The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 2531

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: Foreigners NOT ALLOWED to buy train tickets online. Did you know this?

This is just a fair warning to all of you that bought your tickets online or had an agency do it for you. When you get to the ticket counter they may refuse to give you the tickets under the new law that "FOREIGNERS CAN'T GET TICKETS ONLINE?"

 

"Why?"

 

"No why."

 

You have to get them at the counter yourself and pay for them in cash. Probably due to Spring Festival and tightening up security and you know how those pesky foreigners are always causing trouble in the heavenly kingdom! 

 

You hear about this? 

9 years 38 weeks ago in  Transport & Travel - China

 
Highest Voted
Posts: 1439

Shifu

6
6
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I just bought a round trip like 2 weeks ago and just got the ticket for the first part today.

 

Are you sure it's not just some lazy employee? Cause it sounds like so.

Robk:

That's what I am kind of checking into... was yours for a plane ticket or train? 

 

My foreign buddies told me this... they reserved it online but when they got to the counter, they had to repurchase it and were told this excuse. 

 

Anyway, it may be location specific or it may be some retard employee but I think due to Spring Festival, it is quite possibly true. 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

RiriRiri:

High speed train. I booked and paid myself with my own credit card and no problem so far.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

coineineagh:

Probably this. Lazy or plain racist. I had the same issue with bank staff telling me MeiYou when I knew full well that I could get internet banking as foreigner. Problem is, if you try to correct their mistake, staff will fall in line (Chinese vs. Foreigner), and suddenly the manager at HQ is saying the same. Better to let it slide before they memorize your face. Retreat, and see if you can return during a different staff rotation, and hopefully speak to someone who does their job. Not sure if that helps for train tickets, though...

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Answers (17)
Comments (18)
Posts: 400

Governor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I used to be able to buy tickets at the machines outside the station. They have gotten rid of all english options in the machines, as i found out last night. This place is getting worse and worse. 

yongge:

Why don't you use the Chinese options then?  I found plane tickets to be much cheaper when you use the Chinese website, instead of the English website of the same airline.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

fada:

My chinese is not so good. with regards to buying tickets on english v chinese sites, i have never encountered a price difference. Wishfull thinking on your part i would assume. 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

yongge:

Nope.  The case I mentioned was on an Air China flight.  Same flight, same day, but different rates on the English and Chinese websites.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

fada:

Did you go to the english site first or the chinese site? The more clicks a flight gets, the higher its price goes

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 249

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Whaaat? When did this happen? 

 

Thanks for letting us know 

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1439

Shifu

6
6
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I just bought a round trip like 2 weeks ago and just got the ticket for the first part today.

 

Are you sure it's not just some lazy employee? Cause it sounds like so.

Robk:

That's what I am kind of checking into... was yours for a plane ticket or train? 

 

My foreign buddies told me this... they reserved it online but when they got to the counter, they had to repurchase it and were told this excuse. 

 

Anyway, it may be location specific or it may be some retard employee but I think due to Spring Festival, it is quite possibly true. 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

RiriRiri:

High speed train. I booked and paid myself with my own credit card and no problem so far.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

coineineagh:

Probably this. Lazy or plain racist. I had the same issue with bank staff telling me MeiYou when I knew full well that I could get internet banking as foreigner. Problem is, if you try to correct their mistake, staff will fall in line (Chinese vs. Foreigner), and suddenly the manager at HQ is saying the same. Better to let it slide before they memorize your face. Retreat, and see if you can return during a different staff rotation, and hopefully speak to someone who does their job. Not sure if that helps for train tickets, though...

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2488

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Yup! A few month ago a few of us took the train up to Changsha to visit a friend and get drunk in a new city. On the way back we tried to book online but aparently foreigners couldnt. It sucked. Wr wanted to sit together of course so we had to drive around looking for one of those damn ticket agents. Bullshit.

I thought it was just more crappy service for foreigners, didnt know it wad a rule.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 3494

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I tried to book a ticket with a tour group to Australia and New Zealand last year and wasn't allowed.  Well, my wife tried to, not me, as I don't speak Chinese.  

The price was so ridiculously low that we figured we'd stay with the tour to Melbourne, Rotorua (NZ) and Brisbane before leaving them to do our own thing and make our way back to China under our own steam

We were happy to pay the full price of the tour as this would still have been much much cheaper than just going to Aust ourselves.

But I wasn't allowed.  We complained and were referred to the company's head office in Beijing who confirmed that foreigners were not allowed to join a Chinese tour group.

 

Any ideas as to the why of it?

 

 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

laowaigentleman:

I once planned to join a tour group. The manager told me at the last minute that foreigners can't join Chinese tour groups due to issues with their insurers. 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

royceH:

And, as per usual with all matters 'Chinese', that doesn't make sense.  Wouldn't insurance be insurance?

Gotta be another reason.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ScotsAlan:

I went to Malaysia on a Chinese tour a few years back. I was with an Irish mate, and as soon as we arrived at the meeting point for the tour the agent wanted to take our passports from us. We said no, but the Chinese had their passports taken. They only got them to go through immigration. It turns out that the agent gets a heavy fine if they dont bring everyone back to China. Losing tourists is not an option. The tour guides are efectively "minders". The Chinese tourists were even discouraged from leaving the hotels at night. The tour guides had no chance at keeping me and my mate couped up tho :-)

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

royceH:

Yeah, that's bloody right!  Goodonyers!  Out drinking, I suppose....

And so because of your disobedience NO FOREIGNERS ARE ALLOWED TO GO EVER AGAIN!

 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

wagon:

I tried the same thing with my wife.  I believe it was to Aus, as well.  It was so cheap I had to give it a try, and like you, I told my wife we'd ditch those fools once we landed.  But we got stung by the "no foreigner" policy, too.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1718

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Didn't know that, I travel between GZ south and Shenzhen north regularly, but my company books the CHR tickets for me and they are Chinese. Also I never had any problem getting tickets at the station.

 

Thanks for the info, it doesn't even surprise me though.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1547

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

My gf buys my tickets online, using her Chinese credit card via taobao.....don't ask me how all that works....I just hand her some cash.  Never had a problem redeeming my confirmation number for a physical ticket at the train station.  This is at Ningbo and Shanghai Hongqiao train stations.  Haven't taken the train since early January.  Next trip is in a few days....we'll see what happens.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 247

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

My wife just set it up so she could buy my tickets online. We haven’t tried it yet, but the process was a real pain in the ass and took no less than 3 trips across town and a phone call to set it up. I won’t head back for about 45 days and post spring festival. I hope it all goes well.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1718

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I've never had any issue before. You probably just got unlucky with some stupid person at the counter.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 19862

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

My school reserved G train ticket Beijing- Zhengzhou (online I think) on Jan. 18th, and I got it at the Beijing West Railway Station counter with my passport.

It might be Festival thingy, however it sounds ridiculous. I saw info on CC teli few days ago, that you can get tickets earlier than usual 10-12 days before the trip. I think it was something around '3 weeks earlier'.

royceH:

How long did that train trip take?

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

icnif77:

3 hours for 1000km. Not too shabby.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

royceH:

Yep, that would beat flying.  Good choice.

 

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse

icnif77:

7pm G-train makes only 5 stops, and it's never overcrowded. No screaming either, some phone talks, so Ipod is still necessity for the price of some 600 Rmb. You can look for more Chinese train info on 'CNVOL'.

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1282

Governor

1
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
1

I bought train tickets for my two ex on line with their passport number.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 691

Shifu

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Try another time, perhaps the employee got snubbed early morning. Just yesterday the bank staff told me that lowai can't use online banking and taobao doesn't allow passport number for creating an account. Next branch I visited activated online banking for me though no solution for creating taobao account...

icnif77:

and I thought I'm the 'excuse master'.surprise

9 years 38 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 5732

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

in december they announced the ability to buy tickets 60 days in advance would be implemented gradually over the next year, so i guess they are trying to spread out the buying for spring festival over a longer period. the question is can they make it work.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 86

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Yesterday I booked ticket for my bro, there was no problem.... when u book the ticket though 12306.cn will send u code to ur phone, take ur passport and show that code to counter lady, she will give u ticket.

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1

General

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I coudnt buy it ether the first time. But they sead theth once you buy it in the stacion and you are registreted in the sistem, you can buy it online too. 

Report Abuse
9 years 38 weeks ago
 
Posts: 3870

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

According to China Daily it's easy for foreigners to book train tickets online as long as you go to the train station once & register your name & passport (see last paragraph):

 

http://m.chinadaily.com.cn/en/2015-02/11/content_19552401.htm

Report Abuse
9 years 37 weeks ago
 
0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

My girlfriend booked mine online and we went and retrieved them without any problems.

Report Abuse
9 years 37 weeks ago
 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A: Good question!  I'd say, if you study at Uni in China beside
A:Good question!  I'd say, if you study at Uni in China beside working full-time as an E.T. with Residence permit, you don't interfere with your full-time employment.It's your free time and you can do anything you want, with respect to the Chinese laws and customs. Have a look at terms of Z visa/Residence permit and ... ".. you cannot work (and earn monies!) with another employer ..."That's all it is! Your RP sponsor title is written on the RP stamp in your passport, I think. It's in Mandarin, so I've heard about that from someone ...At I.D.-ing by cops, they know where you work and than more details about you are just a phone call away ... and it happened in person ... LOL ... during the day-time stroll through Wulumuqi, Xinjiang, 2012/13 semester. Now under RP, you're free to surf Internet, jog, ... and study, too. I suggest, you look and ask at the Uni, you plan to study in the future. Have a detailed look at requirements for studying and attending chosen Uni.Good luck! -- icnif77