China for Travelers is a free, English-language planning site for people visiting China. It is run by the editorial team named on our About page. We do not sell your data, we do not run advertising networks, and most of the site works without you telling us anything about yourself. This page lists everything we do collect.

When you read the site

  • Hosting (Cloudflare). The site is served by Cloudflare Pages. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes your IP address and request details to deliver pages and block attacks.
  • Google Analytics 4. Counts visits, which pages are read, where readers come from and which links are clicked. It sets first-party cookies (named _ga) and processes your IP address; we see aggregated reports, not individual identities. You can opt out with Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.
  • Microsoft Clarity. Shows us how pages are used — scrolling, clicks, where readers get stuck — as heatmaps and anonymised session replays. Clarity masks the text of form fields, so what you type is not recorded. It sets cookies; see Microsoft's privacy statement.
  • Google Fonts. Our fonts load from Google's servers, which receive your IP address when they do.

Blocking cookies in your browser, or using a content blocker, stops Analytics and Clarity without breaking any part of the site.

When you use a tool

  • Visa photo cropper: your photo is processed entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded to us or anyone else.
  • Saved guides and the pre-trip checklist: what you save or tick is stored in your own browser (local storage). It never reaches us, and clearing your browser data removes it.
  • The visa checker, rail map, itinerary builder and other tools run on data built into the page. Nothing you select is sent to us, beyond the page-view and click counts described above.

When you request a free trip plan

The free custom trip plan form is hosted by Tally. It asks for your email address (required), a WhatsApp number (optional) and trip details: where and when you are going, who is travelling, anything that limits what you can do (for example mobility or a fear of heights), your pace and the kind of hotel you want.

We use this only to write your plan and answer your questions about it. We do not add you to a mailing list and do not pass your details to any travel company. Your finished plan is published at a private link that search engines are told not to index; we do not put your name, email address or flight numbers on it. Anyone you share that link with can read the plan, so share it only with the people you are travelling with.

When you email or message us

Email to [email protected] is kept in our mailbox so we can reply and follow up on corrections. If you message us on WhatsApp, the conversation is also subject to WhatsApp's own privacy policy.

When you click a booking link

Some links to Trip.com, Klook, Viator, GetYourGuide and other partners are affiliate links (marked rel="sponsored"). The link tells the partner that you came from us and which part of our page you clicked, so they can pay us a commission if you book. From that point you are on their site and their privacy policy and cookies apply. We receive reports of bookings and commissions; we do not receive your name, contact details or payment details from them.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it — trip-plan requests and emails included — by writing to [email protected]. If you are in the EU or the UK, these are also your rights under the GDPR, and you can complain to your local data protection authority. We keep trip-plan requests and email only as long as we need them to answer you, and delete them on request.

The site is written for adult travellers and is not directed at children.

Changes

When we add or remove a service that handles your data, we update this page and the date at the top. Questions go to our contact page.