Updated 2026-07-31
China has excellent shops and next-day delivery on almost everything, so a packing list here is not about volume โ it is about the short list of items that are genuinely hard to obtain once you land, plus the digital preparation that has to happen before you cross the border rather than after. Get those right and you can travel light.
This is the part of packing that has nothing to do with your suitcase and matters more than anything in it. Several of the apps you will depend on are difficult or impossible to download once you are inside mainland China, because the app stores and the services behind them are on the other side of the network. Sorting this out at home, on your own Wi-Fi, takes twenty minutes.
China runs on 220V / 50Hz. Sockets accept Type A (two flat pins, same as North America) and Type I (three angled pins, same as Australia). British, European and Indian plugs need an adapter. Almost all modern chargers are 100โ240V so you need a plug adapter, not a voltage converter โ check the small print on your charger before buying anything heavier.
The item you will genuinely use every single day is a power bank. Your phone is your payment method, your map, your translator, your train ticket and your taxi โ a dead phone in China is a materially worse problem than a dead phone at home. Note the airline rule: power banks must be in carry-on, and anything above 100Wh needs airline approval.
Global eSIM with unlimited data options
Yesim offers travel eSIMs with unlimited data plans for China, which is useful if you stream video or use data-heavy apps. Like other travel eSIMs, it routes through an overseas gateway so blocked sites work without a VPN. Setup is via their app โ scan a QR code and you are online on landing.
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This is the genuinely hard-to-replace category. Chinese pharmacies are everywhere and well stocked, but brand names, dosages and formulations differ, packaging is in Chinese, and some Western over-the-counter drugs are prescription-only here or simply unavailable. Bring what you actually rely on rather than assuming you will find an equivalent.
| Item | Bring from home? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Prescription medication | Yes โ full trip supply + a copy of the prescription | Getting a foreign prescription refilled is slow and may not be possible at all. |
| Stomach / diarrhoea medication | Yes | The single most-used item in most travellers' kits, and you want it at 2am not at 10am. |
| Painkillers you trust | Yes | Available locally but under unfamiliar names and dosages. |
| Sunscreen | Optional | Widely sold, but most local products are whitening-formulated โ bring your own if you are picky. |
| Deodorant | Yes | Genuinely hard to find outside large international supermarkets. |
| Shoes above EU 44 / US 11 | Yes | Large sizes are stocked thinly in physical shops. |
| Toiletries, towel, hairdryer | No | Every hotel provides these; convenience stores sell the rest for a few yuan. |
China spans everything from subtropical Hainan to subarctic Harbin, so "what to wear in China" has no single answer. The one universal is layers: buildings are heavily air-conditioned in summer and heavily heated in the north in winter, so you will be adding and removing clothing all day regardless of season.
Comfortable walking shoes are the highest-impact clothing decision. Chinese cities are large and sightseeing days routinely hit 15,000โ20,000 steps across hard surfaces. Whatever else you compromise on, do not compromise here.
The paperwork side is short but unforgiving. Your passport must have at least six months of validity remaining and a blank page for stamps. If you are relying on visa-free transit, print your onward flight confirmation โ border officers may ask to see it, and "it's in my email" is a slow answer when the airport Wi-Fi needs a Chinese phone number.
Overseas app stores are full of copycat clones with the same name. Every link below has been checked against the official developer.
โ ๏ธ Developer must read โAlipay (Hangzhou) Technologyโ. Foreign cards work via the built-in Tour Pass / TourCard.
โ ๏ธ Install and download the offline Chinese pack BEFORE you fly โ it needs a VPN inside China, but offline mode works without one.
โ ๏ธ โAMap Globalโ has a full English interface โ the version most usable for visitors.
โ ๏ธ The practical way for foreigners to book high-speed rail, flights and hotels โ full English, foreign cards accepted.
China uses 220V at 50Hz with Type A sockets (two flat pins, as in North America) and Type I sockets (three angled pins, as in Australia). North American and Australian plugs usually fit directly; UK, European and Indian plugs need an adapter. Since virtually all modern phone and laptop chargers accept 100โ240V, you need a plug adapter rather than a voltage converter โ but do check the label on any hair styling tool or medical device before plugging it in.
Far less than you think. China is effectively cashless โ mobile payment covers everything from a metro turnstile to a street-corner fruit stall. Bring the equivalent of ยฅ500โ1,000 as an emergency buffer for the rare vendor with no QR code and for the first taxi if your app setup misbehaves. The more important preparation is having Alipay verified with your passport before you fly.
Alipay (verified with your passport), a paid and tested VPN, Google Translate with the Chinese offline pack downloaded, and offline maps for your cities. The reason to do this at home is that VPN provider sites and several app stores are hard to reach from inside mainland China, so downloading after arrival becomes a chicken-and-egg problem. Amap or Baidu Maps for navigation and Trip.com for tickets can be installed either side of the border.
Toiletries yes โ convenience stores and supermarkets are everywhere and cheap, and every hotel supplies the basics. Medicine is the caveat: pharmacies are plentiful but brands, dosages and formulations differ, packaging is in Chinese, and some Western over-the-counter drugs need a prescription here. Bring your own prescription medication for the whole trip plus the painkillers and stomach remedies you personally trust. Deodorant is the one everyday item genuinely hard to find outside large international supermarkets.
No. Chinese hotels at every price point provide towels, and mid-range and above provide a hairdryer, slippers, toothbrush, comb and an electric kettle as standard. Hostels are the one exception โ some charge a small fee for a towel, so check the listing. Skipping these frees up meaningful suitcase space for the things that are actually hard to replace locally.
City guides where everything above applies on the ground.
Specific sights where the advice above turns into concrete steps.
Sort the visa, choose your cities, and grab the on-the-ground toolkit.
Our team of China travel researchers combines on-the-ground contributor insights, official government sources, and traveler community feedback to create the most detailed English-language China guides available. Every guide is fact-checked against primary sources (NIA, 12367, official attraction websites, Railway 12306) before publication.