Hey folks, I'm taking a trip to Shenzhen -> Guangzhou -> Chengdu -> Xiamen. Have the flights and hotels booked. But otherwise, I'm kinda winging it and flying out in a couple of days. While it maybe too late to ask for detailed advice as the trip outline it set, but I figure if I find if I allocated too much time to Shenzhen/Guangzhou, I can consider the domestic flights I already bought a lost cause and get new tickets as it sounds like most chinese airfare does not go up a lot close to the date like it does in the US.

So my preferences during travel is to not necessarily go sightseeing (not really interested in landmarks and stuff) but rather immerse myself in the local culture and just observe/wander around and enjoy myself. As far as activities go, I'm more into local art and music scenes and I'm a bit of a foodie (plan to eat primarily chinese food throughout unless I venture across something I find interesting).

Shenzhen (5 days):
- Shenzhen MIDI music festival on Dec 30 and 31st and do that as my NYE.
- OCT Loft Market
- OCT Art and Design Gallery
- Guan Shan Yue Art Gallery
- C:UNION
- check out some of the Eat streets mentioned in wiki travel page for Shenzhen
- Lianhua Mountain Park

Guangzhou (2 days):
- Memorial of the Huangpu Military Academy

Chendu (2 days):
- sichuan food, enuff said
- no plans yet (no plan to see Pandas)

Xiamen (1.5 days):
- no plans yet

I'm thinking of reducing my time in Shenzhen by 2 days and reducing my time in Guangzhou by 0.5 day and adding those to Chengdu (+1 day = 3 days total) and Xiamen (+1.5 days = 3 days total).

1. Any recommendations you have for me given my travel preferences mentioned above?
2. Do you know if there is a way to hire local college students as tour guides (who have passable English for conversation)? I'm thinking college students instead of professional tour operators as they are more likely to be plugged into (or at least know through their friends) the kind of places I'm interested in exploring.
3. Prep work done so far:
- offline Chinese language for google translate downloaded
- two different VPNs (ExpressVPN and VyprVPN) installed
- installed Didi
- installed WeChat (but will not create account till I get to China to get a mainland account)
- already have an unlocked phone
- installed Maps.Me and downloaded offline maps
Anything I'm missing that's an absolute must?

Myself, I'd cut Shenzhen down to a minimum two days, eliminate Xiamen, and then make an excursion from Chengdu, like Langzhong or Danba. Just too much time in cities otherwise.

As an aside, China is not a great place for a tightly scheduled trip. Things go wrong, and it takes time to appreciate what's there.

Appreciate the recommendations, I'll look those up, but I'm primarily a city traveler, and not particularly interested in the countryside (and most definitely not in the middle of the winter). I do have to be in Xiamen and entry/exit points are set for the long haul tickets, I can't change those as that would be very expensive.

Just to clarify, Danba is countryside but Langzhong is urban, like Pingyao a traditional Chinese walled city.

Looked up Danba and Langzhong both, I know I said I don't like countryside but Danba sounds fascinating. It's a bit of a hike from Chengdu at 8+ hrs by car/bus and not sure it requires a Tibet permit. But I'm gonna add it to my future return trip to check out... it sounds like it would better experienced when traveling with group of people and not just going solo. Thanks for that. Langzhong on the other hand, not so interesting as it's too small of a city.

Does anyone else have any recommendations?

I stay in Shenzhen every other month, so I've got some insight. It's a little vague on what you're interests are, if you can give a little insight that might help a bit. I like Shenzhen a lot, but I don't know if I'd spend 5 days there as a tourist. Shenzhen is a strange city, a veritable Chinese melting pot since there are hardly any natives, all migrants from other parts of China.

It sounds like you are a musician, so am I. I'm a keyboard player and embarrassingly I've not been to some of the places you mention. If I was in Shenzhen at the end of December, I'd like to check out the MIDI music festival. What that said though, I don't consider Shenzhen to be a strong musical city. There are plenty of live bands here and there but I get the sense the music community is pretty small with a lot of ex-pats. I've talked with few musicians who play around the city as well as considering jumping into a band.

I work right across the street from the Guan Shan Yue Art Gallery and Lianhua park. I've never been to the museum, but have been to the park many times. There's not much to do there. Locals fly kites in the two great lawns and there is a mountain walk up to a statue of Deng Xiaoping. Other than that, the locals like to dance in the park at night, this is common in any park across China. I think the whole experience is a half day, the park and the museum. Unless the art museum is a real must see for you, I'd skip it. There's no good restaurants in that district, so if you get hungry you'd be in for a search. However, inside the museum itself, is a very interesting vegetarian restaurant. If you want a park hiking experience, South Mountain (Nanshan) is better. There's a trail from the mountain that can take you to Sea World, a big ex-pat destination.

OCT Happy Harbour (or Joy Coast) can be a nice place to go for an evening. There is a water show there and a large place filled with restaurants around a man-made lagoon. The water show is a little touristy, but the restaurants are legitimate Chinese food, unlike Sea World which has a lot of international choices.

Baishizhou is also a good place to go for restaurants, pretty much every region of Chinese cuisine is represented there. It's on the metro line 1, right after Window of the World station heading toward airport east.

Of course, the very touristy things to do are Window of the World and Splendid China parks. If you were to choose one, I'd go with Splendid China, it's a little less tacky. I've not been to OTC East on the eastern part of Shenzhen. I spent a weekend on Dapeng Peninsula farther to the east in Yangmeikeng, but would not recommend that town. I've always wanted to go to Dapeng fortress, but haven't made a trip yet.

I'd maybe cut a day or two off of Shenzhen and head to Changsha. Hunan spicy food is much different that Sichuan and Changsha has some of the best spicy crawfish you'll find. Although, I'm not sure of what else there is to see in Changsha other that the big statue of Mao's head and the surrounding park.

A few things:

VPN - Don't think you need 2. I've been using Express VPN successfully for more than 2 years. During the CPC meetings in November, it was a bit rough, like all the VPNs, but I was there for most of December and it worked great. We'll see what happens in February when they are supposed to really clamp down on the VPNs. Although Express VPN has some Hong Kong access points, I end up using the California access points the most.

Phone - You say you have unlocked, does that mean you are getting a local SIM card? Just having an unlocked phone is no guarantee a local SIM will work. If so, I would get a China Mobile SIM as they are GSM based and should have good coverage for your itinerary. I have a China Telecom SIM, from my company, they use CDMA. My phone has worked fine in Hunan and Henan provinces.

Didi, will be hard to use if you can't speak. The drivers always call you, even though the app can manage locations. Prepare to have a native speaker close by that is prepared to talk with the driver. There's some discussion on this forum around Didi, and some have successfully navigated without native language, but in my experience it's difficult. In Shenzhen, taxi's are plentiful and cheap. But you still need to communicate your destination to them, using a map can help.

Maps - Google maps should work ok, especially if you activate the VPN. You should also install Baidu maps. There is no English version of the app, but I still use it all the time, especially if you can cross reference Google maps. Sometimes, I am also able to search for something using English in Baidu maps and find it directly. Baidu maps becomes very useful to tell a taxi driver my destination. Even if I don't have the exact destination chosen in Baidu maps, I can get the general location on the map by cross referencing Google maps. I can show the Baidu map to the taxi driver. Sometimes they can "hem and haw" a bit, but be persistent and they will take you to or close by.

Shenzhen Metro - if you are going to spend a few days, it might be worth getting a metro card. Getting around Shenzhen is cheaper and can be faster that using cars. Traffic jams can and do occur at any time. Shenzhen metro signs are all in English as well. Getting a metro card can be a little challenging and someone helped me get mine. It is very convenient at busy stations, where the queue to by a single ride token can be long,

Bikes. Also consider installing Mobike or OFO apps if you want to use bike sharing. These are the two main ones you find in Shenzhen and they are literally all over the place. Mobike requires a pre-registration by taking a picture of your passport and submitting it for review. The review process took a few hours. I also have the OFO app, which is international and can be pre-paid with VISA, MC, etc. However, lately the OFO app has not been unlocking bikes for me, not sure why yet.

WeChat. Not sure about a Mainland account. I created my WeChat account a few years back in the US before going to Shenzhen. If you're not using WeChat now, I don't know what use it will be for my you, unless you want to communicate with others on WeChat. Activating a WeChat wallet without a Chinese bank account is a little difficult. WeChat does allow to link up a VISA, MC with the wallet. It never worked when I did it initially, but just last month I noticed something different on the app, and was able to sucessfully link a VISA card. It did a small (.50) charge on the card. I have only been able to use the VISA card for payment through WeChat once, I already have a Chinese bank account set up on it. The only time it worked was paying something on Meituan, and the choice popped up to use the VISA card on WeChat pay. Since, WhatsApp is now blocked, I also use WeChat to talk with some family in the US, but they need to have WeChat setup to do so. Of course, I use WeChat to chat with my Chinese friends.

Translators - the more the better. Google translate is great, but off-line does not offer voice translation. It should work on-line through your VPN. Bing (Microsoft) translator works well and provides real-time voice without the need for VPN. The best option for China, is Baidu Translate. IMO, it works best for Chinese speakers and is able to better discern different Mandarin dialects and accents than Google or Bing.

Search Engine - Unless you have the VPN on all the time, set your default search engine to Bing. Yea, it's not nearly as good, but it works. Also, you should install the Baidu app. When you search using the Baidu app, it will translate the english words, and offer up some pages in Chinese. This can help a bit with communication.

Ctrip - Install the Ctrip app in case you want to buy rail tickets in China. The app is in English and can use VISA, MC, etc.

Local guide - Not sure if this is necessary. I know the language barrier can be daunting, but I've been able to get by OK without. Now, I have a Chinese girlfriend, so it's much easier for me. Using a real-time translator (Baidu, Google, or Bing) can be helpful. I see the draw for wanting to do it, but I don't know how or where to get someone to help out. I've never seen any advertisements to offer this kind of service. However, it could be just as easy as asking a young local. In general, if you are a Westerner, there is a natural curiosity from most Chinese, even in Shenzhen which has a lot of foreigners. Most Chinese people can be very welcoming and friendly and have a desire the share their culture with you. Just have a good attitude and be very courteous.

Best of luck on your trip.

Given that you are interested in local culture in the urban area, I would recommend cut 2-3 days from SZ and go to Chaozhou/Shantou instead, 2 cities also in Guangdong province. Chaozhou and Shantou are famous for their atmosphere of lives. Simply go to the grocery market and one can find the people friendly, conversational and love their lives. Besides, food there (and also in Shunde) is amazing, especially for people with sweet teeth.

Xiamen is also interesting. Wouldn't recommend Gulang Island as it is much commercialized.

As of hiring local students as guides, you can contact with ChinaTravelDepot, see if they can arrange anything for you. CTD is one of the oldest and most reliable travel agencies so you don't have to worry about anything. Besides, as has been mentioned by synthkeys above, youths generally have conversational English, so relax.

Should you have more questions related to your trip in China, please reply or PM.

Guangzhou has a bunch of museums, including several art ones. I think it is the Guangzhou City Art Museum, located on an island, that focuses on local art. There is also the provincial museum (of Guangdong) that is quite good and extensive. It is near the opera house and other institutions. The main public library is there too and worth walking inside -- and there you will find mostly locals and so it is a good place for people watching. Underneath this complex is an underground mall

The subway is now built out greatly and works well and is quite cheap and totally bilingual Chinese-English. But as with many things in China, it gets crowded fast so expect to stand pretty much all the time.

Actually the Guangzhou subway is trilingual as they also announce in Cantonese.

In Shenzhen, on the subway 11 that goes to the airport pay for Business class. Totally worth the extra USD or so.

Hey folks, thanks for all the replies. I’m already in China, thats why I haven’t answered.

MIDI festival in Shenzhen was a blast. One hell of a way to say goodbye to 2017.

Off to Chengdu I go today. I’ll write more after I get back.

What non-perishable food items do you take back from China to give to your friends (mine are mostly asian, so it won’t be too exotic for them)?

I bring back goji berries since they're ridiculously cheap in China and very expensive in the US.

+1 on the goji berries if you know someone who's into that. If you're going back through Shenzhen, the wholesale market in Meilin is the place to go. Good quality goji berries for very cheap.

If you're looking for a novelty food for Americans, individually packaged fermented (i.e. stinky) tofu or black eggs will freak them out.

Any kind of spicy jarred sauce from Chengdu or Hunan for spicy food lovers is good. I once bought back a tin of cookies from Wing Wah. The family loved them so much now I have to carry multiple packages every time I come back. Wife cakes are also popular with my family. If you know someone into tea, get a bag of quality tea.

很遗憾. I lost all of the photos from my Hunan trip, but darn, I covet all of those chili mixes/sauces seen in random wet markets through that province.