao and Tianjin.
Aside from these cities, i wonder whats the better region to start with when wanting to explore nature/ smaller cultural(historical points of interest?
Also i assume Mandarin would be more useful up north but could probably get you around everywhere?
>Shenzen, Hong Kong, Shiamen and Guangzhou
You could get the highlights in three weeks, but these are large areas. Hong Kong (the province) contains Hong Kong (the city) and many smaller villages and rural areas. You could spend three weeks just in Hong Kong (the province). Also note, depending on your nationality and visa situation, going to Hong Kong will be a different experience than going to the Mainland.
>language
In the area around Guangzhou, Cantonese is king, but most people will also speak some mandarin and some English (especially in Hong Kong). When I went to Hong Kong I knew a little Mandarin, but almost never had to use it.
thanks man, yeah obviously you could probably spend weeks just in a district of a certain city, but its all about choices i guess. And with a country that big, you eventually gotta limit yourself.
I wont travel there for atleast another year due to personal reasons, but i also hope to improve my very basic mandarin to a level where i can have a basic conversation if i let the person know they are to talk extremly slow and well pronounced to an idiot.
I heard the north is better for that, as mandarin is more popular and the one you tend to learn in the west follows the northern /beijing accent.
Have you been? I just assume the south to be prettier and a bit more interesting landscape wise. Guess i gotta read up on cultural/ historic sites and their accessibility, that will probably be the decider.
Never been anywhere in northern China. Beijing seems like a very depressing city to visit as a tourist to me. Shanghai is highly rated though.
It's from away from anything, but I would recommend Chengdu. It's kind of become a tourist trap since appearing on a bunch of internet tourist lists, but it's a fun city.
noted, ty.
Yeah id love to visit some places deeper into the country but obviously staying on the coast is very convenient. Chongqing would be an option too- Got some time to figure it out anyway though, just hope i eventually manage to get there.
everyone under 40 who isn't from a small rural village went to school and learned mandarin. the cantonese aspect of old canton province is irrelevant.
>the one you tend to learn in the west follows the northern /beijing accent.
agains irrelevant. you are being taught standard chinese but you either pick up an accent from the area of china you live in if you are a foreigner living in china or you have a weird inexact accent if you learn it outside of china. accent should not be a consideration. focus on tones. if you ever meet a chinese taxi driver then you'll realise that the idea of having a good accent to be understood is nonsense.
no they sit at a table beside you and take their tea bottles out of their man bags while you drink.
are they cute or do they only send the cute ones to hit on me to trap me while the handlers watch
All of China is extremely safe. I keep watching traveltubers in India and am amazed by how much of a scam my shithole it is. I've never been scammed in China.
Scammy*
God is this phone keyboard fricking garbage.
>I like historical tourism
>Shenzhen
anon...
I could get the fast train to Beijing, apparently takes about 9 hours.
Had to go to Shenzhen years ago for work and never felt unsafe. People gawked at me and wanted to take pictures with me because I’m tall and white, but never felt in danger. The electronics market is something to behold.
You will be followed around from the shadows by communist party lapdogs.
will the chinese glowies drink with me?
Meds. Now.