Travelling in China Is Getting Easier

It wasn’t long ago that travelling in China had become an enormous hassle for most foreigners: visas, internet restrictions, real-name registration, and a completely different set of apps that were hard to use unless you were with a local or knew Mandarin. Getting a SIM, buying a train ticket, hailing a taxi, or simply paying for something in a shop could be needlessly difficult, and every year it felt like it was getting worse. The last year or two feel different. China has widened visa-free entry for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits or transit to an increasing number of countries, finally including the UK. By July 2025, it had granted visa-free access to citizens of 75 countries, and in 2025 it recorded 30.08 million inbound visits by foreign nationals under visa-free policies, up 49.5% year-on-year. Daily life in China now runs through apps, which only helps visitors if they can actually use them. Alipay and WeChat Pay now support foreign cards more reliably, and…