China on a budget travel guide

All of China is under one time zone. Geographically, it covers five. While midwinter mornings break before 7am in the far east, China Standard Time (aka Beijing Time) means it’s night until nearly 10.30am in the west. As far as efforts to unify a country go, it’s not the best, but it’s far from the only area of Chinese life under tight control. “Travelers in China need to know that they’re not going to get Google and Facebook, sites like that,” Glyn Thorneloe, China product manager at our small tour specialists Explore, explains. “And for everyday people, there are topics that are quite off-limits.”

Connecting with local people is important for many travelers but, and Glyn emphasizes this, if difficult topics are going to be covered, it’s essential to let them come out organically and naturally. “We teach our tour leaders to understand our travelers, that they are going to want to know about controversial things. So our leaders expect it and build up a little bit of a relationship with them,” he says. Having more time to talk to locals helps, too. “Sometimes if you’re in your own little minibus, you have the tendency to get a little bit ‘goldfish-like’, excluded from the environment you’re traveling through,” says Glyn. But when you take public transport, there’s a whole process of waiting rooms, checking in and locating your seat, even picking up your packed lunch for the journey from a place nearby. “You’re living the daily life of the people around you.”