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00:00Welcome back to my channel. I just want to do a quick little video answering some questions for
00:04you guys because I'm getting a lot of questions about China. A lot of people are interested in
00:11traveling to China and I think it's amazing because when I first moved here in 2016, I don't
00:18live here anymore, but I did live here for four and a half years in Shanghai, China. I was a
00:23student.
00:24I went to school here. Anyways, when I did come to China, this was not the case. There was not
00:33all
00:33this international tourism. You weren't seeing, like TikTok wasn't a thing yet, but like you weren't
00:40seeing on the internet all these people traveling to China, people solo traveling to China. You
00:45weren't seeing that. The world had a very bad opinion about China and I'm so happy to see that
00:52that's changing. I love it so much. I think that's an amazing, it's something that came out of travel
00:59blogging. I mean, you can't trust the news because the news has an agenda and China was always beautiful.
01:05It's just people didn't know until recently. So anyways, I do think China is one of the more
01:12difficult countries to travel. It's very difficult to travel here. It's not just a simple, easy
01:18process. So I'm going to answer some questions about China that I think you need to know before
01:21you come here. Let's get straight into it. But first I have to thank Donator. So I'm filming this
01:26video pretty close to my last video. And so I've been fundraising for my mission to visit every
01:34country in the world. I know you guys are like, MJ, where are the travel blogs? We've got travel
01:39blogs coming. Don't worry you guys. Things are in the works. But one of the hardest parts about trying
01:46to travel all the time and visit all these countries is how expensive it is. So yeah, I have 60
01:51countries
01:51more. And trust me, you guys, you're gonna see you're gonna see they're gonna get done. Thanks for
01:57believing me, believing in me, I'm still very much on this mission to visit every single country in the
02:03entire world. Absolutely. If you don't know, I've been on a mission to visit all 195 countries in the world
02:10all by myself. I've been traveling for eight years. I've been to 139 countries in those years, you guys
02:17have been along with me. I have 60 countries left, exactly 60 countries before I can say that I have
02:25successfully visited every country in the world. So I have a GoFundMe to raise 60k to help me finish
02:32those 60 countries. Obviously, it's way more than that. It costs way more than that. But it would be a
02:39giant help, flights and all that stuff. And the way everything is like, becoming more expensive
02:45because of all the stuff going on in the world. So yeah, the GoFundMe helps with that. So if anyone
02:49wants to support, I've been shouting you guys out every day, I'm trying to raise the entire GoFundMe
02:54in the month of April. So far, we have raised 11,606 out of 60k. And I'm trying to raise
03:00the rest
03:01for the end of the month. Yeah. So the last donator, I'll put you on the screen. I think it
03:06was Darren.
03:06What's Darren? Thank you so much for your $20 donation. I shout you guys out every day.
03:14If you can or are willing to support my mission and this channel, I'll put the GoFundMe link
03:18in the description box of this video. Okay. Let's get into... Oh, by the way, follow me on TikTok.
03:25I just joined TikTok world, MaryJaneTravels underscore. And follow me on Instagram,
03:32MaryJane underscore travels. I have a few things to tell you guys about China. So in
03:36China, everything is blocked. Google is blocked. YouTube is blocked. Instagram is blocked. Google
03:43Maps is blocked. Everything is blocked. Because China doesn't want their people to be Americanized.
03:53So they have their own social medias here and their own way of doing things. They also don't
03:59want to be spied on. So when you come to China, you can't just use TikTok and YouTube unless you
04:08know the back road. So I'm going to help you guys out. Also, this is not a money country anymore.
04:14I would say 96% of people don't use money. You have to use a QR code. So that can
04:19get kind of
04:20confusing if you don't know what to do. So let me answer some questions I get all the time about
04:25China.
04:25Is China foreigner friendly? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. You have to understand
04:31this is a very big nation. There are almost no, there are almost 2 billion people here in China
04:37and growing. Their numbers are growing. And a lot of Chinese people have never seen foreigners.
04:44So depending on where you are, they might be interested like, oh, where are you from? But for the
04:51most part, Chinese people are nice, especially if you go to the big cities, I would say they're nicer
04:57than, I think I get treated better in China than I do in America by people who look like me.
05:02You know
05:02what I'm saying? So I think they're incredibly kind and welcoming. You have to remember humans are human
05:10beings. So when you go to work, is everybody nice? In your family, is everybody nice? It's stupid to
05:17say everybody's nice. But I feel that way, to be honest, I'm not gonna beat that to death. But I
05:25think they're nice. And they're very welcoming. And it does help to learn a language. I always tell
05:30people, stop saying you can't do something, learn a language before you come to a country. And I'm not
05:35saying you have to learn the whole language. But let's just say you know, you're going to Japan and
05:38you have six months in front of your trip, or you have three months, you have enough time to scroll
05:43on your phone, you have enough time to take a little course. Hi, bye, yes, no. That's all like,
05:49that goes a long way. It shows that you care. And you're just not expecting people to adapt to you.
05:54But I am fluent in Mandarin, because I used to live here. I speak Chinese. And I mean,
06:02they'll love you to death. If you if you speak Chinese, they will just eat you up. They'll be so
06:06pleased with that. But you don't have to. So anyways, yeah. So what do you do when you come
06:13to China, you need to download this app, I'll put it on the screen. It's called in English,
06:18it's like a map. You need that because Google Maps doesn't work here. So if you're trying to figure
06:23out how to get from point A to point B, you cannot use Google Maps, it's not going to work
06:27even with a
06:27VPN. Also, I would say, download a eSIM provider. I use Airlo. eSIMs help with you can buy yourself
06:39an eSIM. That way you don't have to use a VPN, because otherwise, you're gonna have to use a VPN
06:44to use TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. But anyways, get yourself an eSIM before you get here and download
06:50it on your phone, you'll be good to go. There's two apps you need, Alipay and WeChat. They're
06:57gonna have, those two apps are gonna be how you pay for everything, like literally everything.
07:02You're gonna have a QR code on Alipay or a QR code on WeChat. That's how you pay for everything.
07:06Nobody uses Apple Pay and nobody uses cash. You're gonna pay on those two apps. You can just hook your
07:14card up to those two apps and they're everything, everything you pay for on those two apps. Another
07:20common question I get is, what other questions do I get? Oh, download this app. It's called Red Note
07:29or Hongbao. That is a Chinese app for like, it's almost like a Chinese TikTok. It tells you where to
07:40eat because you're not really going to see that much. You're not going to see Chinese people telling
07:44you where to eat on TikTok that much because they're not on there. You know, I mean, I guess
07:49some of them are, but that's where I find all my cafes. That's where I find all the cool stuff
07:54I
07:54want to do, really cool activities. It's all on Red Note. So you can sign up for Red Note and
08:00type
08:00in Shanghai and it'll give you cafes, restaurants, and you can hit translate so it can be in English for
08:05you. What are some other questions? What are some other questions? I don't really like to answer
08:13questions about the moving process to China because I feel like that's really thorough and so specific
08:20to who you are and what you want to do. I do get a lot of those questions like, Mary
08:24Jane, I have
08:24questions about moving to China. Don't ask me, please. Because like, it's too in-depth. Like, you need
08:30somebody to sit down. Like, you need to figure it out because it's going to be specific to you. Like,
08:37how long
08:38are you living here? What is your job? Where exactly are you moving? What is your income? What
08:44is, like, it's so person specific. So it's very hard to give moving to China advice. Like, you know,
08:50so I would say do your research. Everything. We live in a day and age where you can figure out
08:54everything online. Trust me. Trust me because I moved to China when there was way less information
09:00and I figured it out. So sorry, I can't help you guys with that info because there's some people
09:05who ask me, can you help me figure out how I can move to China? And I'm just like, no.
09:10It's too thorough. It's too much to just tell you straightforward, but you can figure it out.
09:19What are the other questions I get about China? There's so much to try here. I would say it's a
09:25very affordable country. Food is so cheap here. Excursions are so cheap. Like, I always get blown
09:33away about how cheap things are. Like, I was at the park the other day. The park entrance was $20
09:37and the park is beautiful. The food is cheap. Food is dumb. Food is so cheap here, you guys.
09:43Grocery shopping is so cheap. Just basic food is so cheap. Really, really, really affordable place
09:51to go. I find everything in China to be very affordable. Accommodation, depending on where you
09:57want to stay. It's quite affordable. If you want to stay in center Shanghai, you might be paying
10:04$150 a night for a hotel. If you want to bump up to five stars, you might be paying $250
10:10to $300 a night.
10:12If you want to bump down a little bit to four stars, you'd be paying $50, $60 a night. Not
10:17too bad at all.
10:19Um, I think you'll have a ball. I really think China is a place you can't just drop by. You
10:24need a minute
10:25if you're coming to China, especially because I'd recommend you to hit four or five different cities.
10:29But if you're just coming to Shanghai, I highly recommend, like, if you only want to visit one
10:33place, you're coming to Shanghai. End of story. Um, and I think you need at least three weeks here.
10:40Like, there's so much to do in Shanghai. There is so much to do here in Shanghai. I would say
10:49the
10:49perfect amount of time is three weeks. If you don't have three weeks, two weeks. But a few days is
10:54not
10:54enough. Trust me, you'll feel robbed if you're here for a few days. It's not enough time. The city's
11:02humongous. Um, what are the best souvenirs from Shanghai? I think the best souvenirs are teas. I,
11:09if I were you, I would buy so much tea. They have the world's best tea. They have tea dealers.
11:14Uh, come here and get medicine. Stock up on Chinese, uh, traditional medicine. They've got herbs for
11:19everything to heal your body in a natural way. And they work. I would go to the doctors if I
11:26were you.
11:27I would get a doctor's visit done. Um, if you come here, I very much trust their health care system.
11:33They've got a lot of good shopping, clothing stores, shoe stores, apparel stores.
11:39Um, yeah. I think I, like, knocked out all the main questions I get about China.
11:48Yeah. I can answer, if you guys have more questions, I can answer another one.
11:51Um, and specific places, I'll put in the description box of this video specific hotels I recommend you
11:57to stay in. Um, because you need to think about it for a second. But yeah, I think those are
12:01all
12:01the main questions I got.
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