Hello, I'll traveling in China for about three weeks and

In 10 days I did Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong and spent $400usd which was plenty and more. Lots of people knew some basic English but I may have just been lucky. Honestly dude public transportation is so cheap there you'd be a fool to try and waste your time hitch hiking. Three weeks isn't very long. I didn't see many beggars or any buskers in mainland China and I doubt the police would be ok with a foreigner doing it but I haven't been there long enough to tell.

Either way China was a blast even on a guided school tour so have fun man.

>>1263718
>I didn't see many beggars or any buskers in mainland China and I doubt the police would be ok with a foreigner doing it
There are beggers around, usually elderly or cripples (often fake cripples).

There are also buskers though they're not usually musicians, more like street performers wearing monkey costumes and playing at being Sun Wukong and posing for pictures with children. I don't think I'd want to do it to make money but it's possible. You'd get moved on by police a lot probably but generally they'll just tell you to get out of here and if you do what you're told then you'd be ok. If you were in the right areas then it would be ok, there are usually places that the buskers are tolerated.

>>1263933
Come to think of it though, you'd be earning money on a tourist visa and if any cop stopped to think about your visa status then you'd be fucked. If you don't have your passport when cops ask, you're in trouble and if you do then you're earning money and you're in trouble.

>>1263933
>playing at being Sun Wukong
I read this as 'playing at Sun Wukong' and looked it up thinking you mentioned a place. I'm glad I came back to read your post or I would have probably ended up clicking a link and downloading Dota 2 again. I have a residence permit but I don't know if that would put me in the same trouble as a tourist. I'm not concerned with being told to stop because it's nothing to listen to a cop, I'm worried that they'd try to take my instrument without issuing a warning first. But I've managed to get out of trouble more than once here by shrugging my shoulders and nodding my head so maybe they wouldn't take it so far.

>>1263718
Public transportation is definitely cheap, but I've been on the fast train numerous times already and hitchhiking sounds like it would be fun despite the inconveniences. I might change my mind after standing out in the heat for a few minutes.

>>1263951
>I'm worried that they'd try to take my instrument without issuing a warning first
Police can do whatever they like but that seems very unlikely to happen. If it really did, you could probably offer them a pack of western cigarettes (you know they're not by-the-book because they're confiscating an instrument for no reason), just keep a pack in the instrument case even if you don't smoke.

>read this as 'playing at Sun Wukong' and looked it up thinking you mentioned a place
The journey to the west 'actors' are all over the place, it's arguably the most common form of busker/street performer. There are Pigsy ones too, can't remember his proper name off the top of my head. The other two are less common.

Hitchhiking has been done but is pretty weird. Some Chinese occasionally do it. You'd be expected to pay them because anyone picking you up probably considers themselves to be operating as an amateur taxi

>>1263717
china is totally different to the rest of south east asia

hitchhiking and busking I would caution against
busking is actually prohibited in many parts of china, hitchiking is very uncommon in most places as well

there just arn't many backpackers in china compared to the size of the population

chinese don't speak much english outside the major cities, I found writing chinese charecters down the best strategy, as they genuinely don't understand your pronunciation a lot of the time

I was there for two months so I could give some a lot of advice if you tell me what you are into

Go to Guangxi and Yunnan. Or Szechuan and Ganso. Xinjiang will be too hot prob.

>>1264555
I've been working in China for the last few months and in that time I've learned how to get around speaking no Chinese. I am not worried about communication because it always works out. On the rare occasion when gestures and intonations don't suffice, the translator on my phone takes care of any problems.

I am into art and music but I've long resigned myself to not finding anything worthwhile on this trip. I am not fond of Chinese art and I doubt I can find any classical music concerts so I'll wait until I go home for all that. Going on a hike would be nice but I suppose it might be too hot for that around this time of year.
And last time I went hiking in China the unbelievable amount of trash along the trail depressed me and I could not enjoy it. These are the only interests I have right now. I've been isolated the last few months so this is mostly to break out of stagnation and ennui. It would be cool to find someone to travel with and get to know, but that's as far as my hopes go.

If after reading this you can still come up with a recommendation or any advice, please share it and I'll take it seriously. I haven't decided on a hostel in Shanghai yet so if anyone can suggest a clean, social one please do.

>>1264635
Thanks but can you tell me why? I can read about the cities but I'm interested to know why you think they are worth going to.

>>1264881
for hiking tiger leaping gorge comes to mind, though I'm sure there are others
trash is ALWAYS a issue, I picked up several hundred water bottles discarded in yunan only for the villagers to burn them afterwards
Maybe look into the region north of guilin, it was beautiful and relatively clean; many people see the rice terraces in longji

I enjoyed the chengdu modern art museum, and the HK maritime meuseum is great as well

I didn't see the chianghai region unfortunately, I went through yunan, sichuan through xi-an to beijing

if shainghai is on your list maybe consider a cruise on the yangtse between wuhan and chongquing, price can be prohibitive but Iwas bumbed I never did it

Classical music is of growing importance in china, and I believe many orchestras have at least a mixed trad. chinese- western classical repertoire

>>1264893
>I picked up several hundred water bottles discarded in yunan
I don't know if it will mean much, but I want to thank you for doing this. You're a better person than I am: when I saw all the trash I just became despondent and did not try to change it. But to put in the effort like you did suggests that you're a good person and I hope good things happen to you.

I'll look into the gorge you mentioned and the region north of Guilin. I'll be starting in Shanghai so maybe I'll do the cruise too if the price isn't obnoxious, but I'm content just sitting near the water. If I can find a good concert then that might end up being the highlight of the trip. I'll look into it once I'm there. Thanks for your post.

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>>1264903
thanks man, I dunno I just find that fighting back makes you feel better about things. There are so many people in china you might think it doesn't make a difference, but it's comical how the single foreigner is willing to do more than hundreds of chinese.
Give up your train seat to an old person, help a lady with her ridiculous luggage, give a thumbs up to a kid

I found the railway map (pic related) the easiest way of making sensible travel plans, but that is just me

Best of luck anon

>>1263717
In my experience, the police don't like tourists taking non official transport. I hotchhiked from chengdu to yullin, and the police did not seem to mind. The only thing you need to look out for are illigal taxis, they will try anything to get you into their car, ans they always charge way too much.

Also, it's a bad idea to play music or sell anything on the streets. The governments likes the keep all of that of the street, so you might get your instruments taken from you


P.s Guangzhou was a bit lame, but it depends what you are looking for

>>1264893
HAha fucking chinese peasants. They will never learn why they're so gross and mutated

burning plastic


ahahahahahahahaha