China travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for China, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in China: Beijing & the Great Wall, Shanghai, Xi’an.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies for longer stays
- Japanese encephalitis for rural summer stays
Emergency number
120 for an ambulance, 110 for police
Care for visitors
Good but costly
International clinics and the VIP wings of major hospitals in Beijing are good, English-speaking and expensive; ordinary public hospitals are crowded and require payment before treatment, in advance, at a cashier. Insurance and a translation app are both genuinely necessary.
Do not drink the tap water. Air quality in Beijing is poor on some winter days and worth checking if you have any respiratory condition. Pharmacies stock both Western and traditional medicine — be clear which you are asking for.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
The guides in China
Beijing & the Great WallChinaAn imperial city, and a wall that runs off into the mountains
ShanghaiChinaA waterfront of 1920s banks facing a skyline from the future, with lane houses and gardens in between
Xi’anChinaEight thousand terracotta soldiers, a city wall you can cycle round, and the eastern end of the Silk Road