Language and showing addresses

Part of Before you go, a sourced pre-trip guide for a first visit to Shanghai. Checked 2026-10-03; rules change, so each step links to its source. Data version 5e1254c0b277.

18 languages — 12345 help line runs 24 hours in 18 foreign languages.

In short

• Editor tip: save your hotel address in Chinese characters.
• Show the Chinese address, not a spoken name.
• Download an offline language pack before you fly.
• Call 12345 for 24-hour help in 18 languages.

12345 is 24h in 18 foreign languages

1. Call 12345 for help in Chinese or 18 foreign languages, including English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Persian and Russian.

2. The line is 24 hours.

3. Expect the page's handling targets, not a guaranteed result.

4. Targets: respond within 24 hours, minor issues within five days, complex matters within 15 days.

5. The website is sh12345.gov.cn.

6. The page does not document a 'press 7' option; follow the current voice prompts.

• The 18-language list and 24-hour service are on english.shanghai.gov.cn.

Sources: Shanghai Municipal People's Government

Save the Chinese address and show it

1. Use marked, metered taxis and keep the receipt.

2. Save the Chinese address to help show your destination.

• Editor practice, not an official instruction: save hotel and attraction names in Chinese characters plus the phone number, and show that screen. It stays an editor suggestion until a city page or a matching firsthand account describes the same action.
• The metered-taxi and receipt advice is FCDO's; the city English pages captured this round do not print the screenshot how-to itself.
• Not confirmed by an official source yet.

Sources: UK FCDO

Download an offline pack; Google Translate cloud may fail

1. Download an offline language pack before you go.

2. A Google Translate cloud lookup on a mainland SIM may fail, because FCDO lists Google among the blocked services.

3. It may fail even if the app is installed.

4. This hub does not rank Pleco, Apple Translate or the in-app Alipay translators; no city English ranking of those tools was used.

• Editor preparation that does not rank apps: download an offline language pack on a tool you already use, and keep a Chinese address and phone number as images you can show without live data.
• FCDO lists Google among the blocked services.

Sources: UK FCDO

Traveller tips

• Alipay errors may stay in Chinese. A traveller on Reddit (April 2026) had the Alipay interface in English but saw payment errors still in Chinese characters; a relative translated that foreign cards were refused on that merchant QR. Screenshot-translate the error before you leave the counter. One traveller's April 2026 experience; error language and merchant card acceptance can differ. (Worldly-Fig-5270, 2026-04-26)
• 12345 vs 12367 for languages. Call 12345 for 24-hour service in 18 foreign languages; the page does not mention a 'press 7' option. For immigration questions, 12367 (page updated 17 August 2026) has Chinese, English, French, Russian, Japanese and Korean: English is a direct voice response, and French, Russian, Japanese and Korean open a three-way interpreter call. ISS email is intlservices@shanghai.gov.cn. (Shanghai Municipal People's Government; National Immigration Administration via english.shanghai.gov.cn)
• Show the Chinese address instead. Editor suggestion: lock-screen or screenshot the hotel name in Chinese plus the desk number, then point at it. No matching firsthand account of that exact lock-screen step was kept this round, and FCDO still wants a metered taxi and a receipt. _Editor suggestion, not a visitor_reported method._ (UK FCDO, 2026-08-27)

Next: Safety and getting help