From: jidai@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jihong Dai)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject:soc.culture.china FAQ(1)--Travel
Summary: This posting contains a list of frequently-asked-questions
(and their answers) about the newsgroup "soc.culture.china".
The first part covers the travel issues and is written by
Wuchun Wu < wuwu@cs.ksu.edu > , with assistance from
Mark Swofford < mswofford@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu > .
Organization: The Ohio State university
Archive-name:cultures/china/travel
Posting-Frequency: approximately biweekly
Last-modified: 1995/07/15
Phone Fax Beijing 10-532-3831 10-532-3178 Guangzhou 20-88808911 20-886-2341 Shanghai 21-433-6880 21-433-4122 Shenyang 24-282-0000 24-282-0074 Chengdu 28-558-9642 28-558-8352
You'll probably be better off going to a travel agency specializing in Asia/China travel. Since most of these businesses come and go quickly, it is recommended that you check your local Chinese newspapers for phone numbers of these travel specialists. If you know which airline you are going to take, you can get a list of phone numbers for "all" airlines through anonymous FTP. It is at
It is said that a PRC passport holder does not need an advanced transit visa anymore if he/she has a valid ticket. Call 312-346-1810 (British Consulate General in Chicago, fax: 312-346-7021) to be sure. People from Taiwan can get a 48-hour transit visa through British consulates.
The Hong Kong tourism office in the US can be reached at: 212-869-5008 (voice), or 212-730-2606 (fax). For online information try the following www sites:
There are several ways to enter the Mainland from Hong Kong: by plane, train, or by ferry. Trains are available to Shenzhen/Guangzhou. The train ride from Kowloon to Lofo customs at Shenzhen costs about HK$36. Ferries are available to Zhuhai (for about HK$40), Guangzhou, Xiamen and some other places.
The regulations change quite often. Please contact the Chinese consulates for the latest details.
If you hold a PRC passport, you need a visa for almost all the countries you want to visit. To visit European countries, information as recent as summer 1994 indicates that you will need visas for each individual country you plan to visit. There are, however, some recent posts in SCC saying that one now can get the so called Schengen Visa which is valid for seven European countries (not all the EU countries).
Make sure you have a valid visa/travel document (e.g. multi-entry visa, or green card) to go back to your residence country. Otherwise, you need to renew your visa to return there. There has been both good news and bad news about renewing visas in a third country. My limited experience has been all positive so far. But I remember one case in Turkey and another in Belgium. In both cases someone ran into trouble for re-entry to the US. It is a good idea to check with your international student office before leaving.
For those with US green cards, it is possible to travel with a "white paper" issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), in place of your PRC passport. Contact the international student office and INS for details.
For the addresses of the consulate generals of the country you are planning to visit, inquire at your international student office. (Mine has never asked me if I am a student or not.) I am not sure if the reference book they used is available in bookstore or not. Alternately, you may call the nearest immigration lawyer; s/he might help you out.
You can get most general travel information, including country and city maps by calling that country's tourism office. You can get a list of tourism offices for almost any country through anonymous FTP to
For information about cheap but nice hotels, exotic places and other practical tricks, you may want to post your question in one of the rec.travel groups, such as rec.travel.asia or rec.travel.europe. Check rec.travel.air for information about airline tickets.
Here is a list of tourism offices in the USA for countries most asked about in SCC.
Phone Fax Australia 212-994-6880 212-730-4568 Austria 312-644-8029 Belgium 212-758-8130 212-355-7675 Canada 212-757-3583 France 212-757-1125 212-247-6468 Germany 212-661-7200 Hong Kong 212-869-5008 212-730-2605 Italy 312-644-0990 312-644-3019 Japan 415-989-7140 415-398-5461 Korea 201-585-0909 201-585-9041 Holland 213-370-7367 212-379-9507 Russia 212-757-3884 212-459-0031 All Scandinavian Countries 212-757-3884 212-459-0031
If you do not want to call a Chinese consulate first, rec.travel.asia is perhaps a better place to start. You can get visas either at a Chinese consulate in your country, or, as quite a few people have done, go to Hong Kong first and get a visa there. It is very easy and fast to get a tourist visa in Hong Kong. Some travel agencies also provide visa service (to get the visa for you). People from Taiwan may obtain entry permits from the New China News Agency in Hong Kong.
Embassy of the People's Republic of China 2300 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20008 Tel. (202) 328-2500.Consulate General of the People's Republic of China New York
520 - 12th Avenue New York, New York 10036 Tel. (212) 279-4275. Consulate General of the People's Republic of China San Francisco 1450 Laguna Street San Francisco, California 94115 Tel. (415) 563-4885. Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Houston 3417 Montrose Blvd. Houston, Texas 77006 Tel. (713) 524-4311. Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Chicago 100 W. Erie St. Chicago, Illinois 60610 Tel. (312) 573-3070. Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Los Angeles 502 Shto Place, Suite 300 Los Angeles, California 90020 Tel. (213) 380-2507.
The CIA World Factbook for China is available online through telnet at:
or by anonymous FTP at
or via WWW at
Other online information, including high-resolution scenery pictures, about China can be obtained at the following WWW sites:
or by anonymous FTP at:
For online information, check the WWW and FTP sites listed in the previous section. You may want to call the Chinese national tourism office in your country. In the US, the address is
China National Tourist Office(USA) 333 W. Broadway #201 Glendale, CA 91204 phone: 818-545-7505 FAX: 818-545-7506
Another place to check is rec.travel.asia .
The electric power in China is 220V, 50Hz as in most European countries. Please pay attention to the plug pattern. Although it supposedly has been standardized now, there are still quite a few places where old, non-standard outlets are still used.
You can use credit cards or traveler's cheques in China. Most starred hotels, restaurants and big departments stores accept credit cards, although they are not as widely accepted as in European countries, and certainly not as in North America. Also, China has abolished the so called "Foreign Exchange Certificate", and the exchange rates the government posts are close to the real market values (the proof is that there is now no black market for foreign exchange).
You can also purchase international money orders or traveler's cheques at the Bank of China and other Chinese banks. The minimum value per purchase is US$10. Most financial institutions in the world accept the traveler's cheques issued by these banks. Since several foreign banks already operate in China, you can also purchase traveler's cheques from them if you do not trust the Chinese banks :) (This item is adapted from a post by Xiaogning Deng [72946@brahms.udel.edu] in alt.chinese.text)
written by: Wuchun Wu < wuwu@cs.ksu.edu >
with editorial assistance from: Mark Swofford < mswofford@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu >
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