Originally Posted by
relangford
To theddo: in my two apartments in Shanghai over the years, I had as many as four different size plugs (UK three-pin type, two-pin US type (but with both pins same size, i.e., not polarized), European type, and a three-pin with slanted pins). And, three of these were in one apartment! I was told that China just hadn't decided on a standard, but was trending toward the European type. It was a pain buying electrical items for that apartment.
Perhaps I was lucky. In Shanghai I stayed at two different hotels, both had plugs that could fit at least the European and American standard. When I travelled out I stayed in private residencies and they to had the same plugs, but they had specific plugs around the apartment for the AC, the TV and so on.
They looked like this:
I was told the lowest three pins were for the "Chinese standard" but I can't really know for sure.