Everything published on Access Shanghai, newest first — the everyday mechanics of visiting the city, section by section.
Three things get you through a Shanghai Metro gate: a rechargeable Transportation Card, a QR code inside Alipay or WeChat Pay, or a contactless bank card or phone. All three work at every gate on the network. The trap is not choosing one of them. It’s mixing them between entry and exit. The three ways … Read more
Shanghai’s flagship museums charge nothing to enter. That is the easy part. The Shanghai Museum, the China Art Museum and the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China all require a timed reservation. It must be booked in advance through a Chinese app. Bring a passport for the door check. … Read more
Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and X do not load in mainland China. That is not a signal problem — it is a national firewall, filtering by domain, and retrying does not fix it. The real risk is not a missing app. It is any login that sends its code through one of those blocked … Read more
China’s 144-hour visa-free transit lets eligible travelers enter Shanghai without a visa, provided they hold a confirmed ticket onward to a third country or region and stay within the permitted window. What most guides leave out is the geography: the 144 hours does not mean free movement anywhere in China. It is tied to a … Read more
The Shanghai Metro stops running years earlier than the city itself does. Most lines close between roughly 22:00 and 23:00 — hours before restaurants shut, and far earlier than the subways in Tokyo or Seoul. The exact minute depends on the line, the direction, and which station a rider is standing in. This article gives … Read more
Alipay and WeChat Pay now accept foreign Visa, Mastercard and JCB cards directly. You add the card inside the app, confirm your identity with a passport photograph, and the wallet works within minutes. What most guides skip is what happens next. Foreign-card wallets carry lower spending caps than a Chinese bank account does, and specific … Read more
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