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Safety is an issue as traffic regulation is practiced half-heartedly. Expect people to honk rather than brake, to drive while holding a phone, overtake in unsafe places, or worse. Buckle up if you can. Some travellers report that the driving in China is way safer than in Russia and neighboring countries. Chinese usually don't exceed the speed limit much.
==How-to==
As in many countries, on major roads try to hitchhike from a service station, toll area or some other place where traffic has to stop or slow. Otherwise use the outstretched arm and hand wave described above, or hold a card, preferably in Chinese not Pinyin (the Romanised script) showing where you ant to go. This latter approach is used locals in some areas (eg Guangzhou).
==Regions ==
There are probably big differences between the different regions in China.
:''please add more info if you've hitched in many parts of China''
== Cities ==
[[File:Hitching-luoping-china.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Hitching out of [[Luoping]], [[Yunnan]]]]
* [[Beijing]]
* [[Tianjin]]
English in rural or even urban areas are rarely used. Get yourself a phrasebook (beforehand) and a pocket dictionary. Here are some helpful phrases.
===Basic Vocab===
搭便车 ''da bian-che'': Hitchhhike. That's probably what you want to write on a big card board. <br />
公路 ''gong-lu'': literally public roads, which means either highway or national road<br />
那里/哪里 ''Na-li'' : There / Where?<br />
===Conversations===
我要去..."wo yao qu ...." ( I/want/go to) means "I need/want to go to . . ."<br />
你要去那里？ "ni qu nali?" (you/ go to / where) means "Where are you going?"<br />
== Police ==
[[File:Hitchhikers with Chinese police man.jpg|thumb|250px|left]]
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.
== Maps ==
[[File:Amylin-luoping-china-1.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[User:Amylin|amylin]] in the [[Yunnan]] province of [[China]].]]
There are not so many online or offline maps in English. ''Do'' buy a map though, even if it's in Chinese, maps of provinces are cheap (10 yuan) and very useful, you can point to it and people might sometimes understand what you mean. You ''can'' buy a map of China with names in English and Chinese, but because of the scale it's not very useful while hitching.
== Border Crossing ==
===To [[Kyrgyzstan]]===*[[Irkeshtam Pass]]*[[Torugart Pass]]
== Links ==
{{IsIn|Eastern Asia}}
[[Category:Yunnan|Yunnan]]
[[Category:Yunnan|Yunnan]]
[[Category:China| ]]
