Update: Beginning 01 January 2012, ALL Chinese trains require personal ID registration, just like high speed trains on and after 01 June 2011. The sole exceptions are the Beijing Suburban Railway Line S2 trains and probably the MTR Ktt trains as well.
Note: The “real ID ticket policy” will be enforced during the Spring Festival travel rush. Arrive early — about an hour will do before your train leaves. This is to make sure that railway police are given time for you to check your ticket and accompanying photo ID, since this is required before you are allowed into the station.
QUICK AND EASY
- Bring document of identification (your passport works best*).
- Go to ticket counter.
- Tell salesperson your date of travel, as well as time of departure, and train number, class, and carriage and seat number (optional).
- Present document of identification.
- Double-check ticket and change; make any needed changes on the spot. Remember, you can make only one change!
- Go! Hop onto that train.
* Note: A passport works best. There have also been reports of success with a PRC official driving license (not the temporary one!), as well as the PRC Foreigner Residence Permit (a sticker on your passport). Also accepted are the PRC Entry-Exit Permits and Seaman IDs. There is no guarantee of success if you use your Chinese visa sticker (stuck on your passport), or the Chinese Permanent Residence Card for Foreigners, or driving licenses or ID cards of any other foreign country.
Hong Kong and Macao SAR residents: Use your Chinese mainland “return home” card. Passengers from Taiwan: Use your mainland-issued “Taiwanese Compatriot Pass”; Taiwan-issued ID cards and passports will probably not be accepted. US citizens: If your Passport Card doesn’t work, use the “full” passport. (Bring both if not sure.)
THE WHOLE ENCHILADA
In what the Chinese mainland railway authorities cite as a need to step up high speed railway safety, a policy of HSR tickets upon ID registration has been in force since 1 June 2011. Nobody’s exempt: this applies whether or not you’re Chinese (even the foreigners coming in for a quick stay are affected), and for those carrying arms as mainland Chinese military personnel, you need your mil ID as well.
International riders (including military personnel from outside the Chinese mainland) will require their passport, issued by a national authority, in order to ride Chinese HSR trains. If you have a Seaman’s ID, an Entry-Exit Permit from the PRC government, or a foreigner’s residence ID (at the moment, it appears that only stickers in your passports count, although we’re not sure about the much sought-after “green cards” or permanent PRC residence permits), you can use these as well. If you are a resident expat in China with an “official”, full PRC driving licence, that can be used as well.
Citizens of the Chinese mainland will need to use their driving licence, household register (hukou), ID cards or passport. Military personnel from the mainland Chinese armed forces will need the PLA guarantee or protection card, while those from elsewhere must use a passport. Those from Hong Kong and Macao will need the “return home” permit (which is now a “return home card”), and Taiwanese persons will need their mainland entry permit. There is no guarantee that your Hong Kong or Macao SAR passport will be accepted, and the ROC national IDs and passports will not be recognized. (If you have a British National (Overseas) passport, however, that will probably be OK.)
PRIVACY WARNING: YOUR ID NUMBER WILL BE PRINTED ON THE TICKET AND BE STORED IN THE TRAIN TICKET’S QR CODE (the weird-looking box at the lower right hand of the ticket). THERE HAVE BEEN CASES OF IDENTITY THEFT, SO IF YOU ARE NOT HANGING ONTO YOUR TICKET, THROW AT LEAST THE BOTTOM PART AWAY — MAKE SURE THE QR CODE IS EITHER MUTILATED OR SHREDDED. Holders of a second-generation PRC ID card will also have their name printed in Chinese characters. Fortunately, the 9th to 12th digits of your ID number will likely be struck out with asterisks.
Update: Beginning in August 2011, the QR codes were “upgraded” so that your ID number is encrypted. This site still urges caution, however. Even using a pen to make a (thick) dot in the QR code can be all that’s needed to keep identity thieves away.
USE ID WHEN BUYING TICKETS: The ID requirement now means that you need to present your ID whenever you buy tickets. Storing a digital copy on, for example, an iPhone or an iPad, or making a paper copy (in black and white only! A colour copy is likely considered a willful counterfeit and thus a legal offence) and showing that to the ticket office is fine, but you must ride with your real ID or you will be forced to pay for another ticket. You are also advised to only let friends whom you can trust have information regarding your document of identity — especially if you have a PRC ID — as these are “vulnerable”: anyone who knows another person’s PRC ID can do irreparable harm to the victim! (Consider that the Chinese version of the American social security number!)
It is OK if your document of identity has a letter or two on it: while previously you had to skip the letters, the new ticketing system got an upgrade in summer 2011 so that now, letters work correctly as well.
When buying your ticket, it’s best to have the following details on you, so that you get through the queue with the least hassle:
- date of departure
- train number (including the prefix)
- stations of departure and arrival
- class of travel
- optionally, desired carriage and seat number (if you don’t remember, don’t bother — it is here that you might drag things on and on and infuriate the crowd behind you!)
- ID (original or copy, see this post)
If you have a second-generation PRC ID card, use that, as it gets you through queues much quicker. You can also use that card on ticket vending machines, Internet and phone ticketing, and authorized train ticket agents.
If you have a passport, you can only use this through Internet and phone ticketing (Internet ticketing will require a “Web-ready” Chinese credit card) and at counters at railway stations — which can last up to an hour and generally average 15–25 minutes.
The good news is that with your passport (as an international traveller), you may buy HSR tickets at any networked station (basically, the vast majority of ‘em).
CHECK YOUR TICKET! You are looking for the number of your document of identity in the bottom left hand corner of the ticket. (If you bought your ticket with a second-generation PRC ID card, it will also have your name in Chinese characters; the same applies for those who bought the ticket online, where your name in the characters of the alphabet will be shown.) There’s no need to fret if the ticket doesn’t have your name shown, but you should at least worry a little if the number of your document of identity has been keyed in error. Some riders have reported that they were able to “sneak in” if the ID number was entered incorrectly, but this is no guarantee. Either request a ticket change or see the Station Master on Duty — it’s best to have a Chinese-speaking friend or family member when you do! Note that the ticketing system in China can invalidate a ticket (废票, fei piao), so ticket staff who claim they can’t pull this off are obviously lying to you.
SPOT CHECKS: You will be subject to spot checks (which are actually of much higher efficiency) on trains (this happens even on non-HSR trains), where you must show your document of identity. If you fail to do this, you must pay the full fare as you are regarded as travelling without tickets.
RIDING HSR TRAINS: So how often are you likely to pull out your passport or ID card when you’re “interacting” with high speed trains?
- Buying tickets: Always.
- Making ticket changes or refunds: Always.
- Entering lounges: Likely, but rare. (Lounges are reserved for those travelling in Business Class, Panorama seats, or First Class Compartments, but can also be used against a (hefty! CNY 100.—) charge for other passengers.
- Checking in at ticket gates: At times, especially if you’re in the front of the queue or are travelling Second Class. (We know; it ain’t fair! The Biz Class riders get to go in with none of that red tape!)
- On trains: At times.
- At the final destination: In general, no, except for if you are connecting to another HSR train.
Note that while travelling or requesting ticket changes or refunds, you must present the original document of identity; photocopied, scanned or photographed copies are not acceptable.
CHANGES AND REFUNDS: If you are requesting a ticket change (once only per ticket!) or a refund, you will be required, at all times, to show your document of identity. Most importantly: You will not be allowed to change ownership of the ticket — since this is exactly what the railway authorities wanted to prevent in the very first place: uncontrolled ticket scalping!
NO ID? Every station has a special counter manned by rail and police personnel, whose sole raison d’être is to produce temporary travel ID. You may go there to “produce” temporary ID, but you will not be allowed to do so without supporting documentation:
- For mainland Chinese citizens: You will need either to remember your Chinese ID card number (15 or 18 digits) if you have bought a ticket but forgot to carry your ID card on the date of travel to be allowed to board; or you will need evidence from the local police authorities confirming that “you exist”!
- For students in China: You will need confirmation issued by your school. Note that this works only if you have bought a student ticket.
- For mainland Chinese military personnel: You will need evidence from the local military authorities.
- For persons from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan: You will need supporting evidence from either the mainland authorities in charge of Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan affairs, or from the mainland Exit/Entry authorities.
- For international travellers: You will need evidence from your embassy or consulate.
Additionally, if you have supporting evidence from the authority that issued your document of identity that is recognized by the Chinese mainland railway authorities, that will be OK as well.
For all supporting evidence, the following must be present on the document confirming your identity or, rather, “existence”:
- Name;
- Sex;
- Date of birth;
- Nationality or location of Chinese hukou;
- Number of valid document of identity
The railway police authorities will either issue you temporary ID to buy tickets or to ride — so make sure you choose which one(s) you need.
CLOSING REMARKS: Just treat travel on Chinese HSRs as travel inside of China by air (where the ID requirement has existed for a fair number of years), and all will be well.
Ticket staff often “default” to the following:
- Mainland PRC citizens — Chinese ID card
- Mainland PRC military personnel — military ID issued by Chinese military authorities
- Students in China (≤ 16 years of age) — Student ID from Chinese school
- Hong Kong and Macao residents — PRC mainland “return home” permit
- Persons from Taiwan — PRC “Taiwanese compatriot” identity document
- International travellers (foreigners) — passport
… so have these on you and you should be OK. Just be sure to take care of your document of identity, since losing one might ground you for weeks on end while the authorities “take care” of the situation!
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