A good China travel checklist is not the longest one. It is the one that verifies your arrival, transport, payment, connectivity, and accommodation against current primary sources before you leave.
The five checks that reduce the most friction
- Entry: use the authority responsible for your passport and itinerary; policy summaries can go stale.
- Rail: create and test the account you plan to use, and keep your travel document details consistent.
- Payment: set up more than one method and carry a modest fallback.
- Connectivity: know what your roaming or eSIM plan actually includes before landing.
- Arrival: save your hotel name, address, and first route in both English and Chinese.
Local view
Many everyday services are app-led. That is convenient once setup is complete, but the first hour is easier when key addresses and confirmations are available offline.