Many things have changed, and perhaps the most obvious one is in regard to cash. At the airport, there are no longer lengthy lines of travellers queuing up to buy Chinese yuan before boarding their flight to Beijing or Shanghai.
Physical cash is now barely used in China. It’s good to have some cash for emergencies caused by a Wi-Fi or mobile data failure, but beyond that, cash is unnecessary.
Before you take off, it is essential to ensure you will have internet access in China. Connectivity in China is essential for daily living. It is not about being able to use WhatsApp or Facebook; these services are not essential. Paying for a taxi or a meal is essential and that requires connectivity.
One option is to use your telecoms’ roaming service. This will allow you to access all the necessary digital services. Importantly, it will also allow access to non-China-based services like Facebook, Google and Google Translate.
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If you use an eSIM, you may be able to access these external services, but it is not always the case. The eSIM is a very cost-effective option.
Another option is to buy a China SIM card on arrival. This is the cheapest option and will give you guaranteed internet access throughout China. It will not allow you to access Facebook and other Western services. To access these services, you will need to install a VPN. This is also a useful back-up in case of any eSIM problems.
It is essential that a VPN be installed and tested before you arrive in China. Experience suggests it is useful to activate two VPNs as there is no iron-clad guarantee that your VPN will work consistently.
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Another tip is to download Chinese apps in advance. WePay or AliPay lie at the heart of electronic payments. You can link your Singapore credit card or bank account to these services. If your credit card is used, then transactions may be treated as cash advances and attract interest.
It is not always an easy process to set up these payment links, so it is unwise to leave this to the last minutes or days before travel.
For taxis, use DiDi. Hotels, trains and planes are booked through Ctrip or Qunar. Meituan or Dianping are best for local food guides.
A personal preference is to store a photograph of my passport on my phone.
Don’t wait until you arrive in China to download and test these apps. Take the time to do this before you even board the flight so you can be confident they will all work as soon as you land. It makes your first trip, and any trip, to China much less frustrating.
Technical outlook for the Shanghai market
The Shanghai Index continued to plunge below the lower edge of the long-term group of averages in the Guppy Multiple Moving Average (GMMA) indicator. The index gapped down to close near 3,800 before developing a fast rebound.
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The current rebound starts in “mid-air” and not from any historical support level. Rebounds of this nature tend to be temporary rather than the beginning of a new uptrend.
The rebound moved the index above 3,900. A continuation of this rally rebound has resistance near 4,025. However, even at this level, the Shanghai Index remains in a new downtrend.
The rapid reversal from near 3,800 is not evidence of a change in the trend. For this, we need to see a successful test of support followed by a rebound continuation.
This remains a nervous market. Nervousness is confirmed by compression in the long-term GMMA as investors have stopped buying.
The second supporting evidence of a substantial new downtrend is the way the long-term GMMA has turned down and compressed. This shows investors are becoming sellers. This compression may quickly expand as the sell-off continues.
The third confirming feature is the way the entire short-term GMMA is below the lower edge of the long-term GMMA. Additionally, the short-term GMMA has expanded and this shows traders have become strong sellers.
Any rebound has significant resistance near the 4,020 level and later at 4,100.
The strongest historical support level below 3,900 is near 3,700.
Daryl Guppy is an international financial technical analysis expert. He has provided weekly Shanghai Index analysis for mainland Chinese media for two decades. Guppy appears regularly on CNBC Asia and is known as “The Chart Man”. He is a former national board member of the Australia-China Business Council. He owns Chinese stock and index ETFs
