VPN realities, Alipay/WeChat Pay, the train and metro grammar that gets you from A to B without standing in the wrong queue.
Chinese city transit assumes three small competencies of everyone who uses it. None are difficult, and none are explained to you at the turnstile. CN: 乘车码、安检、出口字母：中国地铁的三个习惯
Almost every gate in a Chinese station is built for a resident ID card. Here is where a passport goes instead, and how the five-minute rule works. CN: 人工通道：拿护照过站的走法
China's rail gates read a chip and a face, neither of which a passport carries. The staffed lane, the 12306 identity check, and the metro's own grammar — before you reach the platform. CN: 刷脸闸机之外：护照走人工通道
In China your phone is your wallet, ticket, and ID at once — which makes the battery the real emergency. Here is how the rented power bank on every counter actually works. CN: 手机没电时：中国的共享充电宝
In Chinese cities, nobody gives directions by street corner. They give you a letter — B2, D1 — and the one you pick decides how far you walk. CN: 地铁出口的字母，就是地址
Gates in Chinese railway stations are built for ID cards. With a passport, the route to the platform runs through a staffed lane, two separate checks, and a booking made days ahead. CN: 护照就是车票：车站的人工通道
The cheapest way out of a Chinese airport is not the taxi rank — it is a car you summon from your phone, waiting in the parking garage. How ride-hailing actually works. CN: 在中国叫车：网约车的门道，从机场停车楼开始
In most Chinese restaurants now, no one hands you a menu. You scan a code, order inside an app, and pay before the food arrives. Here is how to do it — and how to opt out. CN: 扫码点餐：中国餐桌上的那张二维码
In China, the reservation is the ticket. Timed entry, real-name passport slots, and a seven-day clock decide whether you get into the Forbidden City — or stand at the gate. CN: 先预约，再进门：中国景点门票
The VPN advice you read at the gate is already stale. The steadier fix sits one step earlier — in how your phone gets its data at all, decided before you fly. CN: 省去翻墙的境外漫游卡：出发前先装好
The ticket machine is a tourist trap of sorts — the fare has lived inside your phone since the moment you paid for lunch. Here is how locals move. CN: 乘车码，不是售票机：读懂中国地铁
The glass turnstile blinks red because your passport carries no chip it can read. The manual lane a few metres over is the one built for you. CN: 自动闸机不认护照，走人工通道就好
The first hour in a Chinese city is lost not to language but to choreography — the belt, the QR code, the lettered exit. Here is the order it happens in. CN: 看懂中国地铁：安检、乘车码、出口
In China the queue is part of the ticket. Which lane, which app, which check — the small choices between the door and the seat that decide whether you make the train. CN: 外国护照怎么过中国车站闸机
China went mobile-first so fast that small vendors keep no cash float. Here is how to link a foreign card, ride the metro, and still carry the right notes. CN: 外国人在中国的移动支付指南