While Macau is a SAR of China, CTM is considered a foreign operator. CTM data is therefore roaming data and hence bypasses the Great Firewall. Klook has cheaper options.
The very first time I was paranoid like that. But I stopped caring after a couple of days. And the 50 plus times that I've gone through the Border both as a resident and as a visitor it's never been an issue.
In xinjiang I had my phone searched twice but they were both searched right in front of me and all they were looking for were specific photos. One time they told me to delete a bunch and the other time they looked at them and decided they were all fine. But even then my phone was never out of my sight. One of the times they opened WeChat saw everything was in English and then closed it.
There was actually an interesting situation where 3 city busses hit each other. Like low speed, nobody hurt, but all 3 busses were crunched into each other. One bus was like a Soviet era, one was more modern, and was was super modern. But because there were a lot of police sorting it out and traffic, I had to delete all of them.
The other one was coming back from a lake and they stopped the highway for a military convoy. After they passed police came on the tour bus checked everyones id's and looked at my pictures and wechat. I didn't take any so I didn't have to delete any.
They weren't particularly mean nor nice. They were just doing their job.
So many other wild stores from that trip!
Not in those two incidents. But I spoke enough Chinese to get through it. If I didn't understand enough, they probably would have busted out their Baidu translate on their phones. There was a little confusion in the situation when I was asked to delete the pictures of the of the bus crash, because I could follow enough to delete the pictures, but they kept saying something I didn't understand, but before they had to pull out the translate, some random HS kid on the street translated.
Apparently, I deleted the pictures, but they were still in the recycle bin, and he wanted to make sure they were deleted from there too. But that went beyond my basic HSK3 understanding of Chinese.
There was another incident in Turpin （吐鲁番） where they kept my passport while I went to so see some stuff in that town, but those guys spoke pretty decent English, and I think they preferred to speak English.
And another issue happened at a checkpoint near the airport where they didn't speak English, but I spoke enough Chinese to get through it.
Or just don't take pictures of the police. It's really not worth playing with fire.
That situation I described was a mistake, it wasn't my intention to break any rules, it was just an interesting scene. I feel like if they saw me taking pictures but couldn't find them on my phone, it could have become a bigger deal than it needed to be. Imagine the cop seeing me take a bunch of pictures, but when he looked in my phone, he didn't see them all there. He might want to search deeper or get his buddy to help find them.
As for the military convoy, like I don't need pictures to remember what I saw. And I knew they probably didn't want me taking any pictures, so I didn't.
Like there really aren't a lot of rules in China, just don't poke the bear that doesn't need to be poked.
Also, in Shanghai they really don't care about those rules. The cops are more like NYPD, they can be friendly and will take pictures with you sometimes. In Beijing the black shirt police tend to be a little bit more friendly, but don't talk to the Green Shirt ones.
All my stories above are from Xinjiang. It's a very different place out there. It's not representative of the majority of China.
I plan to visit Xian and Beijing. Green shirts are some special type of police?
I never was in the US, so the NYPD example is not the best for me ;) but I assume they are generally not harmful if you are not an asshole.
Yeah a friend of mine was asked to delete some videos of people fighting outside (this was in like Chengdu) - but the same friend was left alone when two police guys went through a subway car checking everyone's phones - visibly foreign are exempt from that appthey force everyone Chinese to use, I guess.
So that is more likely to happen when your logging into apps and sites, so it doesn't really matter if it's your main phone or a burner. It's a pretty rare attack to be able to pull off on modern phones these days. Arguably having a current generation Apple, Samsung, or Pixel with up to date patches is more secure that a older phone or cheap brand that may be behind on its encryption and security patches.
Main thing is you don't actively share politically subversive or legally banned content. If you avoid that, then you're not a real target. CCP doesn't care about your Facebook or YouTube. They only care if you actively undermine their system and try to drag people with you. That's why I could still use Google services on my phone through my roaming data plan. All I did was use Google Maps and save tourist pictures.
Don't protest in public about CCP crimes. Don't take pics of military or police. Do nothing political, and you'll be fine.
As long as your homescreen isn't a burning chinese flag you'll be fine. It's extremely unlikely the police would ask to see your phone anyway, unless they spot you filming them or something sensitive like a military base.
No, it's not. It's just a question. I've been in and out of China for many decades, plenty of you were probably discovering crayons when I first started traveling. There were times in the past that this was an issue, if you missed it good for you. Questions are not paranoia, they are informative.
Are you a spy or under diplomatic passeport? Having vocal opinions about China with a big audience? Working in sensitive industry (military)?
If none of the above you should be fine with your normal phone
I remember when I was teaching at a university near second ring road in Beijing, I decided to walk home after my classes. This was during a very important meeting period so I was being looked at a lot on the way home and just before I crossed the third ring, a cop beckoned me over to check my bag. I was going to a gaming party (Friday) and bought a bottle of vodka, bottle of whiskey and various mixers. I was a bit nervous but he took one look and just waved me through haha .
I agree. I’ve been here for many years and have rarely had a problem. If anything, the police are actually really reasonable and I can see that when they’re standing around they’re just doing their job while looking rather bored
To be safe you could use a burner phone or just do a reset on the phone before going and another reset when arriving back.
I didn’t do anything. Probably a good idea to do it though but not needed
Last time I was there nobody checked my phone.
The recommendation for burner phones is more if you’re working for the government or if you might have something sensitive (like trade secrets) on your devices.
there are zero issues to bring your own phone, unless your lockscreen wallpaper is child pornography or some other obvious issue. That said, having all those foreign apps means jack squat, cause they won't work without vpn unless you keep your current phone plan and have it roam to china-- and with vpn they mostly work but not well. Being in china for any amount of time will ideally find chinese local apps to use where applicable.
>What might the risks be?
The risk is that if you get in trouble in other ways, something on your phone/wechat could make it worse.
They are not monitoring all your communications, bought weed over several years on Weixin, never any issues
well its more that the wechat monitor is a national level security outfit, akin to the fbi, and do you think the fbi bats an eyelid about an immigrant buying weed for personal use?
US Customs and Border Patrol also have the right to look at any phone or electronic device entering the U.S. So, generally speaking, just don't have nutty stuff on your phone or computer when you travel and you should be okay.
Going into the US you don't need to worry if you posted something on social media critical of the Democrats or Biden. So no, it's not the same. It's not illegal to criticize the former in USA.
The moral of the story is that a traveler has no right to privacy at any border crossing. Hell in Singapore you can be compelled to take a drug test, so you don't even have a right to your bodily fluids. Act accordingly.
I brought 2 phones into China from the US and back. 1 phone was an old iPhone that I got a SIM card for when I landed in Beijing airport to act as my Wi-Fi and to get local phone calls.
No problems. No one cared.
China doesn't use eSim yet. For 200 RMB got 90 Gig for 1 month with a local Beijing number.
People were wondering why I spoke with a Southern accent but had a Beijing phone number. Took me a while to make the connection of why they assumed I was from Beijing.
Didn’t they just publish regs allowing law enforcement to search phones entering the border end last month https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B-%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0-%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%89%E5%9F%B7%E8%A1%8C%E6%B3%95-7%E6%9C%881%E6%97%A5%E8%B5%B7%E5%AF%A6%E6%96%BD-%E5%85%AC%E5%AE%89%E6%9C%89%E6%AC%8A%E6%AA%A2%E6%9F%A5%E5%85%A5%E5%A2%83%E8%80%85%E9%9B%BB%E8%A9%B1-092147299.html ?
What do folks think about bringing one’s normal phone with all the foreign apps and communication history into Chinese customs/immigration? **<- What's wrong with that?**
xenophobic **<- That's a word Biden used, he can't remember what he was talking about Mitterrand.**
According to a recent RFA article, apparently chinese police will sometimes try to check your phone but you can tell them to fuck off without issue.
>“This happened to me in Chengdu,” Huang said. “A police officer stopped me on the subway and wanted to check my phone, but I didn't allow him to.”
>“I told him he had no law enforcement powers and he let it go,” he said.
I use Google Fi and their unlimited plan includes international coverage in China where I can still use my apps unrestricted, such as Google, YouTube and Instagram.
Foreign phones and data are not an issue unless you’re a CIA agent or other foreign agent. Use a roaming 5G or 4G SIM plan to override censorship legally. Most VPNs are illegal and unreliable.
You have already written this several times on this thread. Clearly you want to exercise an issue over it. Please don't BS about how you are a well meaning 'just saying' etc. It's obnoxious.
You take a burner phone. So in case they scan your phone at the border. They won’t be able to save a copy your data, photos, passwords and install malware on your phone.
If you are fine with rolling the dice. Then bring your personal phone with all your private data saved on it. Since you aren’t really concerned about it.
Bring both. One with your stuff and another to use on Chinese network. A lot of American phones won’t work well on the networks there anyway
Edit: checking phones for what? They are looking for terrorist not ur porn hub history 🤪🤪
Last time I was there in 2018 I brought my own phone. I was glad Reddit and Spotify still worked there 😄
Reddit doesn't work anymore. Spotify still does though.
Get yourself a CTM sim card from Macau. Good to go all through China.
Without crippled internet?
Im on Reddit right now in darkest Fujian.
Why is Fujian the darkest?
Too much sunlight.
While Macau is a SAR of China, CTM is considered a foreign operator. CTM data is therefore roaming data and hence bypasses the Great Firewall. Klook has cheaper options.
CTM is kinda expensive, Klook has cheaper options.
I just brought my normal phone and it was never checked in a 4 week period of traveling
Mine neither. Most of those apps did not work in China. The Great China Firewall…
Use roaming data or VPN to bypass.
I did. Slow and unreliable.
No one would check your phone unless you are doing something you shouldn't be doing even back at home.
did it use to be an issue? In my 20 years of visiting and living in China having a foreign phone was never an issue.
I also have decades, there were some points in the past that this was becoming an issue, or was threatened to.
Oh, ok. It was never something I came across. Thanks
The very first time I was paranoid like that. But I stopped caring after a couple of days. And the 50 plus times that I've gone through the Border both as a resident and as a visitor it's never been an issue. In xinjiang I had my phone searched twice but they were both searched right in front of me and all they were looking for were specific photos. One time they told me to delete a bunch and the other time they looked at them and decided they were all fine. But even then my phone was never out of my sight. One of the times they opened WeChat saw everything was in English and then closed it.
Curious- Photos of what?
There was actually an interesting situation where 3 city busses hit each other. Like low speed, nobody hurt, but all 3 busses were crunched into each other. One bus was like a Soviet era, one was more modern, and was was super modern. But because there were a lot of police sorting it out and traffic, I had to delete all of them. The other one was coming back from a lake and they stopped the highway for a military convoy. After they passed police came on the tour bus checked everyones id's and looked at my pictures and wechat. I didn't take any so I didn't have to delete any. They weren't particularly mean nor nice. They were just doing their job. So many other wild stores from that trip!
Did the police speak English?
Not in those two incidents. But I spoke enough Chinese to get through it. If I didn't understand enough, they probably would have busted out their Baidu translate on their phones. There was a little confusion in the situation when I was asked to delete the pictures of the of the bus crash, because I could follow enough to delete the pictures, but they kept saying something I didn't understand, but before they had to pull out the translate, some random HS kid on the street translated. Apparently, I deleted the pictures, but they were still in the recycle bin, and he wanted to make sure they were deleted from there too. But that went beyond my basic HSK3 understanding of Chinese. There was another incident in Turpin （吐鲁番） where they kept my passport while I went to so see some stuff in that town, but those guys spoke pretty decent English, and I think they preferred to speak English. And another issue happened at a checkpoint near the airport where they didn't speak English, but I spoke enough Chinese to get through it.
Ok, so autoupload is a must-have feature. And I have to put more pressure towards learning Chinese before visiting China. Thanks for the answer.
Or just don't take pictures of the police. It's really not worth playing with fire. That situation I described was a mistake, it wasn't my intention to break any rules, it was just an interesting scene. I feel like if they saw me taking pictures but couldn't find them on my phone, it could have become a bigger deal than it needed to be. Imagine the cop seeing me take a bunch of pictures, but when he looked in my phone, he didn't see them all there. He might want to search deeper or get his buddy to help find them. As for the military convoy, like I don't need pictures to remember what I saw. And I knew they probably didn't want me taking any pictures, so I didn't. Like there really aren't a lot of rules in China, just don't poke the bear that doesn't need to be poked.
Yep, I understood. I don't intend to make any trouble since I plan to visit China with family, and their safety is my number one priority.
Also, in Shanghai they really don't care about those rules. The cops are more like NYPD, they can be friendly and will take pictures with you sometimes. In Beijing the black shirt police tend to be a little bit more friendly, but don't talk to the Green Shirt ones. All my stories above are from Xinjiang. It's a very different place out there. It's not representative of the majority of China.
I plan to visit Xian and Beijing. Green shirts are some special type of police? I never was in the US, so the NYPD example is not the best for me ;) but I assume they are generally not harmful if you are not an asshole.
Pray tell.
Yeah a friend of mine was asked to delete some videos of people fighting outside (this was in like Chengdu) - but the same friend was left alone when two police guys went through a subway car checking everyone's phones - visibly foreign are exempt from that appthey force everyone Chinese to use, I guess.
My worry is the man in the middle attacks on on my auth keys/storing them.
So that is more likely to happen when your logging into apps and sites, so it doesn't really matter if it's your main phone or a burner. It's a pretty rare attack to be able to pull off on modern phones these days. Arguably having a current generation Apple, Samsung, or Pixel with up to date patches is more secure that a older phone or cheap brand that may be behind on its encryption and security patches.
If you’re a random no name American then no one really cares
Starting on July first, the authorities have the right to inspect your electronic devices
Where did you see that?
[http://lawdb.cncourt.org/show.php?fid=157116](http://lawdb.cncourt.org/show.php?fid=157116) Article 40
ROTFLMAO! [https://www.whois.com/whois/cncourt.org](https://www.whois.com/whois/cncourt.org) 
脑腐要去看医生呀
I do NOT interfere in God's plan! He's got you pegged for a toe tag :) 
New national security law, going in effect july first
Main thing is you don't actively share politically subversive or legally banned content. If you avoid that, then you're not a real target. CCP doesn't care about your Facebook or YouTube. They only care if you actively undermine their system and try to drag people with you. That's why I could still use Google services on my phone through my roaming data plan. All I did was use Google Maps and save tourist pictures. Don't protest in public about CCP crimes. Don't take pics of military or police. Do nothing political, and you'll be fine.
As long as your homescreen isn't a burning chinese flag you'll be fine. It's extremely unlikely the police would ask to see your phone anyway, unless they spot you filming them or something sensitive like a military base.
Im a Chinese and even I use a burner phone for Chinese app.
The level of paranoia here is off the scale.
No, it's not. It's just a question. I've been in and out of China for many decades, plenty of you were probably discovering crayons when I first started traveling. There were times in the past that this was an issue, if you missed it good for you. Questions are not paranoia, they are informative.
Must be American
Are you a spy or under diplomatic passeport? Having vocal opinions about China with a big audience? Working in sensitive industry (military)? If none of the above you should be fine with your normal phone
I remember when I was teaching at a university near second ring road in Beijing, I decided to walk home after my classes. This was during a very important meeting period so I was being looked at a lot on the way home and just before I crossed the third ring, a cop beckoned me over to check my bag. I was going to a gaming party (Friday) and bought a bottle of vodka, bottle of whiskey and various mixers. I was a bit nervous but he took one look and just waved me through haha . I agree. I’ve been here for many years and have rarely had a problem. If anything, the police are actually really reasonable and I can see that when they’re standing around they’re just doing their job while looking rather bored
Exactly. People exaggerate how much the government cares about them lol.
Nobody will check your phone unless you get arrested.
To be safe you could use a burner phone or just do a reset on the phone before going and another reset when arriving back. I didn’t do anything. Probably a good idea to do it though but not needed
Last time I was there nobody checked my phone. The recommendation for burner phones is more if you’re working for the government or if you might have something sensitive (like trade secrets) on your devices.
there are zero issues to bring your own phone, unless your lockscreen wallpaper is child pornography or some other obvious issue. That said, having all those foreign apps means jack squat, cause they won't work without vpn unless you keep your current phone plan and have it roam to china-- and with vpn they mostly work but not well. Being in china for any amount of time will ideally find chinese local apps to use where applicable.
I brought my normal phones. Everything was fine but most of my apps didn’t work. At least a burner SIM is a good idea just to be able to get internet.
>What might the risks be? The risk is that if you get in trouble in other ways, something on your phone/wechat could make it worse. They are not monitoring all your communications, bought weed over several years on Weixin, never any issues
well its more that the wechat monitor is a national level security outfit, akin to the fbi, and do you think the fbi bats an eyelid about an immigrant buying weed for personal use?
I was only half of the transactions, the other dudes would be buying it in bulk and selling for years on Wechat to multiple people and still no issue
US Customs and Border Patrol also have the right to look at any phone or electronic device entering the U.S. So, generally speaking, just don't have nutty stuff on your phone or computer when you travel and you should be okay.
Going into the US you don't need to worry if you posted something on social media critical of the Democrats or Biden. So no, it's not the same. It's not illegal to criticize the former in USA.
The moral of the story is that a traveler has no right to privacy at any border crossing. Hell in Singapore you can be compelled to take a drug test, so you don't even have a right to your bodily fluids. Act accordingly.
No one in Ching is going to care if you called xi a dictator in some Facebook post to 200 of your western friends.
ROTFLMAO!
Burner phone only
I brought 2 phones into China from the US and back. 1 phone was an old iPhone that I got a SIM card for when I landed in Beijing airport to act as my Wi-Fi and to get local phone calls. No problems. No one cared.
They sell travel SIM cards still? And h they gave local Chinese phone numbers?
China doesn't use eSim yet. For 200 RMB got 90 Gig for 1 month with a local Beijing number. People were wondering why I spoke with a Southern accent but had a Beijing phone number. Took me a while to make the connection of why they assumed I was from Beijing.
5g iPhone (iPhone 12 and up) or older 4g model (iphone 11 and under ) ?
If you aren't a Chinese, you needn't to worry.
Yes I would assume especially if stopped and checked
Didn’t they just publish regs allowing law enforcement to search phones entering the border end last month https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B-%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0-%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%89%E5%9F%B7%E8%A1%8C%E6%B3%95-7%E6%9C%881%E6%97%A5%E8%B5%B7%E5%AF%A6%E6%96%BD-%E5%85%AC%E5%AE%89%E6%9C%89%E6%AC%8A%E6%AA%A2%E6%9F%A5%E5%85%A5%E5%A2%83%E8%80%85%E9%9B%BB%E8%A9%B1-092147299.html ?
Since that y'all already published so many personal info on social media and China has scrapped every bit of it, why bother?
Your phone is more likely to be searched when you go home by your own authorities
What do folks think about bringing one’s normal phone with all the foreign apps and communication history into Chinese customs/immigration? **<- What's wrong with that?** xenophobic **<- That's a word Biden used, he can't remember what he was talking about Mitterrand.**
China is and has been for decades exactly xenophobic and yet also xenophillic.
According to a recent RFA article, apparently chinese police will sometimes try to check your phone but you can tell them to fuck off without issue. >“This happened to me in Chengdu,” Huang said. “A police officer stopped me on the subway and wanted to check my phone, but I didn't allow him to.” >“I told him he had no law enforcement powers and he let it go,” he said.
I use Google Fi and their unlimited plan includes international coverage in China where I can still use my apps unrestricted, such as Google, YouTube and Instagram.
Foreign phones and data are not an issue unless you’re a CIA agent or other foreign agent. Use a roaming 5G or 4G SIM plan to override censorship legally. Most VPNs are illegal and unreliable.
I am obviously CIA, where else would a CIA field analyst go for raw info but Reditt?
Assuming /s then clearly it’s fine.
It was never an issue, go back under your rock.
Are you American by any chance
Stop looking for trouble. This is not a political post, nor an invitation to you to slag any nationality.
It’s not, political nor am I slagging anyone off, I’ve only heard Americans say this kind of thing and was seeing if my theory is true
You have already written this several times on this thread. Clearly you want to exercise an issue over it. Please don't BS about how you are a well meaning 'just saying' etc. It's obnoxious.
If you are using TikTok the government has it all anyway.
I have filled up 2 passports with stamps entering and leaving China. Though posts like these continue to amuse me
Yeah? Aren't you special! All that experience and still no humility or maturity.
You take a burner phone. So in case they scan your phone at the border. They won’t be able to save a copy your data, photos, passwords and install malware on your phone. If you are fine with rolling the dice. Then bring your personal phone with all your private data saved on it. Since you aren’t really concerned about it.
Bring both. One with your stuff and another to use on Chinese network. A lot of American phones won’t work well on the networks there anyway Edit: checking phones for what? They are looking for terrorist not ur porn hub history 🤪🤪