Visiting or living in another country is always a difficult experience. From greetings to where to put the toilet paper (or even where to get the toilet paper), food shopping to apartment hunting there’s a wealth of information that we’d like to know NOW.

Now there’s a way. Send us an email with your question and if we choose your question our resident experts will answer it for you. Drop us a line at cs@eChinacities.com. Don’t worry, help is on the way.

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Questions:

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6. BR wants to know: “why did you cancel the ‘forum’? Will it be deleted forever?”
7. How do I check a bill to see if it’s counterfeit?
8. Why is the Chinese food in China not like the Chinese food back home?
9. Should I bring traveler’s checks to China?
10. How old am I in China?

BR wants to know: “why did you cancel the ‘forum’? Will it be deleted forever?”

Great question BR, we closed the forums temporarily because we are in the midst of a designing and launching a new and improved version of our site. After the new site launches we will probably reopen the forums, until then you can send any questions and suggestions you might have straight to us. Thanks for reading!

How do I check a bill to see if it’s counterfeit?

When you pay with larger bills – 50s and 100s – you’ll usually see the person rubbing it and holding it up to the light. On the newer 100RMB notes the pattern on Mao’s jacket is raised, rub your finger against the crosshatching on his collar and shoulders and you’ll see what I mean. Older bills lack this so you’ll need light to check the watermark. Counterfeit bills will have the watermark printed on so from some angles they’ll look right but if you hold them to the light and angle the bill you’ll clearly notice that the Mao head is just printed on. You can use an ultraviolet light to check the watermark at night – some very clever people buy little ultraviolet lights for their key chains. If you have another large bill you can compare them – counterfeits are often a little smaller.

When you pay with a large bill make sure you watch that person make change. This is one of the main ways you can end up with fake money. Some vendors will swap your bill for a counterfeit bill and give the counterfeit bill ‘back’ to you while accusing you of giving them fake money. It can be especially difficult to watch the driver’s hands in taxis; if you can’t sit up front you can always insist they give you small bills – 10s and 5s.

Why is the Chinese food in China not like the Chinese food back home?

This has a lot to do with where you’re living in China. If you’re living in the south of China around Guangdong Province than it’s probably closer to what you’ve eaten at home than if you live in the Northern part of China. The reason is this: until very recently the vast majority of Chinese immigrating to the western world were from the south of China and so they brought their cuisine with them. Unfortunately, you won’t find dim sum, egg tarts (蛋挞|dàntǎ), or a lot of the food you’ve eaten in western Chinatowns in northern China unless you go to a Cantonese (广东| guǎngdōng) restaurant.

Should I bring traveler’s checks to China?

Probably not. While you can cash traveler’s checks in most Chinese banks many bank employees are unfamiliar with the process and it can be a long drawn out process which could potentially result in you invalidating your checks by following bad instructions. A better bet is just to use your check or debit card. While you can’t always find machines that take foreign cards right away quite a few do and the ones at bank branches always do. Just be sure to not use the local machine – look for the logo for your card. Be sure to check with your bank before you travel to find out how much they’ll charge you per transaction (generally the Chinese banks don’t charge) and BE SURE TO GIVE YOUR BANK A DETAILED TRAVEL PLAN in advance so they don’t shut off your card automatically the first time it’s used in another country. Tell them everything – you don’t want a snack during your layover in Japan to leave eating rice and sleeping on the street for the week or so it takes to get your card reactivated.

How old am I in China?

Older than you’d think, in Chinese terms you are already 1 year old when you’re born. So, when someone asks you how old you are, add on one year. If you’re 25 in the western world, you’re 26 here in China. Happy birthday. To avoid confusion you can also just tell people the year you were born.

One other note: if you’re a man (or a woman I suppose) with a beard, Chinese people will typically substantially overestimate your age. If you ask people to guess your age be prepared for bad news: you might be 22 years old with some scruff growing but Chinese people may well assume you’re 25-30+.

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