The internet in China: what works and what does not

How it works

Internet access in mainland China is regulated: some foreign sites and services do not open from inside the country. It is not an operator fault or a quirk of your plan — the rules are the same for a local SIM, hotel Wi-Fi and public networks.

In practice that means the familiar set — search, mail, maps, cloud storage, some messengers and social networks from one large ecosystem — may be unavailable. Exactly what, on exactly which day, nobody guarantees in advance: the list changes.

Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan run on different rules. Mainland restrictions do not apply there, and that matters more than it sounds: a connection through Hong Kong means a few hours of the internet you are used to.

What to do before you fly

1. 1

   Install the local apps

   WeChat, Alipay, maps and a translation app take ten minutes to install at home. On the ground the first install takes longer, and some app stores behave differently from there.

2. 2

   Download what lives in the cloud

   Tickets, bookings, insurance, a passport scan, addresses in characters — on your phone’s storage, not in a cloud folder. A document that only opens online may not open when you need it.

3. 3

   Download offline maps and a dictionary

   Most maps and dictionaries such as Pleco have an offline mode. That always works, regardless of the network or of which service is reachable today.

4. 4

   Agree where people can reach you

   Tell people at home in advance which messenger you will be on. Waiting for a reply in an app that will not open for you is the commonest cause of panic back home.

Roaming, a local SIM and an eSIM — this is where they differ

Roaming on your home SIM usually keeps you on your operator’s internet, so the familiar services mostly keep opening. You pay roaming rates for it, and you get no Chinese number.

A local SIM gives you a Chinese number — and you need one to register with half the local services, for deliveries, the bank and confirmations. The internet with it is local, with all the restrictions.

A travel eSIM is the middle option: you have internet the moment you land, but it usually gives you no proper Chinese number for local SMS confirmations.

Hence the usual solution: a local SIM for the number and everyday services, plus roaming or an eSIM in the second slot for when you need the internet you are used to.

What to use once you are there

WeChat replaces the messenger, the email and the phone: locals will write to you there. Voice and video calls work inside it.

Maps, search, taxis, delivery and payment are all local apps, and they work better than the familiar ones because here it is they who have the full data. Each has its own guide.

Hotel Wi-Fi sometimes asks for a Chinese number for an SMS code at sign-in. If you do not have one yet, ask at the desk — they will usually connect you manually.