After 15 years of eating through every night market I can find — with my own kids in tow — here's my honest answer on street food safety in China: Most of it is perfectly safe. And some of it is the best meal you'll have in China. I follow rules I teach my clients too: Eat where locals eat. A stall with a line of Chinese customers is a good sign. Watch for high turnover. Constant fresh cooking is safer than food sitting out. Skip raw or lukewarm stuff. Stick to freshly fried, grilled, or steamed. Bring your own tissues or wipes. Street stalls don't have napkins. My kids have eaten street food across China — jianbing for breakfast, chuan'er (grilled lamb skewers) for dinner — never had a problem. Your stomach might need a day to adjust to the oil and spice if you're not used to it. That's not a safety issue, just an adjustment. My golden rule: if it smells good and you see locals eating it, go for it. Some of my best travel memories involve a plastic stool, a paper plate, and something I couldn't name but was delicious.

Can I use Google in China? Nope — not without a VPN. Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter/X — none of them work on China's domestic internet. I tell all my clients this before their trip, because I've seen too many people land at Beijing airport and panic when they can't check their messages. Here's what I recommend: Download a VPN before you leave home. Most VPN sites are blocked inside China. Install everything you'll need on your home WiFi: VPN app, WhatsApp, Google Maps offline, Alipay, DiDi. Test the VPN works before you board. Which VPN actually works in China? It changes constantly. The government blocks some, others get through. I update my list on the blog regularly. One thing people don't realize: hotel WiFi has the same restrictions. So plan ahead and you'll be fine.