China: plugs, voltage, currency, time & travel facts

Plugs and voltage

China uses Types A and I sockets; Type C is also found. Mains supply is 220 V at 50 Hz.

Type I (angled flat pins) and Type A sockets are standard. Older combined sockets also accept Europlugs (Type C), but they are no longer installed.

At 220 V, devices made only for 100–127 V (many American and Japanese hair dryers, curling irons and some shavers) will be damaged without a step-down converter. Chargers labelled “100–240V” work fine with just a plug adapter.

Adapter guides: from United States · from United Kingdom · from Canada · from Australia · from Japan

Money

¥ Chinese Yuan CNY

Reference rates, 2026-10-30 (ECB)
1 USD	6.65 CNY
1 EUR	7.43 CNY
1 GBP	8.91 CNY
1 JPY	0.04231 CNY

Chinese Yuan: where it's used and rates

Price level 48 (US = 100, 2025)

Everyday household prices in China are about 48% of US prices when converted at market exchange rates: cheaper than the median country (50). All countries

Language

Chineseofficial90%

Also official in some regions: Uyghur, Zhuang, Mongolian, Tibetan, Korean.

Bars show the share of the population that speaks each language (CLDR estimates).

Time

China spans 2 time offsets right now:

– UTC+6 Asia / Urumqi
– UTC+8 Asia / Shanghai

The capital is on UTC+8 (Asia/Shanghai).

Driving

Traffic in China drives on the right, so the steering wheel is on the left.

Public holidays in the next 12 months

19 national public holidays from 2 November 2026. Banks, offices and many shops close; regional holidays are not shown. Dates marked “estimated” follow a lunar calendar and can move by a day.