This page is orientation, not medical advice. Requirements depend on your medical history, your route and how long you are staying, and a travel clinic will give you a plan in twenty minutes.
Commonly recommended#
Routine vaccinations up to date — MMR, tetanus, diphtheria, polio. This is the baseline for any trip and the one most often overlooked.
Hepatitis A — recommended for most travellers to China. Transmitted through contaminated food and water.
Typhoid — for longer trips, rural travel, or anyone eating widely at street stalls.
Hepatitis B — for extended stays, or anyone who might need medical or dental treatment.
Japanese encephalitis — for extended rural travel in summer in southern and eastern provinces. Not relevant to a two-week city trip.
Rabies — worth considering for cyclists, hikers and long stays. Stray dogs exist in rural areas, and post-exposure treatment is far simpler if you have had the pre-exposure course.
Malaria#
Not a risk on standard tourist routes. The cities, the classic Beijing–Xi'an–Chengdu–Shanghai circuit, and the high-altitude regions have no meaningful malaria transmission. Limited risk exists in parts of rural Yunnan and Hainan. A travel clinic will tell you whether your specific route warrants prophylaxis; for most itineraries it does not.
Entry requirements#
China does not require proof of vaccination for entry from most countries. A yellow fever certificate may be required if you are arriving from a country with yellow fever transmission — that is a routing question, not a China question.
What matters more than vaccines#
Travel insurance. Chinese public hospitals expect payment before treatment, and the Western-standard international clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu charge Western prices. If your route includes Tibet or Shangri-La, check the policy explicitly covers altitude above 3,000 m and medical evacuation — many standard policies do not.
Your own medicine. Bring prescription drugs in original labelled packaging with a copy of the prescription. Chinese pharmacies are excellent and cheap, but products are labelled in Chinese and formulations differ, so do not plan to replace something specific locally.
Basic kit — painkillers, antihistamine, loperamide, rehydration salts. Many first-time visitors get an upset stomach from unfamiliar chilli and oil rather than from anything unhygienic.
Medical care, emergency numbers and altitude are covered in our health and safety guide.