At the airport in Chinese: from landing to the taxi rank
Immigration is the first place anyone speaks Chinese at you at full speed, and it happens about an hour after you land. Nothing here is a conversation: you get asked three or four short questions and you give three or four short answers.
Airport staff deal with foreigners all day, so they will repeat themselves, point and slow down. Your job is to recognise the question, not to speak well. Two things are worth doing on the plane: screenshot your hotel's Chinese name and address, and keep a power bank in your carry-on.
6 steps · 6 phrases · tap any phrase to hear it
Listen to all 6
Hands-free playback — good for a taxi, a queue, or the plane.
Back-to-back Chinese — good once the phrases are familiar.
- 1
Hand over your passport
You may hear
请出示护照。
Qǐng chūshì hùzhào.
Please show your passport.
You'll hear this at 边检 (biānjiǎn, border control). Have the passport already open at the photo page, and if the airline handed out an arrival card (入境卡) on the plane, fill it in before you reach the desk.
- 2
Answer why you're here
You may hear
来中国做什么？
Lái Zhōngguó zuò shénme?
What are you here for?
One word is a complete answer: 旅游 (lǚyóu, tourism) or 商务 (shāngwù, business). The officer isn't making conversation, so don't add detail — long answers are what send you to the side room.
- 3
Say the language problem first
You may hear
你会说中文吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?
Do you speak Chinese?
Saying this before the questions start is what makes people switch to simple words, gestures, or the colleague who speaks some English. It costs one sentence and saves you the whole queue.
- 4
When it's too fast to follow
You may hear
我说慢一点。
Wǒ shuō màn yīdiǎn.
I'll speak more slowly.
Chinese airport announcements and staff speech run fast, and it is normal to catch only the first two words. Staff will also often just point — follow the finger, not the sentence.
- 5
Find the bathroom before the taxi queue
You may hear
在那边。
Zài nàbiān.
Over there.
The sign on the wall says 厕所 (cèsuǒ); the politer word you'll hear staff use is 洗手间 (xǐshǒujiān). Both mean the same thing, so don't wait for the word you learned.
- 6
Ask a member of staff
You may hear
有什么可以帮您？
Yǒu shénme kěyǐ bāng nín?
What can I help you with?
There is always an information desk (问询处) near arrivals. Asking staff beats asking a stranger — they know where the taxi rank is, and they are used to being asked in broken Chinese.
Also worth having ready
Not part of the flow, but the ones people wish they'd practised before this situation.
Common questions
- Do I need to speak Chinese to get through immigration in China?
- No. Immigration officers ask a small, predictable set of questions — your passport, your purpose of visit and how long you're staying — and airport staff deal with non-Chinese speakers every day. Two phrases usually cover it: 这是我的护照 (here is my passport) and 我是游客 (I'm a tourist).
- What Chinese will I hear at immigration?
- The most common are 请出示护照 (please show your passport), 来中国做什么 (what are you here for), and 待几天 (how many days are you staying). Answers can be a single word — 旅游 for tourism, 商务 for business.
- How do I get from the airport to my hotel without speaking Chinese?
- Use the official taxi rank outside arrivals rather than anyone who approaches you inside the terminal, and have your hotel address saved in Chinese on your phone. 请带我去这个地址 (please take me to this address) plus the screenshot gets you there; see the taxi guide for the rest.
Every phrase used here, in full
Next situation
🚕 Taking a taxi or Didi
Give the address, check the price, pay by QR code.
Walk through it