How to live in China HAPPILY as an American

Last year when I was studying in Beijing, I asked an American friend what she wanted to have for lunch after the class and I would then figure out where to have it together. Surprisingly, my friend not only told me what she would like to have but the location and customer reviews about that restaurant. I was so shocked and curious how she knew so much even better than a native Chinese. She showed me a Chinese App named Meituan and appreciated it a lot. I instantly felt that she had already been immersed in local life and lived as easily as a Chinese, just in one month!

As mobile applications have been an important part of Chinese life, they could also be a helpful tool for foreigners to adapt to China.

Here I’d like to recommend three most useful apps that will help you live in China much more easily and happily.

1. Baidu Map

A must-have navigation app in China, wherever you are. As Google Maps doesn’t work in China (unless you have a VPN), Baidu Map becomes a perfect substitution.

It has similar service as Google Maps and is very easy to use. It’s essential to be able to recognize Chinese characters to be able to use it because addresses can be entered in pinyin format only. But don’t worry, the next app will help you figure out the Chinese name of your destination.

2. Youdao Dictionary

Youdao Dictionary is both the most practical, free, powerful translation software and the most popular dictionary software in China with more than 500 million users. It is a multilingual translation dictionary with more than 650,000 English-Chinese words and more than 590,000 Chinese-English words built in, allowing you to easily look up a word even offline.

3. Meituan

Meituan is a Chinese O2O (online-to-offline) local life service platform, connecting over 240 million consumers and five million local merchants via a comprehensive array of e-commerce services and products. A great group buying an app for locally found consumer products and retail services.