I was most frustrated by the language barrier until I figured out what to do. I’m glad to hear the taxi problem isn’t a huge issue in the smaller towns. I had the biggest problems in Beijing and Xi’an and around Golden Week, but that was probably because more people were out doing things too. My hostel didn’t seem to think they were being too different than normal which is quite scary!

I actually had decent luck with taxis, though I didn’t visit too many metropolises. That’s where a guidebook (with destinations written in Chinese) is super handy and you can just point!

I would add, don’t expect people in major cities like Beijing or Shanghai to speak English either! In 2 months in China (almost entirely in the southwest), the single hardest language barrier I encountered was trying to buy a refill for my SIM card in Shanghai… Gave up after 3 hours and countless conveinience stores. Once I had what I wanted in Chinese, it took 5 seconds to get it!