Trains, Metro & Taxis Without the Guesswork

• Official option — 12306 (English): register at 12306.cn English site or the app with your passport. Online passport verification can take a day or two; registering at a station counter with your passport in hand takes minutes.
• Easiest option — Trip.com: books the same trains in English with your passport details, no 12306 account needed, tickets issued to your passport. Good for first trips; expect a small booking fee on some fares.
• Don't buy "second-hand" at stations from touts — everything is real-name; only your own passport works with your own ticket.

Seating classes: Second class (comfortable 3+2, what most locals ride), First class (2+2, more legroom), Business class (2+1 lie-flat pods). For trips under 5 hours, second class is perfectly comfortable.

1. Stations behave like airports: real-name security scan, X-ray for bags, and your passport is your ticket. No paper needed if you booked with your passport — the gate scans it (or staff scan it manually).
2. Arrive 20–30 min early. Big stations (Beijing South, Shanghai Hongqiao) take 10+ minutes just to walk from gate to platform.
3. Watch the departure board for your gate (检票口) — gates open about 15 minutes before departure and close 5 minutes before. Late = ticket gone.
4. Onboard announcements are bilingual; seats are reserved; luggage racks are overhead and at carriage ends.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi'an and Hangzhou all have dense, modern metro systems with English signage and station announcements. Trains run every 2–6 minutes.

Three things to know: (1) every rider passes a security scanner — bottles of water are fine, knives are not; (2) keep your ticket/QR until you exit, gates check in and out; (3) last trains generally run until around 23:00 — late nights go to taxis.

• DiDi (滴滴) — China's Uber, with a full English interface and international card payment. Install before you fly: didiglobal.com. Works in 400+ cities.
• Taxi button inside Alipay — the same DiDi network without installing a second app.
• Street taxis — legit, metered, cheap. Have your destination written in Chinese (hotel card or Amap screenshot) because drivers rarely speak English. Insist on the meter (打表).
• Unlicensed touts at airports/stations offering "taxi" — skip them; follow the official taxi queue or book DiDi from the arrivals hall.

💡 Always grab the printed or in-app receipt (发票 / fapiao). If you leave a phone or wallet behind, the receipt has the car number — DiDi also has an in-app lost-and-found flow.

Rush hour (7:30–9:30, 17:30–19:30) can double taxi times — the metro is usually faster across town. The Shanghai Maglev is the world's fastest scheduled commercial train ride and a sight in itself.