Why this site exists

China Unlocked started from a simple frustration: almost everything written in English about traveling in China is either years out of date, buried in affiliate links, or written by someone who never left the hotel.

The things that actually decide whether your trip works — linking a foreign card to Alipay, buying train tickets, knowing which metro exit to take — are exactly the things most guides gloss over.

So this site does the opposite. Every guide is free to read, specific down to the metro exit, and re-verified on a schedule. The $2.99 offline PDF exists for one reason: some days in China you have no signal, no VPN, and no Chinese — and that's when you need the plan on paper, not on a website.

No ads. No sponsored rankings. Reader support keeps the lights on — and keeps every word honest.