Unlicensed taxis at airports and stations (China)

Drivers approach inside terminals offering rides at many times the metered fare, or run a rigged meter. Licensed taxis queue at the official rank and always use the meter. Use the official rank or the DiDi app. Have your destination written in Chinese characters — most drivers read no English and this alone prevents most disputes.

Is China safe to visit in 2026?

China is a very safe country for street crime — violent crime against foreigners is rare and cities are heavily policed and surveilled. The difficulties are administrative and financial: getting online, paying for things, and a small number of well-organised tourist scams.

The tea-house and art-gallery set-ups in Beijing and Shanghai have run for decades and are the main thing that separates visitors from serious money. Both begin the same way: a friendly English-speaking stranger.

Where the risk actually is

Risk is rarely spread evenly across a country. The base colour is the code the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives China as a whole; shaded regions are those the UK Foreign Office names in an advisory against travel.

What governments advise Travel with caution

This map reads stronger than the world map's colour, and both are right. The world map shades China by its Atlas Risk Score — 33, Low — which blends government advice with crime, health, roads and natural hazards. This map shows the advice alone, and the strongest level anywhere in China is “travel with caution”.

What the warnings actually cover

Whole country — Travel with caution. No government currently advises against travel to any part of this country. The colour reflects general caution levels only, not a warned area.

Shading marks whole regions named in an advisory, but a warning is often narrower — a border strip, one road, or a single city. Read the wording, and check the official advisory linked below.

What drives the score

Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.

Natural hazards

10% of score · mainly flooding, tsunami, cyclones, earthquakes, drought

78/100
216th of 220

Road & transport

10% of score

44/100
143rd of 220

Conflict & terrorism

15% of score

36/100
137th of 220

Crime

15% of score

35/100
97th of 220

Political stability

10% of score

34/100
90th of 220

Health & medical

15% of score

20/100
78th of 220

Official advisories

25% of score

17/100
107th of 220

Women's safety

not in the score

0/100

Biggest factor here: natural hazards. Earthquakes, floods, cyclones, drought and tsunami exposure.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number

110

Police 110 · Ambulance 120 · Fire 119

Currency

CNY ¥

€1 ≈ 7.79 CNY

Languages

Chinese

Visa (EU passport)

30 days visa-free

US: e-Visa · UK: Visa required

Population

1.4bn

World Bank 2025

Capital

Beijing

Driving

On the right

17.4 road deaths per 100k

Power

Type A, C, I

220-240V

Basic water access

96%

Widely available · of residents, not a tap-water verdict

Dialling code

+86

GDP per capita

$14k

A rough guide to price levels

Visitors a year

162.5m

International arrivals, 2019

When to go

Average daytime high and nightly low for Beijing, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.

Mildest and driest around April to June, and August to October.

1°

-11°

2

J

4°

-8°

5

F

13°

-2°

6

M

22°

5°

24

A

29°

13°

34

M

32°

18°

83

J

32°

21°

179

J

31°

20°

117

A

26°

14°

69

S

19°

6°

32

O

10°

-2°

18

N

2°

-8°

2

D

Daytime high cold mild warm hot extreme heat

Top figure is the average daytime high, below it the average nightly low, and millimetres of rain under each bar. Figures are the average daytime high; bar heights are the month's rainfall. Shaded months are the mild, drier ones. Source: NASA POWER daily observations, 2010-2019, public domain. China is big. These numbers describe Beijing only — elsewhere in the country can be nothing like it.

Common scams in China

Patterns reported repeatedly by travellers and local police. None of this is about individual businesses — it's about set-ups you can learn to spot in seconds.

The tea house

Beijing (Wangfujing, Tiananmen area), Shanghai (Nanjing Road)Very common

Friendly young people, usually claiming to be students wanting to practise English, invite you to a traditional tea ceremony nearby. The tasting ends with a bill of hundreds or thousands of yuan, presented with staff blocking the door. It is the best-documented scam in China and has run for over twenty years.

How to avoid it: Decline invitations from strangers who approach you near major sights. If you want a tea ceremony, choose the place yourself and ask prices first. If trapped, pay by card and dispute it, or call the police on 110.

Sources UK FCDO China — safety and security US Embassy China — safety and security

The art student gallery

Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'anCommon

A polite student invites you to a graduation exhibition of their own work. The gallery sells mass-produced prints at fine-art prices with heavy emotional pressure, often after tea.

How to avoid it: The same rule as the tea house: nothing good starts with a stranger approaching you in English near a tourist site.

Sources UK FCDO China — safety and security

Unlicensed taxis at airports and stations

Nationwide, worst at Beijing and Shanghai arrivalsCommon

Drivers approach inside terminals offering rides at many times the metered fare, or run a rigged meter. Licensed taxis queue at the official rank and always use the meter.

How to avoid it: Use the official rank or the DiDi app. Have your destination written in Chinese characters — most drivers read no English and this alone prevents most disputes.

Sources UK FCDO China — safety and security

Bar and karaoke bill entrapment

Beijing (Sanlitun), Shanghai (Bund area)Occasional

A version of the tea house aimed at men: a friendly woman suggests a bar, drinks arrive unordered, and the bill runs to thousands of yuan with staff preventing you leaving.

How to avoid it: Do not let a stranger pick the venue. Pay by card if forced so there is a record, then report it.

Sources US Embassy China — safety and security

Risk hotspots

Specific places that come up again and again — either in government advisories or in traveller reports. Everywhere else in China is not automatically fine, but these are the areas worth a plan.

Wangfujing and Tiananmen approaches Street crime

Where the tea-house and art-student approaches are made. The area is otherwise extremely safe and heavily policed.

Xinjiang Security

Pervasive surveillance, checkpoints, restrictions on movement and on photography. Several governments advise extra caution; journalists and researchers face particular risk.

Tibet Autonomous Region Security

Independent travel is not permitted. Foreign visitors need a permit and an organised tour, and access closes without notice.

Summer typhoons on the southeast coast Natural hazard

Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan take direct hits between July and September, closing airports and rail for days.

Paying for things

China runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay, not cash or contactless cards. Both now accept foreign credit cards, and you should link one before you arrive rather than trying to do it on arrival — verification sometimes requires a working phone number.

Cash still works by law and vendors must accept it, but many small traders genuinely have no change. Carry some, expect to use apps for almost everything, and note that foreign cards work at ATMs but often not at point of sale.

Internet access

Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and most Western news sites are blocked. If you rely on any of them — including Gmail and Google Maps — arrange access before you arrive, because the tools to do so are themselves blocked once you are in the country.

International roaming on a foreign SIM routes outside the firewall and is the simplest workaround for a short trip.

Compare with neighbours

Sources for this page

Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for China:

CDC Travelers' Health TravelHealthPro (NHS/UKHSA)

Netherlands advice for China — current advisory
UK FCDO advice for China — current advisory
World Bank Open Data — governance, homicide, road deaths, health and economic indicators
INFORM Risk Index 2026 (European Commission JRC) — natural hazard, epidemic and conflict exposure, coping capacity
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — travel advice and regional warnings
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs — colour-coded travel advice, including region-level zones
US Department of State — travel advisory levels 1-4

Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.