Taking the Train in China as a Foreigner 2023
The train system in China is a complex and efficient mode of transport that can be pretty daunting at first. I hope this guide can offer you some help!
Buy your tickets in advance online, especially for large stations! Getting to the ticket counter can be incredibly tedious and time-consuming if you’re in a large station. Some train stations that are bare bones and within a larger building sometimes have kiosks right outside the gates that you can buy tickets at, but they can also be difficult to figure out.
Whenever you go to train stations and check-in, there are a ton of automated gates that typically are able to just scan your Chinese ID card and let you pass, but you (presumably) are not Chinese! You have to go to the manual ID check line because the automatic process does not have the capacity for foreign passports but the person manually checking can confirm you exist and let you pass through a gate they open themselves.
Chinese train stations are structured like airports and functionally similar— there are separate floors for departures and arrivals, there is a baggage security check, lots of seating, restaurants, convenience stores, bathrooms, drinkable water stations, and the station itself is a large open space. Items that I’m aware of that you can and cannot bring are:
YES to open bottles of water, but you must take a sip in front of them (Why? I don’t know)
YES to empty liquor flasks
YES to unopened liquor bottles
NO to opened liquor bottles
NO to aerosol containers
Train stations and trains themselves vary a lot in quality so I would be mindful of that; not every train station will have as many restaurants as the last one and some trains are cleaner than others. A few things to note on trains:
If you have oversized luggage, usually there is a corridor to place your luggage in on the ends of the train car, or you put it behind the last seat on the car. If there is no room, people are known to just place the luggage right next to its intended place and slightly block the aisle. This is fine to do and no one cares.
If you must get your oversized luggage to get off the train and you are getting off at the final stop or another main stop, go to get your luggage in advance because many Chinese people also like to get up early, which might block your luggage in if you aren’t fast enough.
There will almost always be a restaurant/convenience store car somewhere in the middle of the train (e.g. if there are 15 cars total it will probably be around car 8) where you can buy water, tea, instant noodles, and other snacks.
Trains always offer boiling-hot water, great for instant noodles. Hot water is popular in China, probably born out of a historical need to boil water for safety and the association of hot water with digestive and other bodily health.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or do research past what I’ve written! Let me know if you think I’m missing anything.