What to Pack for China: A Practical List

Most China packing lists start with clothes. That is backwards. You can buy a shirt in any Chinese city for less than the price of airport coffee. What you cannot fix on arrival: a dead phone with no way to pay, a VPN that was never installed, or a debit card that your bank froze without warning.

This list starts with what actually matters.

Before anything else: your phone

China runs on phones. You will use yours to pay for meals, navigate the subway, translate menus, and call a taxi. If your phone battery dies at 8pm in an unfamiliar district, you have a real problem.

Power bank. Bring a high-capacity power bank, at least 10,000 mAh. Do not rely on the one built into your backpack or the one you bought in 2019 and never charged. A phone at 0% in China is not an inconvenience. It means you cannot pay for anything, cannot navigate, and cannot translate. Test your power bank the night before departure.

Charging cable. Bring two. One lives in your bag, one lives in your daypack. Chinese outlets accept Type A (two flat blades) and Type I (three flat blades in a triangle). Most hotel rooms have USB-A ports, but they are often loose and slow. A GaN charger with multiple ports is worth the weight.

VPN. Install and test it before you leave. Not the night you land. The Great Firewall does not care that you were busy packing. If you arrive without a working VPN, you will not be downloading one inside China: the app stores are blocked and the VPN company’s website is blocked too. Install at least two different VPNs on your phone and laptop. Test that both connect before your flight. For more detail on connectivity options, read our guide to staying connected in China.

Documents and money

This is the second category where failure means the trip stops.

Passport. Photocopy the photo page and keep it separate from your passport. Email yourself a scan. These are not paranoid precautions. If your passport is lost or stolen, a copy turns a 72-hour consular nightmare into something manageable.

Visa. If you need one, print the approval or invitation letter. Embassy officials at your destination will not ask for it, but airline check-in staff might, and they can deny boarding. Many countries now qualify for visa-free entry to China. Check the latest policy before applying for a visa you may not need. Our visa-free entry guide covers the current rules.

Hotel bookings. Print the first night’s reservation. Immigration forms ask for an address on arrival, and you want one written down, not buried in a booking app that will not load on airport Wi-Fi without your VPN connected.

Cash. Bring $200-$400 USD equivalent in clean, crisp bills. Most Chinese businesses have not touched paper money in years, but cash solves two edge cases: your Alipay setup failed, or you need to change money at a Bank of China branch. Do not bring torn or marked bills. Chinese banks reject them.

Alipay and WeChat. Set these up at home, link your foreign card, and verify your identity. Make a test payment (send ¥1 to a friend if you know someone in China, or buy something from a vendor that ships internationally). Do not wait until you are standing at a noodle stall with a line forming behind you. See our mobile payment guide for step-by-step setup.

Travel insurance. Hospital deposits in China for international patients can run ¥5,000-¥20,000 upfront before treatment. Buy a policy that covers medical evacuation. Trip.com travel insurance covers China itineraries and is priced in line with most international providers.

Electronics beyond the phone

eSIM or local SIM. Decide before departure. A local SIM gives you a Chinese phone number (useful for taxi apps and restaurant queues), but requires a trip to a carrier store with your passport. An eSIM is faster to set up and often routes around the firewall for Google services, but leaves you without a local number. Compare China eSIM plans on Trip.com or pick one up at the airport on arrival.

Universal adapter. Most Chinese sockets are the flat two-prong Type A or the angled three-prong Type I. A universal adapter costs $10 and weighs nothing. If your charger has a UK or EU plug, you need one.

Laptop and tablet. The VPN rule applies here too. Install and test on every device. Hotel Wi-Fi in China operates under the same restrictions as mobile data, regardless of which eSIM you use. If you plan to work, tether to your phone’s hotspot instead of joining the hotel network. Your phone’s mobile data route (especially on a hybrid eSIM) may reach Google and Gmail without a separate VPN. Hotel Wi-Fi will not.

Clothing: the seasonal breakdown

Chinese cities are dense. You walk more than you think. Comfortable shoes are not a suggestion; they are the difference between a good day and a day you quit at 2pm with bleeding heels.

Beyond shoes, what you pack depends entirely on when you arrive. China spans five climate zones, but most first-time itineraries fall within a predictable seasonal range.

Summer (June to August)

Hot, humid, and prone to sudden rain. This applies to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and most cities east of the 100th meridian.

Lightweight, quick-dry shirts: cotton gets heavy when you sweat through it
One pair of long pants for evenings and temples (some religious sites require covered legs)
A compact umbrella or a rain jacket that actually breathes
Sunscreen: Chinese brands often contain whitening agents. Bring your own
Insect repellent: mosquitoes are aggressive in southern cities

Winter (December to February)

North of the Yangtze, winter is dry and cold. Beijing routinely drops to -10°C (14°F). South of the river, buildings lack central heating, and indoor spaces hover around 8-12°C (46-54°F). You will feel colder indoors in Shanghai than outdoors in Beijing.

A proper insulated jacket, not a fashion coat
Thermal base layers: Uniqlo Heattech or equivalent
Wool socks, two pairs minimum
Gloves that work with a touchscreen
Lip balm: heated indoor air in northern China is desert-dry

Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November)

The easiest seasons to pack for. Layers work. A light jacket, a sweater, and shirts you can add or remove cover most situations. Beijing spring brings dust storms. Shanghai autumn gets typhoon rains. Check the forecast three days before departure.

Shoes, in any season

One pair you can walk 20,000 steps in. Many Chinese tourist sites involve long approach paths and uneven stone surfaces. Great Wall sections, mountain temples, and ancient town streets are not kind to thin soles or new shoes. Break them in at home.

Medicine and toiletries

Stomach medication. Pack loperamide (Imodium) and oral rehydration salts. Chinese pharmacies carry these, but the staff may not speak English, and explaining diarrhea through hand gestures in a crowded pharmacy is exactly the kind of travel moment you can avoid. Food in China is generally safe, but your gut bacteria are not prepared for the local strains. It takes most people three to five days to adapt.

Prescription medications. Bring enough for your entire trip plus a three-day buffer. Carry them in original packaging with the prescription label. China restricts certain medications (especially psychotropics and strong painkillers). Check the latest customs list before packing anything controlled.

Toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Public toilets in China rarely provide toilet paper or soap. Carry a small pack of tissues and a travel bottle of hand sanitizer. Every day. This is the single most practical piece of advice in this guide.

Sunscreen and moisturizer. As noted above, Chinese sunscreen often includes skin-whitening ingredients. If that is not what you want, pack your own. Moisturizer matters in northern winters when heated indoor air pulls every drop of moisture from your face.

Mosquito repellent. Southern China in summer. Enough said.

What not to bring

Too many clothes. Chinese cities have Uniqlo, H&M, and local brands at every price point. Clothes take up suitcase space. Leave room for things you will actually buy.

Physical guidebooks. A 500-page Lonely Planet weighs more than a tablet and cannot update itself. Use your phone.

Drones. China requires drone registration and in many cities (including all of Beijing) they are banned outright. Police do confiscate them. Do not bring one unless you have researched the specific rules for your destination.

Walkie-talkies and satellite devices. Both are restricted or illegal without permits. Leave them home.

Dairy products, meat, fresh fruit. Customs will take them. You will not win the argument.

Too many expectations about breakfast. Hotel breakfasts in China lean savory: congee, pickled vegetables, steamed buns, sometimes fried rice. If you need toast and coffee to function, pack instant coffee sachets and accept that you will figure out the rest.

The night-before checklist

Run through this the evening before departure:

VPN installed, tested, and connected on every device
Alipay set up, card linked, identity verified, test payment done
Power bank charged to 100%
Passport photocopy packed separately from passport; digital copy emailed to yourself
First night hotel address written on paper, not just in an app
Medications in carry-on, not checked luggage
Two charging cables, confirmed working
Tissues and hand sanitizer in daypack
Offline maps downloaded (Google Maps works poorly in China; download Baidu Maps or Amap)

Most packing lists treat China like any other destination. It is not. The things that will strand you are not the wrong jacket. They are a dead battery, a blocked app, or a bank card that stopped working. Pack for those first. Everything else, you can buy on the ground.

For connectivity in detail, see our guide to VPNs and eSIMs in China. For payment setup, see Alipay vs WeChat Pay: what actually works.