1. Top Social media tool for communication and payment: WeChat
WECHAT IS UBIQUITOUS (over 1billion monthly active users!!! First released in 2011, belongs to Tecent). This works like business cards nowadays, people show their Wechat QR code to each other. And WeChat Pay works like Alipay, it has the function as TWINT in Switzerland but has more features and better developed than TWINT. In China, we get used to a cashless life. We use WeChat for public transportation, car hailing, daily payment. It has the functions as Whatsapp, for voice call, voice message, it has unique emoji shower effects (if you type happy birthday, there will be a shower of cake dropping from the top of the chat box😉).
What’s more, Wechat has the whole miniprogramm system for inidvidual’s to launch their own digital product. The Wechat Subscription account is a platform for news reading as well. Swiss SBB also has its Wechat Miniprogramme developed. 😊 If you have any questions please contact with Vicki (Wechat:TradeBiz_V)
2. Alipay, belongs to Jack, 2004
As a product from Jack Ma’s Alibaba empire, Alipay is the Alipay is a third-party mobile and online payment platform. Alipay is used in smartphones with their Alipay Wallet app. QR code payment codes are used for local in-store payments. The Alipay app also provides features such as credit card bill payments, bank account managements, P2P transfer, prepay mobile phone top-up, bus and train ticket purchases, food orders, vehicles for hire, insurance selections and a digital identification document storage. Alipay also allows online check-out on most Chinese-based websites such as Taobao and Tmall.
3. Car Hailing – Didi, 2015
Car pooling, Express, Car Rental, Taxi. Chinese Uber. How to use Didi (aka, Didi Chuxing) like local: Getting registered is pretty straight forward. You’ll need a phone number, a bank card (you can link your WeChat, or Aplipay 支付宝 account to pay), and your passport number. Registering should take you only a few minutes.
4. Dianping (Dazhong Dianping, only if you understand some Chinese), established in 2003
This is the most popular view and rating app for Chinese restaurants, hotels, touristic sites. Bonus: As an independent third-party consumer review platform, you could find coupons from some vendors directly😉 and you can order food delivery, pharma delivery, supermarket grocery deliver all sorts of delivery in one solution!
5. Trip, 1999
As an authoritative online travel service company in the industry, Ctrip travel mobile client provides more than 110,000 hotels and serviced apartments in China, more than 700,000 hotels overseas, air tickets for all domestic routes and most mainstream international routes, train tickets for all domestic routes, domestic Long-distance bus tickets for more than 200,000 lines in more than 500 cities, airport transfers and self-driving car rentals in more than 150 cities in China and more than 500 cities overseas, covering about 200,000 drivers in 285 cities, providing tickets for attractions Other booking services, there are also one-stop travel services such as travel vacations, theme travel packages, attraction ticket discounts, travel strategies, travel shopping guides, travel WiFi, etc., to help you realize your travel dream.
6. Culture
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Top Board Game - Chinese National Game Mahjong:
Mahjong guide
Playable online in browser there -
How to read Mahjong:
- How to hack mahjong ABC*x+DDD*y+EEEE*z+FF. (ABC is a flush, DDD is three same, EEEE is four same card, FF is a pair).
- Greetings in China: Chinese people do more handshakes when we meet each other for the first time, we are a very traditional nation, well at least my family is traditional and quite reserved.
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Hot pot
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Basic Chinese language
- hello = 你好 (nǐ hǎo)
- Where’s The Bathroom? – 洗手间在哪? (Xǐshǒujiān Zài Nǎ?)
- Can you lower the price? – 可以便宜一点吗? (Kě Yǐ Pián Yí Yī Diǎn Ma?)
- Language: If you want to start with Pinyin:
7. Useful Phrases
When Dining
| English | Pinyin & written Chinese | How to pronounce |
|---|---|---|
| Please sit down | qǐng zuò 请坐 | Ching zoo-oh |
| This tastes delicious | hěn hǎo chī 很好吃 | Huun how chur |
| Thank you | xiè xiè | She-ay she-ay |
| Can you give me the bill please? | qǐng gěi wǒ mǎi dān? 请给我买单？ | Ching gay who my-dan? |
| Please give me a knife and fork | qǐng gěi wǒ dāo chā? 请给我刀叉？ | Ching gay who dow-cha |
When Sightseeing
| English | Pinyin & written Chinese | How to pronounce |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the…? | …zài nǎ?...在哪? | …zai nar? |
| Excuse me, may I ask…? | duì bù qǐ qǐng wèn…? 对不起，请问…？ | do-ay boo-chee ching wun? |
When Shopping
| English | Pinyin & written Chinese | How to pronounce |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | nǐ hǎo 你好 | Knee how |
| How much is this? | zhè gè duō shǎo qián？这个多少钱 | Juh-guh do-oh sh-ow chee-en? |
| Too expensive | Tài guì le 太贵了 | tie goo-ay luh |
| Can you reduce the price? | Kěyǐ bù kěyǐ piányí diǎn？可以不可以便宜点？ Short version: piányí diǎn？便宜点？ |
Ker-yee boo ker-yee pian yee dian? |
| Sorry | Duì bù qǐ 对不起 | Do-ay boo-chee |
| Do you have…？ | Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu…? 你有没有…? | Knee yoh may yoh…? |
- Be ready for the Turkish toilet if you enter a public toilet in the service station on a highway or any other public toilet. And what’s worse, it’s likely that they don’t provide toilet papers. ❗ Please bring a small pack of tissue with you.
- Don’t drink tap water. Normally in China the tap water is not drinkable. Once I read a book written by an American writer, he has suffered from diarrhea in Beijing because of drinking tap water.