How to Travel to China

Check your passport to ensure it has six months' remaining validity from the planned date of your arrival in China. Even if your passport will not expire during your visit, if it does not have at least this much remaining validity your visa application will be rejected.

Get a passport photo (color or black-and-white) made, fill out the visa application form, and glue or staple the photo to the proper square on it. Choose among the Single Entry (3 to 6 months), Double Entry (6 months), or Multiple Entry (6 or 12 months) options, depending on how long you intend to stay in China and whether you will need to leave and then return to the country during your trip.

Submit your passport and application form to a Chinese Embassy or Consulate General. This must be done in person unless you hire an agent or send a friend to do it for you. You must also pay an application fee ($130 in 2009) in cash, by credit card, money order, or certified/cashier's check.

Bring your shots up to date, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Outdoors enthusiasts should pay particular attention to typhoid and rabies vaccinations.

Take appropriate malaria precautions if you are traveling to Anhui, Hainan, or Yunnan provinces. This could range from simply being diligent about using deep woods mosquito repellent to getting an anti-malarial prescription.

Exercise proper water purification practices or stick to bottled water for most of your stay in China. It is important to remember that the old joke that washing fruits and vegetables in China only makes them dirtier is funny because it is often true. The quality of even treated water can be very poor.

Take care in what you say about the government, especially on politically sensitive subjects like Tibet or Falun Gong. China is still a Communist, authoritarian country, and such talk can get you into trouble, especially if current events are making the government nervous or uneasy.