Changes

The Hitchhiking is not really know for everybody, so the famous ''Thumb'' gesture used in most countries to indicate you want a lift is not fully understood in China, and although it will still work, will probably wont be very effective. For Chinese this gesture Is more readily understood as meaning "good" or "OK" so drivers will probably not think of stopping. The most common signal to ask a vehicle to stop is to outstretch your arm and gently wave the hand up and down, but this isn't the most recommended way to hitchhike. Also, taxis are really common in the country. If you hitchhike without a sign, you will probably have a lot of taxi stopping by to take you. What I would recommand is to have a sign with writing 搭便车 (Dabianche - Hitchhiking) on it. The translation litteraly mean "free-ride", so you will not have any problem with money. Also, this will save you from some awkward situations if your chinese accent is bad : When you pronounce it slightly differently, "Hitchhiking" become "eating shit" which can be understood as an insult or the fact that you are looking for the toilet. By writing it, there is no misunderstanding. You can also write the name of the place where you want to go under it.

搭便车 ''da bian-che'': Hitchhikeliterally "free-ride". That's probably what you want to write on a big card board, although it's a rare word in Chinese and many people do not know what it means. <br />

謝謝 谢谢 ''Xie xie'' : Thank you<br />这裡 这里 ''zhe-li'': Here<br />那里/哪里 ''Na-li'' : There / Where?(only different in tone)<br />

你要去那里？ 你要去哪里？ "ni yao qu nali?" (you/ go to / where) means "Where are you going?"<br />

Chinese, like many Asian languages, is a tonal language which means a change in a pitch will drive to different meanings. Without basic training, most westerners will find it hard to pronounce Chinese well at an decipherable understandable level. If you plan to learn a bit, Pleco is a must-have dictionary app. But if you just print the Chinese characters out and show them to the driver, things will work pretty smooth. Hong Kong and Macao use traditional, more complicated characters, but they can read either way for the most part.

=== Personal experiences ===* ''In the South the police was unaware, or friendly but very confused, to [[UserAugust 2017:Guaka|Guaka]] and [[User:Amylin|amylin]]. Most of the time the police didn't do anything while walking along the highway or trying Hitchhiked from Kashgar to hitchHongKong. Oncethrough: Urumqi, at the highway entry of [[Kaili]] in [[Guizhou]]Kumul, Xining, they started talkingChengdu, found someone who spoke EnglishKunming, and brought the hitchers to a bus stationNanning, where Guangzhou. Spent most of the police paid for a bus ticket! Another time the highway police was very confused again, in Xinjiang and it took 2 1/2 hours to find a translator and be left alone at a highway entrance againTibetian Areas.''* ''[[User:Fijau|Fijau]] hitchhiked through Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan without being bothered by policeNo mayor problems. In Xinjiang police even helped him to get I figured out that having a ride. Problems started to occur in Zhejiang (Eastern Chinadrawn map with me, near Shanghai). Several times police didn't let him onto the expressway through with the toll gate main roads and took him off the expressway while passing by.''* ''[[User:peraht|peraht]] somehow always gets helped by police. Especially when cities on it's getting dark or at night it's sometimes very useful to rely on them. Not only next to pay tolls but also on service areas (there are almost always some police officerswritten in chinese)and a small letter explaining in chinese would help the most. Sometimes they will give you something to eat, take pictures with youHowever, in the usual stuff. In Jiangxi or Anhui they caught her a ridetibetian areas I figured out that many people cannot read chinese, took pictures of her and hence it makes sense to write the driver's passports, which was for safety reasons and actually OK, but also of other visas she had map in her passport. Probably only out of curiousity tibetian and to test their apparently new camerachinese.''* ''[[User:lukeyboy95|lukeyboy95]] had a fantastic time hitchhiking Sometimes people would ask for money in March 2013. Not without its dramasadvance, but no adventure is. I kept in tibetian areas seem to the Western fringe, avoiding most citiesbe some shared taxis also. Further I had a sign that read de-bien-che, in characters, and this was mildly understood once picked by some. Roads are excellentthe police in Amdo Tibet, fast and newthey told me, and distances can I am not allowed to be very largethere. I beat my record.. Hence, at 1200km in one day in the North West region. Big cities are next city I had to register, make a total horrorlot of selfies, try and get trains out they brought me to a hotel where possible. Have your little list of phrases ready I had to point at, it isnt rude. The Chinese are spirited people, stay and connecting with them wasnt a problem. If they look like taxi drivers, or told me I have to take a little hard up, reiterate that you cant pay money for bus the ridenext day. One the next day I hitchhiked further without problems ;)Tip: having an offline translator is the most useful thing for china! I travelled many parts of note was that at the border world without speaking common languages with Krygyzstan, the immigration police wouldn't let me past unless I was in people living there and always found a taxiway of communication. A little overnight protest outside their spanking new offices brough resultsBut in China, it was even hard for me to explain the map where I want to go and the next day where they put me in a pick-upwant to go. An interesting border, and be careful with this. In general I found the police enormously helpful, kind and well meaning. On two times, they put paid for a train for me, drove me out sign/body language works so different to the highway, even gave me money mine there... Still - awesome peopel and invited me into their homes. China holds many adventures for the the hitchhikerexperience! ''

=''In the South the police was unaware, or friendly but very confused, to [[User:Guaka|Guaka]] and [[User:Amylin|amylin]]. Most of the time the police didn't do anything while walking along the highway or trying to hitch. Once, at the highway entry of [[Kaili]] in [[Guizhou]], they started talking, found someone who spoke English, and brought the hitchers to a bus station, where the police paid for a bus ticket! Another time the highway police was very confused again, and it took 2 1/2 hours to find a translator and be left alone at a highway entrance again.''  ''[[User:Fijau|Fijau]] hitchhiked through Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan without being bothered by police. In Xinjiang police even helped him to get a ride. Problems started to occur in Zhejiang (Eastern China, near Shanghai). Several times police didn't let him onto the expressway through the toll gate and took him off the expressway while passing by.''  ''[[User:peraht|peraht]] somehow always gets helped by police. Especially when it's getting dark or at night it's sometimes very useful to rely on them. Not only next to pay tolls but also on service areas (there are almost always some police officers). Sometimes they will give you something to eat, take pictures with you, the usual stuff. In Jiangxi or Anhui they caught her a ride, took pictures of her and the driver's passports, which was for safety reasons and actually OK, but also of other visas she had in her passport. Probably only out of curiousity and to test their apparently new camera.''  ''[[User:lukeyboy95|lukeyboy95]] had a fantastic time hitchhiking in March 2013. Not without its dramas, but no adventure is. I kept to the Western fringe, avoiding most cities. I had a sign that read de-bien-che, in characters, and this was mildly understood by some. Roads are excellent, fast and new, and distances can be very large. I beat my record, at 1200km in one day in the North West region. Big cities are a total horror, try and get trains out where possible. Have your little list of phrases ready to point at, it isnt rude. The Chinese are spirited people, and connecting with them wasnt a problem. If they look like taxi drivers, or a little hard up, reiterate that you cant pay money for the ride. One thing of note was that at the border with Krygyzstan, the immigration police wouldn't let me past unless I was in a taxi. A little overnight protest outside their spanking new offices brough results, and the next day they put me in a pick-up. An interesting border, and be careful with this. In general I found the police enormously helpful, kind and well meaning. On two times, they put paid for a train for me, drove me out to the highway, even gave me money and invited me into their homes. China holds many adventures for the the hitchhiker! '' == Maps ===

=== Links ===