First: Is This an Emergency?
If you are in immediate danger or need urgent police, fire or medical assistance, get the appropriate emergency service involved as quickly as possible.
| You need | Call |
|---|---|
| Police | 110 |
| Fire | 119 |
| Medical emergency | 120 |
But knowing the number may not be the difficult part.
You may not know exactly where you are. You may not be able to explain your location in Chinese. You may not understand what the operator is asking.
If communication is getting in the way, get help from someone nearby — hotel staff, station staff, attraction staff or a Chinese-speaking person.
They do not replace the emergency service. They help you reach it.
For a lost or stolen passport, contact the appropriate public security authorities and your embassy or consulate.
Who Owns the Problem?
For most ordinary travel problems, start with whoever can actually change the outcome.
| Problem | Start here |
|---|---|
| Hotel booking | Hotel + booking provider |
| Flight | Airline |
| Train ticket | Railway + ticket provider |
| Attraction ticket | Attraction + booking channel |
| Bank card | Bank / card issuer |
| Ride booking | Driver / ride platform |
| Lost item | Place or transport provider where you left it |
Start with the owner. Don’t start with five different solutions.
Try the Simplest Fix First
Before looking for outside help:
- Show the original booking or ticket.
- Use translation if it solves the conversation.
- Ask staff at the place you are already in.
- Contact the provider responsible for the booking or service.
Sometimes fixing the original problem is not worth the time.
If another ride takes five minutes, spending an hour trying to recover the first one makes little sense.
The goal is to get your trip moving again.
When Is Human Help Worth It?
When the problem still won’t move.
Sometimes you know who owns the problem, but you still cannot get it moving.
Your hotel booking exists, but the hotel cannot find it.
Your driver is calling, but you cannot understand each other.
The hotel found your lost item, but you are already in another city.
Your attraction ticket exists, but the passport, QR code or booking record is not being accepted.
The platform sends you to the provider. The provider sends you back to the platform.
At this point, more information may not be what you need.
Human help starts making sense when:
- You cannot work out who actually needs to deal with the problem.
- You know who can help, but language is getting in the way.
- You need someone to call, explain or follow up in Chinese.
- You are being passed between two different parties.
- You have already spent enough of your trip trying to fix it.
Sometimes you have already moved on to the next city, but the problem has not. That is another time when having someone follow up can help.
You may still be able to solve it yourself. The question is whether that is how you want to spend your trip.
Have a Backup Before You Need It
You do not need a plan for everything.
Before your trip, check that you have:
- Reliable internet
- Bookings and important addresses saved somewhere you can still access
- More than one workable way to pay
- Translation available
- Emergency numbers: 110 / 119 / 120
- Someone you can contact if you need help getting a problem moving
That is enough to cover a lot of ordinary failures.
Having backup does not mean hiring a guide or giving up independent travel.
You can travel independently without having to solve every problem alone.
Most of the Time, You Won’t Need Us
That is a good thing.
ChinaGo Concierge is there when a small problem stops being simple.
Maybe you need someone to call in Chinese. Maybe you cannot work out who to contact. Maybe you have already left, but someone still needs to follow up.
In an emergency, we do not replace the people who actually respond. We can help you reach them when language or location is getting in the way.
7 days · $29.99 · Message us as often as you need.