How to contact my family when I travel in China?

You can always use the hotel telephone. But be aware that it could be as expensive as US$3 per minute. On the Yangtze cruise ships, it could be $20 per minute as they are using satellite telephone.

Suggestions:

1. Leave phone numbers at home and ask them to call you.

2. Send faxes from the business centers at the hotels and ship.

3. Send emails from those business centers at the hotels and ships.

4. Take a mobile phone and buy a Chinese SIM card for about $10 or an IP card for about $4 per 30 minutes of call time.

5. Use Skype (or similar) if there are internet cafes and computers online at hotels with talk programs and webcams.

6. Use public phones in corner shops, the rate is about US$1 per minute for international calls.