Subject: soc.culture.china FAQ(1)--Travel
Date: 2 Mar 1996 14:41:04 GMT
Summary: This posting contains a list of frequently-asked-questions
         (and their answers) about the newsgroup "soc.culture.china".
         The first part covers the travel issues and is written by
         Wuchun Wu <wuwu@cs.ksu.edu>, with assistance from Mark
         Swofford <mswofford@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu>.

Posting-Frequency: approximately biweekly

________________________________________________________________
TRAVEL 
  written by Wuchun Wu <wuwu@phys.ksu.edu>
_________________________________________________________________
For comments and suggestions, please send your ideas to the 
author or to

   scc-faq@saavik.cem.msu.edu
________________________________________________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.     For Chinese with PRC passport
1.1.   Going Home or Coming Here
1.1.1  US consulate generals in China: 
1.1.2  Travel agencies and tickets
1.1.3  Hong Kong transit
1.1.4  Bringing things home
1.2    Traveling around the world
1.2.1  Visas
1.2.2  Tourist information
2.     For non-PRC citizens going to China
2.1    Visas
2.1.1  Chinese consulate generals in the U.S.
2.2    General information
2.3    Tourist information
2.4    Electricity
2.5    Credit cards and traveler's cheques

------------------------------------------------------


1. For Chinese with PRC passport

1.1. Going Home or Coming Here

1.1.1 US consulate generals in China: 

                     Phone            Fax
    Beijing        10-532-3831      10-532-3178
    Guangzhou      20-88808911      20-886-2341
    Shanghai       21-433-6880      21-433-4122
    Shenyang       24-282-0000      24-282-0074
    Chengdu        28-558-9642      28-558-8352


1.1.2 Travel agencies and tickets
    
You'll probably be better off going to a travel agency specializing 
in Asia/China travel. Since most of these businesses come and go 
quickly, it is recommended that you check your local Chinese 
newspapers for phone numbers of these travel specialists.  If you 
know which airline you are going to take, you can get a list of 
phone numbers for "all" airlines through anonymous FTP.  It is at

        ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca  under directory /pub/rec-travel


1.1.3 Hong Kong transit

It is said that a PRC passport holder does not need an advanced
transit visa anymore if he/she has a valid ticket.  Call
312-346-1810 (British Consulate General in Chicago, fax:
312-346-7021) to be sure.  People from Taiwan can get a 48-hour 
transit visa through British consulates.

The Hong Kong tourism office in the US can be reached at: 
212-869-5008 (voice), or 212-730-2606 (fax).  For online information 
try the following www sites:

      http://www.hongkong.org   AND
      http://www.ceas.rochester.edu:8080/ee/users/yeung/hk.html

There are several ways to enter the Mainland from Hong Kong: by
plane, train, or by ferry.  Trains are available to
Shenzhen/Guangzhou.  The train ride from Kowloon to Lofo customs at 
Shenzhen costs about HK$36.  Ferries are available to Zhuhai (for 
about HK$40), Guangzhou, Xiamen and some other places.


1.1.4 Bringing things home

The regulations change quite often.  Please contact the Chinese
consulates for the latest details.


1.2 Traveling around the world

1.2.1  Visas

If you hold a PRC passport, you need a visa for almost all the 
countries you want to visit.  To visit European countries, 
information as recent as summer 1994 indicates that you will need 
visas for each individual country you plan to visit.  There are, 
however, some recent posts in SCC saying that one now can get the so 
called Schengen Visa which is valid for seven European countries 
(not all the EU countries).

Make sure you have a valid visa/travel document (e.g. multi-entry
visa, or green card) to go back to your residence country. 
Otherwise, you need to renew your visa to return there.  There has
been both good news and bad news about renewing visas in a third
country.  My limited experience has been all positive so far.  But
I remember one case in Turkey and another in Belgium.  In both
cases someone ran into trouble for re-entry to the US.  It is a good
idea to check with your international student office before leaving.

For those with US green cards, it is possible to travel with a
"white paper" issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service 
(INS), in place of your PRC passport.  Contact the international 
student office and INS for details.

For the addresses of the consulate generals of the country you are
planning to visit, inquire at your international student office. 
(Mine has never asked me if I am a student or not.)  I am not sure 
if the reference book they used is available in bookstore or not. 
Alternately, you may call the nearest immigration lawyer; s/he might 
help you out.


1.2.2  Tourist information

You can get most general travel information, including country and
city maps by calling that country's tourism office. You can get a
list of tourism offices for almost any country through anonymous
FTP to

  ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca    in  /pub/rec-travel    or   
  ftp-manager.mit.edu    in /pub/usenet/news.answers/travel

For information about cheap but nice hotels, exotic places and
other practical tricks, you may want to post your question in
one of the rec.travel groups, such as rec.travel.asia or 
rec.travel.europe. Check rec.travel.air for information about 
airline tickets.

Here is a list of tourism offices in the USA for countries most 
asked about in SCC.

                        Phone              Fax
    Australia        212-994-6880    212-730-4568
    Austria          312-644-8029
    Belgium          212-758-8130    212-355-7675
    Canada           212-757-3583
    France           212-757-1125    212-247-6468
    Germany          212-661-7200    
    Hong Kong        212-869-5008    212-730-2605
    Italy            312-644-0990    312-644-3019
    Japan            415-989-7140    415-398-5461
    Korea            201-585-0909    201-585-9041
    Holland          213-370-7367    212-379-9507
    Russia           212-757-3884    212-459-0031
    All Scandinavian Countries
                     212-757-3884    212-459-0031


2. For non-PRC citizens going to China

2.1 Visas

If you do not want to call a Chinese consulate first, 
rec.travel.asia is perhaps a better place to start.  You can get
visas either at a Chinese consulate in your country, or, as quite a
few people have done, go to Hong Kong first and get a visa there. It
is very easy and fast to get a tourist visa in Hong Kong. Some 
travel agencies also provide visa service (to get the visa for you).  
People from Taiwan may obtain entry permits from the New China News 
Agency in Hong Kong.


2.1.1  Chinese consulate generals in the U.S.

Embassy of the People's Republic of China 
2300 Connecticut Avenue NW 
Washington, DC 20008 
Tel. (202) 328-2500.

Consulate General of the People's Republic of China New York
520 - 12th Avenue      
New York, New York  10036
Tel. (212) 279-4275.

Consulate General of the People's Republic of China San Francisco
1450 Laguna Street   
San Francisco, California  94115
Tel. (415) 563-4885.     

Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Houston
3417 Montrose Blvd.  
Houston, Texas  77006
Tel. (713) 524-4311.

Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Chicago
100 W. Erie Street
Chicago, Illinois  60610
Tel. (3l2) 573-3070.    

Consulate General of the People's Republic of China Los Angeles
502 Shto Place, Suite 300       
Los Angeles, California  90020
Tel. (213) 380-2507.     


2.2 General information

The CIA World Factbook for China is available online through telnet
at:

      info.rutgers.edu  (128.6.26.25)

or by anonymous FTP at

 cnd.org   under directory /pub/InfoBase/China-Into/Basic-Data.TXT

or via WWW at 

        http://www.research.att.com/cgi-wald/dbaccess/411

Other online information, including high-resolution scenery
pictures, about China can be obtained at the following WWW sites:

      http://www.cnc.ac.cn/china/china.html
      http://unkvx1.utk.edu/~xurs/china.html
        (mirror of the above site)
      http://www.cernet.edu.cn
      http://www.cnd.org/Other/Chinese.html
      http://www.ihep.ac.cn/tour
      http://www.ceas.rochester.edu:8080/ee/users/yeung/china.html

or by anonymous FTP at: 

      cnd.org   under directory /pub/InfoBase/


2.3 Tourist information

For online information, check the WWW and FTP sites listed in the 
previous section. You may want to call the Chinese national tourism 
office in your country. In the US, the address is 

      China National Tourist Office(USA)  
      333 W. Broadway #201  
      Glendale, CA 91204 
      phone: 818-545-7505   FAX: 818-545-7506

Another place to check is rec.travel.asia. 


2.4 Electricity

The electric power in China is 220V, 50Hz as in most European
countries.  Please pay attention to the plug pattern.  Although it
supposedly has been standardized now, there are still quite a few 
places where old, non-standard outlets are still used.


2.5 Credit cards and traveler's cheques

You can use credit cards or traveler's cheques in China.  Most
starred hotels, restaurants and big departments stores accept
credit cards, although they are not as widely accepted as in
European countries, and certainly not as in North America.  Also,
China has abolished the so called "Foreign Exchange Certificate", 
and the exchange rates the government posts are close to the real 
market values (the proof is that there is now no black market for 
foreign exchange).

You can also purchase international money orders or traveler's
cheques at the Bank of China and other Chinese banks.  The minimum
value per purchase is US$10.  Most financial institutions in the
world accept the traveler's cheques issued by these banks.  Since 
several foreign banks already operate in China, you can also 
purchase traveler's cheques from them if you do not trust the 
Chinese banks :)  (This item is adapted from a post by Xiaogning 
Deng [72946@brahms.udel.edu] in alt.chinese.text)

------------------------------------------------------
written by:     Bo Peng <bo@saavik.cem.msu.edu>
with editorial assistance from:
                Mark Swofford <mswofford@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu>
________________________________________________________________

List of soc.culture.china FAQ authors and contributors
(in alphabetical order)

Jihong Cole-Dai  <jidai@magnus.acs.ohio-sate.edu>
Bo Peng.         <bo@saavik.cem.msu.edu>
Ray Zhan Su
Mark Swofford    <mswoffrod@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu
Wuchun Wu        <wuwu@phys.ksu.edu>
Tung-Chiang Yang <tcyang@ee.ucla.edu>

