Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chóngqìng
023
Guǎngzhōu
020
Hángzhōu
0571
Hāěrbi
0451
Hong Kong
852
Jǐnán
0531
Kūnmíng
0871
Nánjīng
025
Qīngdǎo
0532
Shànghǎi
021
Shíjiāzhuāng
0311
Tiānjīn
022
Xiàmén
0592
Mobile Phones
Mobile phone shops (
shǒujīdiàn
) such as China Mobile and China Unicom sell SIM
cards, which cost from ¥60 to ¥100 and include ¥50 of credit. Note that numbers contain-
ing 4s are avoided by the Chinese, making them cheaper. You can top up credit with ¥20
to ¥100 credit-charging cards (
chōngzhí kǎ
). Cards are available from the ubiquitous
newspaper kiosks and corner shops displaying the China Mobile sign.
The mobile phone you use in your home country should work (as long as it has not
been locked by your network - check with your phone company before you go) or you
can buy a pay-as-you-go phone locally (from ¥300). China Mobile's local, non-roaming
city call charge is seven
jiǎo
per minute if calling a landline and 1.50
jiǎo
per minute if
calling another mobile phone. Receiving calls on your mobile is free from mobile phones
and seven
jiǎo
from landline phones. Roaming charges cost an additional two
jiǎo
per
minute and the call receiving charge is the same. Overseas calls can be made for ¥4.80 per
minute plus the local charge per minute by dialling 17951 - then follow the instruc-
tions and add 00 before the country code. Otherwise you will be charged the International
Dialling Code call charge plus seven
jiǎo
per minute.
If you have an English-speaking Chinese contact, mobile phones can be particularly
useful for communicating a message to non-English speakers. Just phone your friend, tell
