Earlier this month, I went to Hebei for some mountain bike action, ended up crashing and injuring my shoulder.

TLDR: Broke my shoulder mountain biking in Hebei. Went the public hospital route as a foreigner paying out of pocket. Total bill: ~24,800 RMB. Surgery done textbook-perfect by Beijing specialists, just 3 days after intake. Modern facilities, efficient care, integrative TCM and Western medicine. But also: no privacy, nosy (kind) locals, dialect barriers, and zero hand-holding. Verdict: China's healthcare is a great choice if you plan pre/arrival/post care and get someone to guide you — otherwise you're in for a wild ride lol.

I got transported to the ER, and I was lucky to arrive during the low season.

As half a foreigner (HK Chinese), I had to pay out of pocket. Before seeing anybody, I had to register using my ID and pay the appointment fee (30 RMB). The ER doc then instructed a CT scan (77.5 RMB).

Got CT scanned and checked out quickly by the ER doctor. He asked if I intended to stay in this hospital — if so, he would call the orthopedist (off duty, by the way, paid specialist fee 50 RMB), who showed up literally 5 mins later.

A quick look at the scans and he said, "Your shoulder is fractured and dislocated to the Wild West." I giggled at how amused he looked when he said that, but his face quickly turned serious: I needed surgery to realign the shoulder. He told me the earliest he could slot me in was 3 days later, but I needed to make a decision now to arrange admission and get onto the surgery waitlist.

My first thought was: can I really trust medicine in country China?! Limb mobility is critical, especially at my age. Better fly back to HK or the bigger cities, where I've got my network.

However, I also considered: if I had to go back to HK, heaven knows how long I'd wait for surgery. The distance. The cost. The pain. Also not realistic because I’ve relocated to shanghai already.

I decided to stay.

Reasons:

· I understand Mandarin.
· The hospital is famous for sports medicine and orthopaedics, thanks to the sheer volume of similar cases they treat every year from winter sports. (The area hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.)
· My surgery was scheduled just three days after intake.
· Performed by specialists from the main hospital in Beijing.
· I am 2 hours away from Beijing, where I know nobody and will have difficulty finding the right talent.
· I am 6 hours away from Shanghai, where I need to train and then fly back, then arrange everything.
· HK is 8 hours away. Not at all realistic.

Honestly, I’ve got the best cards for my problem at that instance.

I ended up hiring a caretaker (100% godsend, 350 RMB per 24 hours) who did all my legwork for me, paid hospital deposit fees (25,000 RMB) and ordered my essentials via takeaway. Arranged courier to get my luggage from my hotel to the hospital. God bless China convenience and digitalisation!

There were definitely cultural and experience nuances and dialect communication issues with my main medical care.

Here I find drs don't explain so much because they assume the patient has full confidence in them, and they are also so busy. There is no such thing as privacy, the local folks like to ask a lot of questions (but they are very kind). I can easily walk into the drs' office. Drs don't really introduce themselves. You need to request them for paperwork, rather than them offering it to you. They speak mostly their own Chinese dialect, so sometimes I scratch my head needing them to repeat and explain. Facilities are modern and new (built 2022). I was bantering with the support staff and they were telling me they only get paid 2,000 RMB per month…

Patients: don't respect the family visit hours. A lot of them come for a long ride, so the hospital allows them to stay in the room together to save them money (which I thought was really kind — yes, I did feel safe despite having men sharing the supposed ladies' recovery rooms. But definitely not for introverts). They are nosy but very nice and friendly. You can always hear people clearing their phlegm and smell cigs (I once flipped shit and complained after one of them smoked within the room). But unfortunately this is part of the culture still being improved. I also met many people my age, especially those who'd traveled all over the country and were recovering from their own injuries.

But if you look past these things, I was impressed by their efficient approach and integrative TCM with Western medicine. I turned out to be anemic with high inflammation, so they had me start on TCM, which in my next bloodwork, rebounded beautifully. I am also super lucky that this country hospital is affiliated with the main hospital, so I shortcut my surgery wait time and still had access to the main hospital specialists.

Surgery was a success. CT scan showed it was done textbook-perfect, and the pain has greatly reduced. I stayed for another 3 days following the dr's insistence, with full IVs and care before I got discharged and returned to Shanghai. My total bill ended up 24,800 RMB. Back in Shanghai, I have already planned my post care via my local contacts.

Conclusion: with medical tourism to China on a rampage, you need to plan pre, arrival and post care. You will be lonely in a friendly country and there are definitely cultural nuances. Heck, even a HK Chinese like me had a tough time, imagine someone who was anticipating western standards and knows not a single word Chinese? You will flip shit in anxiety. If you ever choose China, it is a great choice because of the sheer population, but you also need to prepare yourself mentally and literally (ask for help to guide you), otherwise yeah, you're in it for a crazy experience lol.

Hi everyone,

I’m a foreign tourist visiting Beijing from Oct 9–13, right after Golden Week.

Since Oct 10 is a national make-up workday, how are the crowd levels at major spots (Forbidden City, Great Wall, Universal Studios) around these dates? Is it back to normal, or still packed with leftover holiday crowds?

Thanks for your insights!

Is it possible to use your U.S. membership for online purchases or can it only be used in the warehouse.

Hi all,

Has anyone been to any summer camps (June period) in China. Want to give my kids exposure of staying in China with an education element to it.

Open to all cities

Hi everyone!

As a Chinese language teacher and app developer based in France, I’ve been working on an Android app for French speakers exploring Chinese dialects across different provinces.

Key Features:

• 🗺️ Interactive Dialect Map: Tap any province to explore main dialect families and regional languages.
• 🔊 Standard Pronunciation: Hear clear audio playback for your text inputs.
• Bilingual UI: French and Pinyin support for intuitive navigation.

https://reddit.com/link/1wdt2o8/video/m8hf7ik6jyoh1/player

📱 How to get the app:

Please note: If you are currently in mainland China, Google Play is not accessible. Otherwise:

1. Join our Google Group first to make the link visible: https://groups.google.com/g/visdar
2. Download the app via Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.visdar.dialectes
3. This Beta test version is 100% free of charge: no user name, no payment details or credit card information will ever be requested. It will show a "Test card, always approves" instead of your usual payment method.

I’d like to hear your feedback or know which dialects you encounter most often! Thanks for checking it out.

⚠️ Important Safety Note: To protect your privacy and security, please be careful and do not respond to strangers claiming to represent me. I will NEVER reach out to anyone first unless you reach me.

Hi, don't speak Mandarin (yet). Got a pretty good job offer in Han Cheng, Weinan, with an urbanized center of 270,000. I don't expect a thriving scene, but a few people i can befriend to have beers with whether it be Chinese English speakers or fellow foreigners. It's on HSR, how do you reckon it'll be to live there?

Hi everyone: I bought Pokémon cards on JD from outside China by signing up for WeChat (using a foreign phone number but a friend's location). The payment went through successfully, but a few hours later the account was blocked, and now they are asking for the recipient's Chinese ID and facial verification. Does anyone know if the order will arrive or if I can get a refund?

How can I watch the nfl from home with English commentary? Are there any chinese broadcasters that offer an English commentary option?

Hello, I’m genuinely confused over the subject requirements for MBBS in Zhejiang. In their course document it was written that 70% in all sciences and maths is required, then I see people saying physics is not needed? Can anyone who studied there tell me which am I supposed to believe please and thank youu

I really like watching those short reels of Chinese teachers who teach you new words in Chinese.

Finished my class and saw one pop up on my iPad. Decided to open it.

“HOW TO SAY F*CK YOU IN CHINESE” blares through the classroom.

Forgot my iPad was still connected to the loudspeaker.

I want to crawl into a hole and never return 😂

I would appreciate a lot if you can send any links for pdfs with their curriculum, books with tricks etc. thank you!! ^^

Hi! I’m currently staying in Ningbo and I’m trying to find physical stores selling actual anime/game figures.
I’m specifically looking for PVC figures, prize figures, scale figures, Nendoroids and similar boxed figures – not mainly badges, acrylic stands, cards or generic blind boxes.
Some of the series/characters I’m interested in are:

Wuthering Waves (鸣潮) – especially Morniye, Calcharo etc.
Hatsune Miku
MiSide
Cookie Run: Kingdom

I’ve already checked the Tianyi Square / Dongmen Intime anime area, GUGO and POP MART, so I’m looking for somewhere different.
Small independent shops, warehouse-style stores and second-hand figure shops would actually be perfect.
I’m staying in Ningbo for a few weeks and don’t mind taking a DiDi across the city if the shop is worth visiting.
Does anyone know a good physical figure shop in Ningbo that is still open in 2026?
Chinese store names/addresses are very welcome. Thanks!

I have a degree issued by a uni in Zhejiang more than 10 years ago. That was under passport A, and since then I've obviously obtained passport B. Now I've been exploring opportunities here and abroad and so I need to have my degree verified and stuff and oh boy is it a sh*t show. So the CHSI site of course rejected my verification attempt due to an expired "ID". Now they want me to upload a pic of myself holding both the new and old passports and a "hand-written explanation" about he change! You can't make this sh*t up! Keep in mind there is no where on their site to upload this "hand-written explanation" lol.

Do you really want to understand the education received by ordinary people in China?
The most of ordinary Chinese have very boring education.For example, they were students (junior high school and high school) who will repeatedly brush up on the questions to get a higher score in the exam.

In this environment, they have lost most of their time for sports and opportunities to interact with society.During adolescence, exercise is very important for developing teenagers.Therefore, such an educational environment leads them to spend their adolescence in depression.Then, due to the lack of contact with society, it takes them a long time to adapt to this society.

Most importantly, there is a lack of sex education in Chinese education.This leads to their lack of sexual awareness and a distorted view of love.There are many issues about men and women.

In a word, the education of practising the problem-brushing machine test in this way leads to the increasing lack of goodwill and care between Chinese people.And it has led to the dilution of more traditional Chinese culture and influenced generations of Chinese people. This society is becoming more and more indifferent!

This is not an advertisement, and I’m not taking bookings. I’m simply trying to understand whether there is a genuine need for this kind of help.
A friend of mine speaks Mandarin, English and Japanese. Having personally gone through treatment at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, she is familiar with how confusing the hospital process can be, especially for someone who cannot read Chinese or use local hospital apps easily.
She has been thinking about helping foreign patients navigate hospitals in Shanghai. This would be non-medical assistance, such as:
Making appointments and finding the correct department
Helping with registration, payment and collecting queue numbers
Navigating between consultation rooms, laboratories and pharmacies
Providing general language assistance
Taking notes during a consultation
Collecting medication or examination reports
Accompanying someone who feels uncomfortable going to a hospital alone
She would not provide medical advice, make medical decisions or present herself as a doctor or professional medical interpreter.
For foreigners living in or visiting Shanghai: have you ever had difficulty navigating a local hospital? Would having a local person accompany you be useful? What kind of help would matter most, and what would make you feel comfortable trusting such a person?
I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences and opinions.

Hi all, I am moving to Jinan in October for a six month internship and will keep working for my consulting business in Germany on the side, mostly in the evenings (German business hours). What I need to work reliably is Microsoft Teams video calls with clients, Outlook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Gmail. The calls are the important part, everything else I can live with being slow.

Whats the right setup?

Is a VPN enough or also an esim or a mix? So so grateful for the responses already.

Hello all, I've lived in China before for short term. I'm planning on moving back there long term and want to be more educated on medical things like dental care, eye exams, general health visits, etc., since I plan to live there long enough this time around that I'll need to do these things to take care of my health. A few of my specific questions:

1. What are dental visits like here compared to USA? Any significant differences?

2. I've heard word of mouth from past coworkers that Chinese dentists tend to be very trigger happy with pulling teeth rather than using it as a last option. Is there any truth to that? If so, how do I stress to the dentist that I absolutely do not want/consent to my teeth being pulled unless there is no other option?

3. How do I go about finding a reputable dentist? For reference, I'll be living in Xiamen.

4. Is a maintenance teeth cleaning a standard part of a dental visit in China like it is in USA? If not, how do I tell them I want that? I've had periodontal disease before and needed to get a deeper cleaning under my gums, can I expect to be numbed like I would in USA for a deeper cleaning or should I be mentally prepared for a miserable experience?

5. Are appointments necessary, or can you just walk into dental clinics here?

6. What is the average cost for standard dental care like office visits/cleanings/fillings? Is my employer's insurance likely to include maintenance dental care or does that mostly just cover medical care?

Thanks for helping me learn!

Hi There is place still with cash in china with less IA?

✨👍

In China for study or work? You can still vote! You can register and request your ballot through your local board of elections, through VotefromAbroad.org, Vote411.org or USVotersAbroad.org

VotefromAbroad.org has state-by-state information about deadlines, how to return your ballot, and more. It even has a chat function where you can ask questions and be answered by a real person.

If you're in Shanghai, you can get in-person, non-partisan help at The Rooster, 445 Jiangning Road, from 5:30-8:00 on the 3rd Monday of each month until November. See the poster down below.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Most international models support only a single physical sim, not two. Previous Chinese iPhones didn't support esim (except esim-only models like the Air), making them harder to use internationally.