Didi, and why nobody hails a taxi on the street
Didi is the ride-hailing app that replaced street hailing in most Chinese cities. It has an English interface, accepts foreign cards, and shows the fare before you book. Install it before you travel and register with the same number you use for WeChat.
Two habits make it work:
- Enter the destination in Chinese. Drivers rarely read pinyin and almost never read English. Copy the Chinese name of the hospital or hotel from your booking rather than typing a translation.
- Check the pickup pin. Large buildings have several vehicle entrances, and the app's default pin is sometimes the wrong one. The hospital entrance for outpatients is rarely the one for inpatients.
Taxis still exist and are metered and cheap. They cannot be relied on to find you, and they cannot be relied on to understand an English address. Have the Chinese characters ready.
The metro is faster and signed in English
Every large Chinese city has a metro network, signed in English and pinyin throughout, with fares of a few yuan. For anything under half an hour it beats a car in traffic.
You need a ticket. Machines take cash or QR payment; a transport card or the metro's own app is easier for repeat journeys. Station security screens bags on entry, which is routine and quick.
Hospitals are bigger than you expect
A large Chinese hospital campus can span several city blocks with separate buildings for outpatient, inpatient, imaging and the international department. The single most common wasted hour on a treatment trip is arriving at the wrong building.
Ask three questions before you set off, and get answers in Chinese characters:
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which building and which entrance? | Outpatient and inpatient entrances are often on different streets |
| Which floor for registration? | Registration is rarely on the ground floor of the building you entered |
| Where does the driver stop? | Drop-off zones are designated and enforced |
Our coordinator books transfers and gives the driver the correct entrance. If you are arranging your own transport, screenshot the Chinese address and the entrance name before you leave the hotel.
Arriving at the airport
After immigration and baggage, you have three options: the metro if your hotel is on a line, a taxi from the official rank, or a booked transfer.
Use the official taxi rank, never a driver who approaches you inside the terminal. Airport taxi queues are orderly and metered; unsolicited offers are not. A booked transfer costs more and removes the language problem at the end of a long flight, which is why most of our patients choose it for arrival and self-arrange afterwards.
If you are travelling with a companion
One companion is worth more than any app. They can hold the phone, read the Chinese, queue while you sit, and go back for the thing you left in the ward. Two adults also make the metro and the taxi economics work better than one.
Tell the hospital in advance if a companion is staying — some wards allow a fold-out bed, some do not, and the answer changes what you pack.
What we arrange, and what you arrange
Inside the service we book the airport transfer on arrival, the hospital transfers for the days you have appointments, and the return transfer. We give the driver the right entrance and the coordinator meets you at the door.
Everything else — an evening out, a pharmacy run, a trip to a supermarket — you can do yourself with Didi and the metro. Most patients do, after the first two days. We will show you how rather than doing it for you, because you will need to do it once we are not there.