Traveling around China is certainly much more expensive than in most of Asian countries. Food is the exception. Welcome to the country where you will find the biggest, oiliest, tastiest and cheapest portions of food in the world. (For more info, look at the extensive food section of this website).
In general, two things make the difference between expensive or very expensive: if you speak or not Chinese, and if you want to travel independently or following the advices of a travel guide book. Travel guides are very useful for practical information and to give you a sense of comfort, but it has a price: you will follow the path of hundreds of thousands of other backpackers who prefer to relay in the easy and routinely way proposed by big publishing houses. My advice is to try to combine what you read with the tips from other travelers.

Two things to consider:
Again, traveling in China takes a lot of energy if you don ’ t speak Chinese. People don ’ t speak foreign languages, and signs and indications are only in Chinese, especially if you travel in the countryside. Anyway, some improves are taking place in big cities: some train stations have a counter for foreigners; tourist spots have English signs …
The second thing to remember is that Chinese (like most of the people wherever you go in the world) will consider that you are rich just for the fact of being a foreigner in China. And to Chinese minds this means open way to rip you off. They will always try to charge you more (or much more), and this applies even to stated prices: in restaurants English versions of the menu have higher prices, sometimes twice as much. In the train ticket offices they presume you always want first class, souvenir shops or street vendors have no shame on asking even ten times the prices. So this is the rule: always ask for what you want, always ask prices and always bargain.
Another thing to consider (if you are NOT Caucasian):
Chinese (and most of Asian countries) are very racist. This means: the blue-eyed-blonder you are, the more welcomed you ’ ll be. If you are black or Arab type, you will have a very hard time: they will not only try to rip you off, but they will do it laughing at you.
Chinese are very curious: in some villages or non-touristy cities, people will stare at you, make jokes, and if the color of your hair is blond, sometimes little crowds will encircle you. Same will happen if the color of your skin is black, but the smiles will be different …

Everything is fake
Before you arrive, you have to be aware that since ancient times, Chinese are the truly masters of artisan work. In the past this meant luxurious, exquisite and high quality products, but today its means low quality and faking (never buy electronics “ made in China ” , no matter the brand name on it. About it, look at the anecdotes section). Everything is ready-made for the actual consumist times, from small coins to the Great Wall. But the skills remain: some objects really look like antiquities; temples and monuments seem to be the original ones, but most are just reconstructions ( “ restorations ” in the official language). All is appearance in China: great and splendorous, but at backstage the reality might be very different. The Chinese have exercised it to perfection: even some trees in parks or rocks in archaeological sites are man-made.

Entrance fees
Remember it! The word “ Communist ” lost its meaning in China over 25 years ago. All the benefits of communist regimes are missing: nothing is public or for free. You have to pay for everything: entrance fee extend from temples to “ public parks ” . In addition, one has to pay extra in case you want to ring a bell in the temple or to take a photo of a Buddha statue. Approximate prices:Parks: 1-20 Yuan. (1Euro=10 Yuan, 1US$=8 Yuan)
Temples: 20-40 Yuan.
Museum: 20-40 Yuan.
Scenic areas, botanical parks: 10-50 Yuan.
Theme parks: 90 Yuan.The prices of first class attractions such The Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors of Xian, the Giant Buddha of Leshan … skyrocket to around 90 Yuan.If you have a student-card, forget it! Chinese reply that “ student prices only apply to Chinese students ” . The fair thing is that the “ adult prices ” are for all the same, nationals or foreigners. (In some other Asian countries there is an official and governmental politic of discriminations, where foreigners have to pay up to 50 times the price of the locals).

Trains
Still, compare to European standards, it ’ s a good deal: an average hard-sleeper class train ticket for 1000 Km. cost 200 to 300 Yuan (20 to 30 euros). Trains are fast (around 100-120Kms./h), reliable, clean, air-conditioned and very comfortable. In the sleeper class you get nice pillows and blankets. Two options: hard-sleeper or soft-sleeper, this one means you travel in a private compartment where four bunk beds instead of six, more space and quietness. If you are a die-hard traveler, you can try the hard-seat class, exactly the same to 3rd class of India Railways, in standards and prices. I traveled 1250 Km. in Sichuan province that way: first you have to make a one-hour-Q among hundreds of people to be lucky enough to get a place. Then you seat encapsulated in a tiny place. No A.C., people sweating, spitting, shouting out loud and smoking all around you. Everybody staring at me. And the train stopping for hours in the middle of nowhere. The price: 50 Yuan. I did same in Xinjiang Province: 3000Km. of desert for 100 Yuan (10 euros). Actually, the hard-seat class is being replaced for soft-seat class in air-conditioned and faster trains. Don ’ t plan too much your itinerary, train tickets can only be purchased 4 days in advance and from the departure point. So, for example, if you are in Shanghai, you can not buy a ticket from Beijing to Datong. Also you can try in travel agencies, for some extra fee, you can get a ticket already sold-out at the train station (corruption and capitalism make wonders!).
Buses
Sleeper buses are one of the best things of transportation in China. Something that I missed in the rest of the countries I ’ ve been. You can travel and sleep over-night in all those areas trains don ’ t reach. And even in the same case, it ’ s an excellent alternative since you just need to jump in without buying the fare in advance or making long Qs. You can have a crappy one for around 100 Yuan. And if you are not lucky enough to get a good place, you will find yourself at the back of the bus, laying on a kind of “ tray ” over the engine, sharing the place with 4 other people and having a high chance that their feeds stink more than yours. If you don ’ t trust your good luck, you can try a new air-com bus for 250 Yuan the ride, with an attendant who will bring you tea-water on request. Remember to ask for “ discount ” , prices are not always fixed. In both cases you will need your earplugs, because Chinese buses are found of playing films and music (karaoke) very load.
Minibuses are wide spread, you can reach virtually anywhere by them. Fares go from 3 Yuan (0.3 Euros) for 10 Km. to 20 or 30 Yuan for 65 Km. Remember to ask the price in advance, and even to bargain. Check others ’ tickets to be sure you pay same.
City buses cost 1 or 2 Yuan depending the distance. The problem with buses is that you need to know your destination in Chinese, since there are no Romanized sings.

Accommodation
“ As a foreigner ” for me it ’ s a little hard to tell because I never used a travel guide to find accommodation in China. The days when foreigners had to check in hotels specially appointed for us are almost over. Now we can stay in virtually any hotel of our free election. But still there are some restrictions. In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, I shopped around for hours speaking mandarin and I could not find a place to stay, the reason might be that Tibet is the bordering province and they want to keep an eye on who is around. In other cities I never had that problem, with the few exception of some ultra-cheap places where they were “ not allowed ” to lodge foreigners. In the other hand, I have stayed in other places where I wasn ’ t allowed either, so I just wasn ’ t registered. Its all depend of the manager ’ s sense of business.
Choosing between “ travel guide hotels ” and “ regular hotels ” .
The motivation I have to stay in a hotel for Chinese is simple: they are more convenient and much cheaper. Don t worry if you don ’ t speak Chinese, the common sense and body language is enough for the procedure, besides it ’s getting easier to find someone who speaks English. One just need to recognize the characters for “ hotel ” , though most of the times it ’ s obvious the establishment is a hotel. Then you just walk in and ask to see a room. If you like, you bargain the price (they will show it in a calculator). You have always to bargain. At the front desk of all hotels, there are some captions indicating the price of the different category of rooms. It ’ s all bullshit, just for the appearance. The price can easily be 2 or 3 times cheaper. For instance: a double room signed 300 Yuan, when you ask for the price, they can directly ask for something much cheaper, like 200 Yuan. You can bargain for it down to 80 to 120 Yuan. It all depends of the location, the vacancy, the place itself and of your skills with numbers. If you don ’ t like the place or the price, you just enter in another hotel; most of them are around transport station or tourist and commercial areas. Rooms usually have A.C., bathroom and a TV set. For 200 to 300 Yuan (after bargaining) you can have a really nice double-room in a nice hotel. Check out time is at 12H.
If you stay in a “ youth hostel ” for foreigner, you will pay much higher prices: a bed in a dormitory range between 65 to 100 Yuan (7 to 11 euros). Instead of that, you can have you own quiet room for 100 Yuan in a Chinese hotel. The location are reduced to some few places, while Chinese hotels are all over, so you can stay where please you most, for convenience or environment. But the hotels recommended in travel guides have some “ advantages ” too: you can meet other travelers; you can have organized tours, have a look at English magazines …

What to visit
Considering the size, history and diversity of China, there are too many places to be listed. That ’ s what a travel guide might write as foreword. Somehow that ’s true, but not all of it. Chinese cities and villages all look the same and disappointedly ugly. That is for the vast majority. But some of them have a special charm, although not evident at first glance. Apart from the cultural differences, if you come to China to see tradition and exotics, forget it. You won ’ t find it around. Everything is new, even the old-looking things. And what is really old is because poverty: farmer houses, apartment blocks in the suburbs …
So, what to see in China? You might like to see and picture monuments and sceneries. That ’s there. But forget bucolic images in the Forbidden City or the Yellow Mountain. As a matter of fact, there are millions of Chinese tourists and it ’ s practically impossible to find an unspoiled place or location in China. You will have hundreds of them pushing each other to take pictures. There are many things to see because China is a big country, but think well your itinerary, because sometimes it ’s not worthy to travel one thousand Km. from one city to another just to see a museum not even quietly. Same than in India, many consider that there is no nature in China: if it´s not people, one will find roads, mines, factories, trash or pollution in most of the countryside. Many travelers feel disillusioned because China is not how they expected to be from what they saw in documentary videos or postcard pictures, certainly it isn ’t, but no one can really preview your own impressions …
On the other side, if you are the type who doesn ’ t only want to take pictures, but to experience, in that case, the trip shall be much pleasant as long as you don ’ t look for any thing, but let feelings take over you. Tradition in China is not something to be seen, but to be understood and felt. It ’ s all more about the atmosphere rather than the place itself. This asks for an open mind and for your patience. You will find Chinese rude but friendly, greedy but helpful … There are many things that will call your attention in China, some of them the kind you expected before you arrive, but mainly, you will discover that sometimes all we human beings have much more in common than what we believe, and that sometimes the differences are only on the surface. After any trip, many stereotypes are always broken. And for the other differences, well, that will take time; you have to leave in the place to get to the deep roots. Don ’t expect to understand anything in just a couple of months.

Security
Traveling in China, like most of Asia, is very safe. Apart from the eventual pickpocket that can meet you in some crowed or tourist places such a train station or shopping streets, you can feel very quiet in China. Chinese are cool and you will never see such things as guns, knifes, or violence (they can shout at each other, but they won't fight like Jet Lee). You can walk alone at any time any where, regardless of your genre, nobody will bother you. There is a strong sense of social order, and that keeps all in its place. Chinese are very afraid of robbery: you see most windows and doors sheltered, but that ’ s more a communal convention than a measure of reality. I have left many times things forgotten on my bicycle, and they were there when I came back. Also my wallet was once stolen...

Traveler women
Chinese are very curious, and that seems to be taken to the limit when it ’ s about foreign women. Male travelers almost raise no attention, but women get it all. And guess what? Chinese women are the one who will check up their foreign counterpart from toe to top! So if you come to China, alone or not, get use to the idea that everyone will be looking at you, and in some remote areas they will even touch your hair, your skin or your clothes. But take it easy, it ’ s just curiosity. You will never find any sexual impulse or harassment behind any of those gestures. Sometimes men can be very “ friendly ” or “ helpful ” , but as opposite to other countries, in China it ’ s almost for sure that there are no other intentions behind all of it.

Gay travelers
Homosexuality and sex in general is something very private in China, no one speaks about it. You can read that Chinese are “ conservative ” , but that ’ s just the official line. As a matter of fact, there are many parks used as meeting points. You will see no kisses or holding hands in public, but couples gather together closely. If it ’ s some night action what you are after, you can always find some bars frequented by gays. For more information, check some website with related topic in the Internet, sure you can find something about.