Where China is actually hard for visitors — city by city.
Eight cities, eight everyday scenarios, one score each: 1 = smooth, 5 = high friction. Scores are editorial assessments based on documented policy and widely reported traveller experience — not survey statistics, not scraped votes. Tap any cell for the reason and the fix.
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City ranking (lower = smoother overall)
Tap a city to highlight its column in the matrix.
The matrix
Scenario guides — the fix for each friction
How this index is made
Policy anchors behind the scores
Version history
Next review: . A score changes only when a policy changes, a platform changes foreigner onboarding, or editors verify a systematic change on the ground.
What this index is not. It is not a real-time measurement, not a survey, and not a guarantee about your trip. Treat it as a planning signal: where to prepare early, where to book ahead, and where to have a backup plan. For the actual tools — visa check, countdown checklist, tax refund calculator — use the Survival Toolkit.