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Travel and Tourism in China
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to China.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 3: Reconsider Travel
- Time Difference
- UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) time zone note: China is the largest country (in terms of area) with just one time zone; before 1949 it was divided into five
- Currency
- 6.626
- Climate
- The country lies almost entirely in the temperate zone. Only Hainan Province and the southernmost portions of Yunnan and Guangdong Provinces and the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi lie within the tropics. A monsoon climate is a major influence in the south. The north and west have a typical continental climate, although winters are extremely dry and summers quite rainy. During summer, warm, moist, maritime air masses bring heavy rains to eastern China, and hot, humid, summer weather is typical. Winter offers a sharp contrast when cold, dry Siberian air masses dominate and often reach the southern provinces. Little precipitation falls during the colder months; clear days with low humidity and low temperatures are the norm.
- Language(s) Spoken
- Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry); note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet)
- Ethnic Groups
- Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities)
- National Holiday
- National Day (anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 35 00 N, 105 00 E
- Location
- Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
- Airports
- 497
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
The Forbidden City and Palace Museum
No building in China is more immediately recognizable than the Forbidden City, the vast imperial palace complex that served as the home of Chinese emperors from the Ming Dynasty through the end of the Qing. Completed in 1420 after fifteen years of construction, the palace covers 720,000 square meters and contains nearly a thousand buildings with over eight thousand rooms. It was designed to be the center of the known world, the earthly equivalent of the celestial palace of the Jade Emperor, and its proportions and layout reflect a highly sophisticated system of cosmological symbolism in which numbers, colors, and compass directions all carried deep meaning.
The main axis runs from south to north, beginning at the Meridian Gate, whose massive red walls and five gateways reflect the emperor's supreme power. Passing through the Gate of Supreme Harmony, visitors enter the great courtyard that fronts the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest wooden structure in China and arguably the most impressive room on Earth.
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Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
The standards of medical care in China are not equivalent to those in the United States. If you plan to travel outside of major Chinese cities, you should consider making special preparations. Travelers have reported difficulty passing through customs inspection when arriving with large quantities of prescription medications. If you regularly take over-the-counter or prescription medication, bring your own supply in the original container, including each drug's generic name, and carry the doctor's prescription with you. Many commonly-used U.S.
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