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The Western concept of hitchhiking, as suggested above, doesn't exist in China. When you do get a ride be prepared It is important to pay as locals note that most drivers will often pay not expect to be paid for a ride, even though they probably do not understand the concept of hitch hiking. It might seem odd but However, you will find that some drivers, particularly older male drivers of plush cars might seek , will ask for payment whereas drivers of commercial vehicles don'tbefore you get in. This is because no problem as you can make your decision whether or not to get in. However some chauffeurs (and many businessmen older drivers may ask for payment once you have them) reached your destination. If in doubt, try to make extra income using their boss's car as a part time taxi!signal that you do not want to pay before you get in the vehicle. Generally speaking, you will find in China that most people who pick you up are extremely generous, occasionally overly so.
Do take You need to bring a map with you: ideally it , or buy one at the first opportunity. The Gao su gong lu network is very complex, and you may get lost very quickly, or end up stuck in a city for a day. You should be have a map in both Chinese and Pinyin, so that other people can understand where you are going. You need Pinyin for yourself may be able to pick up some Chinese characters and understand the Chinese for pointing out where names. However if you want to goare struggling, consider getting a Pinyin for asking directionsyourself as well, and for if you to compare with road signs where there is no Pinyincan find one. These (they are not common) Maps can easily be bought found in service stations and in major bookstores (usually the Xinhua chain), but they will not always have pinyin. One consideration is not to say you are heading to a far distant city as the driver might refuse you rather than offer a lift part of the way. So unless you can speak some Mandarin supermarkets and can explain, simply ask for the next citybook stores, and cost less than 20¥ - if you are successful try find a Pinyin one expect it to see if the driver is going furthercost much more - only foreigners would buy them.
An issue in many countries When you are standing by the roadside, having a sign indication where you are going can be very useful. Some might suggest you write a destination that is getting out of closer than to where you are actually going - perhaps a sign with a city or into 500km away is better than one that is 1000km away. This is complex though. If you have a sign for the correct part of closer city, a driver who is going to the further city may pick you are travelling up and leave you at the closer one, not understanding your futile attempts toinform them that you want the further city. Many cities are in excess Obviously using the combination of 5 million people and in the large conurbations of megacities there are hundreds of intersecting highways letter and freewayssign is more helpful. Finding On the other hand, drivers may refuse to give you a ride, thinking that they must take you all the way - however most will get the idea that you can stand on the right bus or metro stop is not easyroad somewhere else too.
Even if ==Public Transport==You will most likely need public transport to get to the express ways. Fortunately in every city there are express ways running close to the city centre, and often toll areas also, which are excellent for hitching from. If you successfully hitchhikeare lost, try to find a younger Chinese person, it is often slowand ask them which bus number goes to somewhere near the gao su gong lu. Make sure not to point at the road itself, especially off they will inform you that you cannot take a bus there. Then you can take a bus and walk to the main highwaysroad. Buses Referring back to the occasionally overly generous Chinese folk, you may encounter an awkward situation in which your driver will take you to a train station and trains inflict upon you a train ticket to where you are going. This is very cheap counter productive in almost all situations. You will waste many hours waiting for the train. Once on board, you will be seated very uncomfortably, for a long period of time, often overnight. You will then arrive at a city you may not have wanted to visit, perhaps at night when there are no buses, sleep deprived, hungry and lost. Above all this the train is likely much slower than by western standards car, so you will be many hundreds of kilometres behind where you would have been on the road. To avoid this situation, have your polite Chinese letter state very clearly that you do not want to go to the train/bus station or the airport, and most foreign travellers choose that you only want to use them rather than hitchhikehitch hike in the country, perhaps as a cultural investigation or as a challenge.
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'''China''' is the most populated country in the world and tourism is booming with its rapidly expanding economy, but hitchhiking is only practiced sporadically and don't expect speaking English to solve your problems. Despite a relatively low crime rate compared with many western countries, local people tend to believe that picking up If you follow the advice in this page you will most likely have a stranger on the road is unsafe especially on the highwaywonderful time hitch hiking in China.
The ''Thumb'' gesture used in most countries to indicate you want a lift is not fully understood in China, although it will still work. It's more readily understood as meaning "good" or "OK" so Chinese drivers will probably not think of stopping. The most common signal to ask a vehicle to stop is to outstretch your arm and gently wave the hand up and down.
Safety is an issue as traffic regulation is practiced half-heartedly. Expect people to honk rather than brake, to drive while holding a phone, drive on the hard shoulder, overtake in unsafe places, or worseand more. Buckle up if you can. Some travellers report that the driving in China is way safer than in Russia and neighbouring countries. Chinese usually don't exceed the speed limit much(130km/hr on expressways).
== How-to ==
As in many countries, on major roads try to hitchhike from a service station, toll area or some other place where traffic has to stop or slow. Otherwise use the outstretched arm and hand wave described above, or hold a card, preferably in Chinese not Pinyin (the Romanised script) showing where you ant to go. This latter approach is used locals in some areas (eg Guangzhou).
The hitchhiker's appearance is important: the Chinese are less used to the extreme casual style of many westerners so long hair should be made tidy dressing fairly smartly and clothes should appear having a clean and tidyappearance will help you greatly. Students in China tend to dress more conservatively and males usually have short hair. It is a good idea not to wear sunglasses as they are not as commonly worn and might make you look sinister. There is some prejudice against people who look what the Chinese consider as hippyish or like a beggar.
It is always a good practice in China to have someone write a polite letter in Chinese about where you want to go, or what you ant to do. This is certainly true for hitchhiking so that when a car stops, or if you approach a driver you can show the note to explain. You might include what hitchhiking is, that you will point out on the map where you are heading and ask if the driver wants paying and how much. Some hitchhikers have reported this makes a very big difference.
The first character of a vehicle's number plate is in Chinese and indicates the home province and then there is a roman letter indicating the city in the province (A is always the capital). If you are in Anhui and see a 成 (Chengdu's "Cheng") with some numbers and an A, that's from Chengdu. If one is heading in the direction of home you can use it as a criteria to select a car to stop.
If you want to sleep while on the road, you will have no problem pitching a tent. People will usually not bother you. However do make sure your belongings are not on show. You will find there is plenty of traffic at night also. You can try to pick a slow and confortable truck, you might only make 400km in 8 hours but if that's at night and avoids an accommodation cost, who cares? The lack of malice (at an individual level at least!) of the Chinese makes most of China easy to hitchhike 24h without fear. There is little fear of being attacked or robbed though of course such activities exist everywhere, and as always girls should take extra care.
== Regions ==
“Highway” doesn't mean the same as in occidental countries but express ways are great for going long distances. As of 2007 a lot of expressways are still under construction, and most traffic consists of trucks that don't go too fast. When you can, try to hitch with normal cars. There are quite a few cops on the expressway, but it doesn't seem to be a problem to walk along them. Cops help you rather than being a problem, they even stop buses for you for free.
The expressways are often new and fast (100-160Km130Km/h), where as the second level roads may be really bad and a fatal error. Stick to highways if you want to travel fast.
Most of the entrance to the highways from the cities in China, have a toll. Go there and talk straight to the drivers, pointing the atlas. Show them your notice. Go like: "Nihao! Qing wen, ni qu nali? Wo qu zheli, ni ne? Ni qu zheli ma? Wo shi yi ge ren!" (Hello! Excuse me, where are you going? I go here, and you? Do you go here? I am just one person!), etc. Keep saying "Oh hao hao, xiexie a!" (Oh good good, thanks, ah!) Unlike in Europe, ppl there will typically tell you the truth about where are they going, and once they do so, if you ask them to go with them and they have free space, they will hardly say "no", either because they are just too naive or because they don't want to loose face.
