Lost in China

China can be a difficult place when it comes to finding your way around. Things seem to be awkwardly located， buildings don’t often have proper labeling， you may have the English name of the location but not the Chinese name and it is just as likely for building B to come between building F and Z than as you’d expect behind A and before C. Getting lost is common in China and here are few methods for preventing it from happening and how to deal with it when it does.

Check out the location of where you are going with an online map beforehand. Things in China tend to be laid out in an odd fashion. Sometimes an even numbered building will appear on the odd number side of the street and so on. Other times， the numbers on a building can be hidden and you can easily walk over a block on some streets without seeing a single building number. An online check will point out early exactly where it is so you don’t follow logical steps that lead you nowhere.

Always ask for the Chinese name of a location. It is extremely common for people in China to go by the English name of a location for various reasons and this trend is becoming increasingly common. However it’s very unlikely any cab driver will know that location by its commonly used English name. Furthermore， 99% the time the two names are unrelated so merely translating what you’ve been told into Chinese won’t get you there either. English names of locations in China serve no purpose other than wasting time and causing delays. If you are ever told to go to a location with just its English name always ask for the Chinese name or you will have difficulty getting there.

Never rely upon a map when dealing with cab drivers. One of the most hilarious things one can do in China is hand a taxi driver a map and point to a location. The taxi driver will then rotate the map around like a Rubik’s Cube until it makes sense to him or eventually he will give up. The drivers all learn the city by driving it and often are unable to recognize locations with a map. Pointing to a spot on a location he knows fully well but doesn’t recognize in map form will do nothing more than increase your frustration. The best way to get around via cabs is with cards written in Chinese. Just show a cab driver a card and off you go. Your hotel or business partners can easily make these up for you upon request.

If you do get lost then always ask a minimum of 3 people where to go. The reason for this is that there is nothing a Chinese person fears more than saying “I don’t know.” If someone doesn’t understand what you are asking or doesn’t know where the location you are looking for is they will most likely choose a direction at random and point. If they ever pause and think about it then just walk away， no point waiting for the answer because during that pause they are deciding which direction to guess. In order to verify whether or not the previous person you asked actually knows where to go ask a 2nd and 3rd person. Remember， the person saying go straight 300 meters and turn right is just that much better at avoiding the “I don’t know” answer. Better wait until you have a 2nd person agree with him before you take his word for it.