In this Part 1 of my Air Travel in Chinese series, I hope to give you the phases, words and knowledge you need to navigate a typical Chinese airport. I have included a list of words and phrases you can refer to as well as a step by step guide to arriving and departing at a Chinese airport.
If you speak no or minimal Chinese, don’t be stressed when it comes to navigating the International airports in China as you can get away with zero Chinese knowledge. My experience with travelling to China has been that the immigration and customs officials say nothing to you. This is in stark contract to many western countries where the authorities can ask a lot of questions.
If you have any intention of learning Chinese to any level, a trip to China is a wasted language opportunity if you don’t at least try communicating in Chinese!
Note: During this post I use Pinyin to show you the pronunciation of the Chinese words, Pinyin uses the same Latin alphabet used in English, but with tone accents added above the characters to indicate which Chinese tone is used; if you’re new to Chinese, please take a look at my posts on the Chinese Language and Pinyin. If you are interested in learning Chinese I have posts on Top 25 Chinese phrases for tourists as well as my top ten list of Chinese learning resources，both are great places to get started.
The best way to understand the airport vocabulary is to step you through it with examples, so I’ll walk through Arriving in China and then Departing China. Before I dive in, I will give you a list of all the vocabulary and phrases for easy reference. As I walk through the airport with you I will break down phrases word by word so you understand what the characters mean.
Please check out the other posts in my Air Travel in Chinese series:
- Part 1: Airport Vocabulary and Phrases (this post)
- Part 2: Boarding your flight
- Part 3: In-flight meal and beverage service
- Part 4: Landing and disembarking from the plane
Table of Contents
Chinese Airport Vocabulary Phrase List (Cheat Sheet)
First up, let me give you a list of useful vocabulary used at airports:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
| Excuse me |
|
qǐngwèn |
| Thank you |
|
xièxiè |
| Immigration |
|
biānfáng jiǎnchá |
| Plane |
|
fēijī |
| Airport |
|
fēijī chǎng |
| Flight Ticket |
|
fēijī piào |
| Toilet |
|
cèsuǒ |
| Flight |
|
hángbān |
| Flight Number |
|
hángbān hào |
| Passport |
|
hùzhào |
| Luggage |
|
xíngli |
| Boarding pass |
|
dēng jī pái |
| Foreigners Line |
|
wàiguó rén tōngdào |
| Baggage Claim |
|
xínglǐtíqǔ |
| Baggage Claim |
|
xínglǐ lǐngqǔ chù |
| Luggage Carousel |
|
xínglǐ chuánsòngdài |
| Exit |
|
chūkǒu |
| Entrance |
|
rùkǒu |
| Customs |
|
hǎiguān |
| China Customs |
|
zhōngguó hǎiguān |
| Arrival Hall |
|
dǐdá tīnghǎiguāndǐdá tīng |
| Boarding gate |
|
dēngjī kǒu |
| Departure hall |
|
chūfā tīng |
| Visa |
|
qiānzhèng |
| translator |
|
fānyì |
| terminal |
|
hángzhàn |
| translator |
|
fānyì |
| English translator |
|
yīngwén fānyì |
| 72 Hour Visa-Free Transit |
|
qīshí’èr xiǎoshí guòjìng miǎn qiān zhuānyòng tōngdào |
| Terminal |
|
háng zhàn lóu |
| Terminal 1 |
|
yī hào háng zhàn lóu |
| Terminal 2 |
|
èr hào háng zhàn lóu |
| Terminal 3 |
|
sān hào háng zhàn lóu |
| International Departures |
|
guójì chūfā |
| Domestic Departures |
|
guónèi chūfā |
| Check In |
|
bànlǐ chéngjī chéngjī |
| window |
|
chuāngkǒu |
| aisle |
|
zǒuláng |
| security check |
|
ānquán jiǎnchá |
| computer |
|
diànnǎo |
| take out |
|
ná chūlái |
| Gates |
|
dēngjī kǒu |
| left |
|
zuǒbiān |
| right |
|
yòubiān |
Chinese Airport Phrase List (Cheat Sheet)
This is a complete list of the phrases used in this article which you can save or print and bring with you:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
| Where is the baggage claim area? |
|
xínglǐ tíqǔ zài nà’er lí? |
| Where is the baggage claim area? |
|
xínglǐ lǐngqǔ chù zài nà’er lí? |
| Excuse me, where is Immigration? |
|
qǐngwèn, biānfáng jiǎnchá zài nǎ’er ? |
| Excuse me, where is customs? |
|
qǐngwèn, hǎiguān zài nǎ’er lǐ |
| I have nothing to declare |
|
wǒ méiyǒu xūyào shēnbào de dōngxi |
| I need an English translator |
|
wǒ xūyào yī míng yīngwén fānyì |
| I am going to the airport |
|
wǒ yào qù jīchǎng |
| This is my passport and ticket |
|
zhè shì wǒ de hùzhào hé jīpiào |
| Here are my passport |
|
zhè shì wǒ de hùzhào |
| How long is the flight? |
|
fēixíng shíjiān yǒu duō cháng? |
| I would like to have a window seat, please. |
|
qǐng gěi wǒ yíge kào chuāngkǒu de zuòwèi |
| I would like to have an aisle seat, please. |
|
qǐng gěiwǒ yíge kào zǒuláng de zuòwèi |
| Do I need to take out my computer? |
|
wǒ bǎ diànnǎo xūyào dāndú ná chūlái ma? |
Arriving in China
Normally when you get off a plane, unless you are transiting, you can just follow the crowd and find your way. The signs and arrival forms are in English as well as Chinese, so you shouldn’t get lost.
If you need to ask someone something, it would probably be best to start with:
Excuse me
请 问
Qǐngwèn
After this you can ask your question. So let’s start with finding immigration.
Immigration
| Border | Check |
| biānfáng | jiǎnchá |
Excuse me, where is Immigration?
请 问 ,
Qǐngwèn, biānfáng jiǎnchá zài nǎ’er ?
| Qǐngwèn | biānfáng jiǎnchá | zài | nà’er lí? |
| Excuse me | Immigration | located | where |
At Immigration you will find two main lines, one for Chinese Citizens and the other for foreigners, the sign for the foreigners line should look like this:
Foreigners Line
| wàiguó rén | tōngdào |
| foreigner | line |
If you don’t already have a visa and intend on taking advantage of the 72 hour visa that is offered to the citizens of some countries, you can line up at “72 Hour Visa-Free Transit line”. You should see this line near the foreigners line. Not every nationality is allowed visa-free access to China, so I recommend check if you can go without a visa; also note that you need to be able to demonstrate that you have arrangements for leaving China and are not allowed to leave the city of arrival. The 72 hour visa-free line looks like this:
72 Hour Visa-Free Transit
| qīshí’èr | xiǎoshí | guòjìng | miǎn qiān | zhuānyòng | tōngdào |
| 72 | hour | transit | visa-exemption | special | line |
If all goes well at Immigration, say thank you and take your passport
Thank you
谢 谢
xièxiè
Once you make it to the correct immigration line they may ask for your passport, nothing complicated:
Passport
护 照
hùzhào
Once you have passed Immigration with your pre-applied for visa or 72 hour visa-on-arrival, you should collect your bag. The baggage collection is sign posted as follows
Baggage Claim
| xínglǐ | tíqǔ |
| baggage | claim |
An alternative way of saying Baggage Claim is:
| |
||
| xínglǐ | lǐngqǔ | chù |
| baggage | receive | place |
You can ask where the Baggage claim is using one of these two words:
Where is the baggage claim area?
行 李 提 取 在 那 儿 离 ？
xínglǐ tíqǔ zài nà’er lí?
Where is the baggage claim area?
行 李 领 取 处 在 那 儿 离 ？
xínglǐ lǐngqǔ chù zài nà’er lí?
| xínglǐ tíqǔ | zài | nà’er lí? |
| baggage claim | located | where |
Once you have your bags you will need to look for customs, the sign looks like this:
Customs
| China | Customs |
| zhōngguó | hǎiguān |
If you can’t find customs via the signs you can ask:
Excuse me, where is customs?
请 问 ,
Qǐngwèn, hǎiguān zài nǎ’er lǐ？
|
|
|
|
| hǎiguān | zài | nà’er lí? |
| customs | located | where |
At customs and immigration there will typically be two places you can queue, one for foreigners and the other for Chinese citizens.
I have nothing to declare.
我 没 有 需 要 申 报 的 东 西 。
wǒ méiyǒu xūyào shēnbào de dōngxi.
| wǒ | méiyǒu | xūyào | shēnbào | de | dōngxi |
| I | don’t have | need to | declare | (possessive particle) | things |
If you get in to trouble at any stage with arriving in China, there will always be airport, immigration or customs staff who can speak at least some English. In the worst case if you find yourself in a difficult situation where the person you are speaking to doesn’t speak English you can ask for a translator:
I need an English translator.
我 需 要 一 名 英 文 翻 译 。
wǒ xūyào yī míng yīngwén fānyì.
| wǒ | xūyào | yī míng | yīngwén | fānyì |
| I | need | a / one | English | translator |
Once you are done with customs you can now find the exit and start seeing China!
Exit
| chūkǒu |
| exit |
Departing China
First things first, you need to get to the airport. If you are taking a taxi just say:
我 要 去 飞 机 场 。 wǒ yào qù fēijīchǎng.
I am going to the airport.
|
|
|
|
|
| wǒ | yào | qù | fēijīchǎng |
| I | want | go | airport |
You may need to tell the taxi driver which terminal, in this case you can say
Terminal 1
1 号 航 站 楼
yī hào háng zhàn lóu
Terminal 2
2 号 航 站 楼
èr hào háng zhàn lóu
Terminal 3
3 号 航 站 楼
sān hào háng zhàn lóu
Breaking this down word by word:
| yī hào | háng zhàn lóu |
| Number 1 | Terminal |
You can also ask for international departures, however usually saying the terminal number is enough given that domestic and international departures generally fly from different terminals.
International Departures
国 际 出 发
guójì chūfā
| guójì | guójì |
| International | Departures |
You may alternative want to ask for domestic departures:
Domestic Departures
国 内 出 发
guónèi chūfā
| guónèi | guójì |
| Domestic | Departures |
At the airport
Once you are at the airport you will want to find departures, this should be sign posted as follows:
Departure
| guójì | chūfā |
| international | departure |
From here you will need to find your check in counter, this will be sign posted as follows:
Check In
| bànlǐ | chéngjī | shǒuxù |
| handle / conduct | take flight | procedure |
At the check in counter, the airline staff should speak English, however if you are brave you can say hello and pass them your passport and ticket (if you have a paper ticket):
This is my passport and ticket
这 是 我 的 护 照 和 机 票
zhè shì wǒ de hùzhào hé jīpiào
| zhè | shì | wǒ | de | hùzhào | hé | jīpiào |
| this | is | my | possessive particle | passport | and | ticket |
If you don’t have a paper ticket, you can just pass them your passport and say:
Here are my passport.
这 是 我 的 护 照 。
zhè shì wǒ de hùzhào.
You may want to ask how long the flight is:
How long is the flight?
飞 行 时 间 有 多 长 ？
Fēixíng shíjiān yǒu duō cháng?
| fēixíng | shíjiān | yǒu | duō cháng |
| flight | duration (time) | is | how long |
You may want to ask for a window seat. You ask this as follows:
I would like to have a window seat, please. my ticket
请 给 我 一 个 靠 窗 口 的 座 位
qǐng gěi wǒ yíge kào chuāngkǒu de zuòwèi
| qǐng | gěi | wǒ | yíge | kào | chuāngkǒu | de | zuòwèi |
| please | give | me | a | beside | window | (possessive) | seat |
Alternatively, you might like an aisle seat:
请 给 我 一 个 靠 走 廊 的 座 位
Qǐng gěiwǒ yíge kào zǒuláng de zuòwèi
I would like to have an aisle seat, please.
| qǐng | gěi | wǒ | yíge | kào | zǒuláng | de | zuòwèi |
| please | give | me | a | next to | aisle | (possessive) | seat |
Security Check
| ānquán | jiǎnchá |
| security | check |
Immigration is similar to arriving, so won’t repeat that here. You will however go through security where you will need remove your laptop from your bag at the security check point for X-ray. You can ask if you need to remove your laptop as follows:
Do I need to take out my computer?
我 把 电 脑 需 要 单 独 拿 出 来 吗 ？
wǒ bǎ diànnǎo xūyào dāndú ná chūlái ma?
| wǒ | bǎ | diànnǎo | xūyào | dāndú | náchūlái | ma |
| I | with regards to |
computer | need to | by itself | take out | (question) |
Finding your gate
Once you have completed check in, you’ll want to find your gate, the sign will look like this:
Gates
| boarding | gate |
| dēngjī | kǒu |
The sign will also typically list the gates, which are always use standard letters and numbers e.g.
Gates E01-7 E12-18
dēng jī kǒu E01-7 E12-18
Upon boarding the air steward or stewardess will check your ticket and, if you are in a plane with two rows, tell you which aisle your seat is in:
left
左 边
zuǒbiān
right
右 边
yòubiān
Conclusion
Navigating a Chinese airport is generally very simple as everything is almost always sign posted in English as well as Chinese and many staff will speak some English. If you have any interest in Chinese, use your time in China as an opportunity to challenge yourself – memorise some useful phrases above and try to use them as you make your way through the airport
If you have further interest in learning Chinese, check out my article where I give a quick overview of my top ten Chinese resources.
Finally don’t forget to take a look at the other posts in my Air Travel in Chinese series:
- Part 1: Airport Vocabulary and Phrases (this post)
- Part 2: Boarding your flight
- Part 3: In-flight meal and beverage service
- Part 4: Landing and disembarking from the plane