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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.
Short answer: nope. Uber sold its China business to Didi in 2016, so the app won't work here. But honestly? Didi is better anyway. Works exactly like Uber with English interface and maps. I've been using it for years with clients who can't read a word of Chinese. One tip: link it to Alipay before you leave home. Saves the hassle of figuring out payment when you're jet-lagged at 2am outside the airport. Oh, and download the app BEFORE you land. Setting it up needs a SMS verification. Do it on WiFi at home.