Shanghai-Wuhu, China

The plane lands in Shanghai (China) after more than eleven hours of travel from Amsterdam (Netherlands). Most of the passengers are Asians, the same number are Europeans, and a handful are Latin Americans.

This group of Hispanics includes Ecuadorians who traveled from Guayaquil to Amsterdam for eleven hours and changed planes to establish a connection with China.

It’s Saturday afternoon in October in the Asian giant, which is thirteen hours away from Ecuador. Shanghai is a bit cold, but not to the point where it requires extremely warm clothing.

Ecuadorians who arrive on that flight go for work, events or tourism. They are exhausted, despite the few movies or long hours of sleep they may have during the flight. After more than a day of travel, between stopovers and flights, the body gets tired.

Shanghai Airport is one of the gateways for tourists to China. Jorge Villon

Getting to that nation requires a long journey. There are no direct flights from Quito or Guayaquil to any Chinese city. So an option is to take, for example, flights via the United States or Europe for a connection.

Depending on the route, the trip to that country, with which Ecuador has signed a trade agreement, can take a little more than 20 hours, departing from Quito or Guayaquil. A connecting ticket from Ecuador can exceed $2,000, depending on the date and airline.

More than three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, China is open to tourism. There are no restrictions on entry for leisure purposes, but the arrivals of foreigners are gradual. At Shanghai airport, one of the main gateways, you still don’t see many people from Latin America.

At that terminal, there are no health personnel waiting for passengers who arrive with flu symptoms, nor do they measure their temperature with machines, as was the case in the worst months of the infection.

Several foreign passengers on the arriving flight are wearing masks. The rest, including Asians, go to the immigration zone with clean faces.

In the huge Shanghai terminal, however, there are customer service machines where you have to fill out a health form and another form before going through immigration filters.

Ecuadorians do not need a visa to enter China for tourism purposes. It is one of the few countries in the world where Ecuadorians can enter with just a passport. But immigration agents usually ask a few questions about the reason for the trip, the days you will be staying overnight, the final destination or the hotel you will be staying at.

Agents may also require evidence, such as a document. There is no Spanish included and no signs or warnings in this language. Therefore, anyone who arrives in China on their own and does not speak Mandarin must have at least a basic command of English in order to be able to answer any question asked by an immigration agent. He nor hao (Hello), xie, xie (Thank you), dui (correctly) being able to learn on the fly, on social networks, will not be enough for that moment of migration.

After the filter, the output is less complex than in other terminals. Suitcase bands are not far from migration areas. He has no control to take them and leave. Of course, leaving the country is a different story, more rigorous in checks, with several filters before going to the take-off premises. Baggage inspection and body inspection. Perhaps even more exhaustively than in American airports. Nothing suspicious gets on the plane.

A shopping area in Shanghai, where tourists come and haggle over prices.

Payment in yuan or by mobile phone

China has a peculiarity in the way it transacts: the majority of its population uses their mobile phone to make payments, small or large. Businesses – regardless of size – do not regularly accept credit cards as a means of payment. Whether it is a clothing store or a gas station store, they prefer yuan or electronic payment (e-wallet) by mobile phone. It is the most popular thing among the new Chinese generations.

Before traveling, it is advisable to download these electronic payment applications or stock up on yuan upon arrival. AliPay and WeChat Pay are the most widely used mobile payment services in China, and are often accessed by foreign tourists. These apps accept linking to their digital wallets with cards issued by Visa and Mastercard.

At the Shanghai airport, by the second week of October, one dollar was equal to about seven yuan. To give you an idea, depending on the location, a personal Coca Cola or bottle of water may be close at hand, depending on where you shop. A good number of foreigners who arrive in this city try to exchange dollars or euros at the counters at the airport.

In addition to Chinese brands, there are also Western companies in the capital cities.

China: Communist side, side open to capital

China, ruled by Xi Jinping, is for some the world’s leading power; for others it is different. It is true that in recent years this Asian country of 23 provinces has achieved significant development, which has allowed it to position itself among the major economies, despite its internal ups and downs.

China, which is dominated by a one-party system, the communist system, has megacities with imposing skyscrapers—over 50 stories—and this describes the power and development it has achieved in recent decades. The skyscrapers form an unusual contrast to the ancient Chinese temples that still stand.

The interior of the restaurant located in the Oriental Pearl Tower, which serves as an observation deck. It is 267 meters away.

Shanghai, modern and technological, is one of those metropolises that seem to have nothing to envy the metropolises of the West. At night, its skyscrapers are illuminated, leaving the eye colorful skyline. Profile showing the Oriental Pearl tower, one of the city’s attractions. It is a huge tower of 468 meters, one of the tallest in Asia.

It is interesting for tourists because of the three levels that function as viewpoints. The tower has a rotating restaurant at 267 meters, where guests drink or eat with a panorama of the city while quietly turning.

A view of Wuhu, one of China’s industrial cities where vehicle manufacturers are located.

With China expanding its products globally – with its own and third-party brands – one would think that the consumer in that country is only used to own brands. But no. The streets of its big cities are an example of how open an economy can be when it welcomes Western brands. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Adidas, Apple, Hilton, are present in several Chinese cities, not to mention Western food brands on supermarket shelves, such as Coca Cola, Hershey’s, Lays, Oreo…

Cars from the country’s growing auto industry are roaming the streets of Chinese cities, standing shoulder to shoulder with other Western models. In big cities it is even common to see very expensive vehicles of European and American brands.

But China wants to gain more space in that car market. There are cities where the headquarters of large groups in the automotive industry are located, which are trying to penetrate other segments. This happens in Shenzhen or Wuhu, where the economy is partly driven by these conglomerates. In this last city, for example, there is the Chery International group, which brings together brands such as Omoda, Jaecoo and Exeed, the latter two of which target the high, luxury strata with their models.

A few weeks ago, the journalistic team of this newspaper visited one of these plants in Wuhu, where robots do part of the work of assembling cars, in which part of the production chain also involves young experts. There, they say, they advocate for markets outside of China to know that the product of this country is of high quality.

One of the streets of Wuhua where restaurants, cafes and craft shops coexist. Jorge Villon

Blocks for some that are broken for others

Google, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook are blocked in China. At least they are blocked for Chinese citizens. They have their own networks, like Wechat, which is like the Chinese WhatsApp, with more services. Tourists, however, come with unblocking VPNs installed. There are free ones – with their limitations and slowness – and paid ones. A VPN or Virtual Private Network allows a mobile user – who has an international chip – to access the Internet and maintain the privacy of their digital identity. When connecting to a VPN server, the user’s Internet traffic flows through an encrypted tunnel that no one can access. Therefore, many travelers who visit China access websites or social networks that are restricted to Chinese people. Paid VPN services can be purchased in any country prior to travel. There are all prices, from 10 to 15 dollars a month.

Chinese restaurant chain menu. They range from meat and seafood to pieces for exotic palates, such as frog drumsticks, pig brains or tripe.

Exotic, spicy and local food

Like other countries, China has a diverse gastronomy: the popular one that can be found at small street stalls or in neighborhood shops or markets, or a la carte cuisine that can be enjoyed in restaurants and hotels at different prices. On the street, you can find two-dollar options, such as multi-ingredient rolls or chicken or seafood skewers. Since the pandemic, many edible eccentricities can no longer be seen in street markets.

On the restaurant table, guests can find sweet, salty, sour, bitter and spicy options. The diversity depends on the cities. There are restaurants with round tables where there are different portions of seafood and land products, and the guest turns to the portions and bites he wants.

There are also facilities where the table has divisions where guests can cook what they will eat at that moment, from vegetables to meat or seafood. The menus of the places we visited included frog drumsticks, pig brains and parts of beef stomachs as alternatives. A varied lunch menu can start at $15 and rise depending on the sector and establishment. But it all depends on how far you want to take the culinary experience in China.