China is a low-crime place to travel and the honest answer on how safe it is says so. But pickpocketing exists, bags get left on trains, and the low base rate is no comfort at all when it has happened to you.
The useful thing to know is not the prevention advice, which you have already read. It is the sequence — because for a passport, doing the obvious thing first makes everything afterwards harder.
An ordinary theft: phone, wallet, bag#
Call 110 for police. It is free from any phone, including one with no SIM card, though operators rarely speak English — the emergency numbers page covers the practical workaround, which is to get a Chinese speaker to make the call rather than to try it alone.
Report it in person at the nearest 派出所 (pài chū suǒ, local police station) and ask for the written report receipt. You will not get compensation out of it and the item is unlikely to come back, but no travel insurer will pay a claim without a police report, and obtaining one after you have left the country is effectively impossible.
Losing a phone in China is worse than losing a phone elsewhere, and it is worth understanding why before it happens. Your phone is your payment method, your rail ticket, your metro fare, your translator and your map, because payments run through Alipay and WeChat rather than through cash or contactless cards. A stolen phone is not an inconvenience, it is the loss of the interface to the country. Carrying a small amount of cash and knowing your hotel's address in Chinese characters is the cheap insurance against that specific afternoon.
A stolen passport is a different category#
Here the order matters, and almost every general instinct gets it wrong.
The instinct is: go to your embassy. In China, that is the second step, not the first. Your passport is only half the problem — the other half is the visa or residence permit inside it, which was issued by the Chinese authorities and does not come back with a new passport. Under the Regulations on the Administration of Entry and Exit of Foreigners (中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理条例, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Wàiguórén Rùjìng Chūjìng Tiáolì), issued as State Council Order No. 637 and in force since 1 September 2013, Article 11 requires a foreigner whose visa is lost, damaged or stolen to apply to the exit-entry administration of the public security organ where they are staying for the visa to be reissued.
In other words: a new passport alone does not put you back in a position to leave the country legally. The Chinese side has to be repaired too, and it is repaired by the police, not by your embassy.
The sequence#
- Report the loss to the exit-entry administration of the public security bureau in the place where it was lost — not simply any police station, and not your embassy first. Bring what identity documents you still have and whatever evidence of your entry you can produce: a photograph of the passport data page and the entry stamp, your hotel registration slip, a boarding pass.
- Collect the 护照报失证明 (hù zhào bào shī zhèng míng, passport loss report certificate). Shanghai's public security bureau states that after verification this is generally issued about two working days later, so plan on losing a couple of days rather than an afternoon.
- Take it to your own embassy or consulate and apply for a replacement passport or an emergency travel document. This is what the certificate is for.
- Re-do your accommodation registration under the new passport number. Registration is tied to the document, so the old record no longer describes you — see registering with the police for how that works and why gaps in the record cause friction later.
- Go back to the exit-entry administration for your stay or residence documents. Shanghai's guidance sets this at within 30 days of the date the loss certificate was issued. This is the step that restores your legal ability to remain in China and to leave it.
The procedural detail is set locally rather than nationally, so the exact documents and counters vary by city. The shape does not: report to the exit-entry authority, get the certificate, replace the passport, restore the Chinese side, and do it inside the window.
The number worth saving#
12367 is the National Immigration Administration's service platform, launched in April 2021. It takes immigration and exit-entry questions by phone with round-the-clock human service in both Chinese and English, and also runs through an app and through WeChat and Alipay mini-programmes under the name 移民局12367 (yí mín jú, immigration administration).
That combination — an official line, staffed at any hour, answered in English, on precisely the subject where a lost passport puts you — is unusual enough in China that it is worth having in your phone before you need it. It sits alongside the four emergency numbers, and it answers a category of question that 110 cannot.
What to do before you leave home#
None of this is difficult if you prepared for it, and all of it is difficult if you did not.
- Photograph the passport data page and your visa or entry stamp, and keep the images somewhere reachable without the passport — an email to yourself works when a phone does not.
- Save your embassy's emergency line for the city you are in, not only for the capital. Consular districts matter and the Beijing embassy may not be the office that serves you.
- Carry the passport separately from your phone and wallet. The rules on carrying it require you to have it, but not to have it in the same pocket as everything else a pickpocket wants.
- Keep some cash. A few hundred yuan is the difference between a bad afternoon and being stranded, in a country where the phone is the wallet.
Frequently asked questions#
What should I do if my passport is stolen in China?#
Report the loss to the exit-entry administration of the local public security bureau first, before contacting your embassy. They issue a passport loss report certificate — generally about two working days in Shanghai — which your embassy then needs in order to issue a replacement. After that you re-register your accommodation under the new number and return to the exit-entry administration to restore your stay documents.
Do I go to the police or my embassy first in China?#
The police, specifically the exit-entry administration. Going to your embassy first is not fatal but adds a step: Shanghai's public security bureau states that a foreigner who skips the police report must produce a letter from their embassy when later applying for the reissued visa.
Can I leave China on a new passport if the visa was in the old one?#
Not without repairing the Chinese side. Under State Council Order No. 637, a visa that is lost, damaged or stolen has to be reissued by the exit-entry administration where you are staying. A replacement passport from your embassy restores your identity document but not your permission to be in China or to leave it.
How long do I have to sort out a lost passport in China?#
Shanghai's guidance sets the window at 30 days from the date the loss certificate is issued, by which time your stay or residence formalities must be completed. Requirements are administered locally, so confirm the deadline with the exit-entry administration that issues your certificate.
Do I need a police report for travel insurance in China?#
Yes, and you must get it while you are still in the country. Report the theft in person at the local police station and ask for the written receipt. No insurer will settle a theft claim without it, and obtaining one retrospectively from outside China is effectively impossible.
Is there an English-speaking helpline for immigration questions in China?#
Yes — 12367, the National Immigration Administration's service platform, which has operated since April 2021 with round-the-clock human service in Chinese and English, plus an app and WeChat and Alipay mini-programmes. It is the right number for visa, permit and exit-entry questions, as distinct from 110 for emergencies.