China Travel Forum

[James]

hello. i am planning a backpacking trip to china for three months starting in late june. i was wondering if anyone could shed some life on the level of safety one could expect while travelling in china. i will be attempting to get as rural as possible, and will be with my girlfriend, and we are planning to as much hiking and camping as possible within the time frame.
i have backpacked and camped in south-east asia, south america, and central america and canada and i am currently living in taiwan. if i were to rank the places i have been by level of safety.....it would look something like this (safety meaning: concern for bag, belongings, chance of mugging, people breaking into rooms, etc.) the least safe would be south america, followed by central america, then southeast asia, then canada.... taiwan is in a world all of its own..... i could (and have) leave a bag at a train station for several hours, and i am confident i could return and find it exactly where i left it. i am wondering if china will be like this, or if this is unique to taiwan. any insight anyone could provide would be great for me... i know i could go and find out for myself, but was hoping to get a small heads up.... thanks in advance.

[chinese]

hi, i am from Hong Kong so fairly enough to answer ur question ...
i don't think its safe to leave ur bag unattend in cities in China,
in country places may be fine but definitely not in cities, cos people
from different towns come to cities to look for a living, and they are
of different type ...

hope this helps !

[Anthony]

Physical safety is pretty good in China, but it is a big country and things do sometimes happen. Petty theft is pretty common, though. Aside from a few cents lifted out of my pocket in a very crowded train station, I have never had a problem. In 6 years, I've known people who: had money and passport stolen in a hostel, money stolen on a train while sleeping, a cell phone stolen on the street from a bag, an attempt at taking a wallet out of a purse (I witnessed that one), and a daypack stolen in a Beijing chain noodle shop. Also, mostly everyone I know who had a bike ahd one or more stolen. I would not leave a bag lying around unattended in a train station!