CHINA: Wuhan, Chongqing, Shanghai

[fur lined sea]

Any pals living or have been to these cities in China? I've been to Shanghai and linked up with a few people living abroad there. Shanghai is a gold mine for spots, but I'm wondering about these other two cities.

I'm heading over there in January.

[Allez_Jambon]

Check out Fly and Avenue & Son in Shanghai. I think Jeff from Fly was the first dude to do sneaker culture shit in China. Brian and Edan and Johnny Tang are awesome. I'd recommend going there because I got to know and chill with those dudes. All are from North America and are down to skate and help you out. Avenue & Son is like a Helas offshoot I think, right? Cool product but didnt really spend time there.

Of course, there's so much shit in Shanghai. I stayed in the French Concession area which I imagine is less of a culture difference (i.e. breakfast sandwiches and shit like that) so it's cool to meet up at the center, skate flat, and then go to LP or explore. I have no idea what the name of anything was or how to get there except for the center and LP but yeah, have fun with it.

[fulfillthedream]

for shanghai check out these instagram pages;

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/shanghaiskatespot/

https://www.instagram.com/jaymeador/

Found these for Chongqing;

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/chongqingskatespot/

the locations are there for most of them. have you traveled to china before?

[fur lined sea]

I travelled to Shanghai about 2 years ago for 2 weeks. I skated LP park almost everyday (plus everything else I stumbled across) where I linked up with both the Fly and Avenue and Sons guys. Such great crews and shops. Edan is the man. Avenue and Sons was indeed very Helas heavy.

Thank you for those instagram pages. I looked at Jay's page quite a bit before going to Shanghai last time. Chongqing look so fun. I'll definitely try find some of those spots.

Where in China are you Fulfill? I'll be over for three weeks and I plan to spend one week in each city.

[fulfillthedream]

Alright thats good you've been before so you know what to do to prepare (VPNs, translator apps etc)

I'm living in Guangzhou. Theres a good resources through Insta and SLAP for linking with skaters. A week is a good amount of time for a skateboarding trip.Have fun!

[fur lined sea]

Bump. Going back to China for a third time. Again the Hubei province and probably Chengdu. Down to meet up and skate if anyone’s around.

[drinkwaterjamie]

i didn't take my board but there's spots in chengdu EVERYWHERE. lots of waxed up spots around the centre and by the mao monument, there was a really cool manny pad around the corner from the mosque in the muslim district, near peoples park. next time i go i'm 100% taking my board

[sexualhelon]

Well, I will say that if you go to Chonggqing definitely go to Chengdu too.

[Sila]

Thinking about rolling through late June after Japan. Have only done layovers at airports before. Any tips on language barrier stuff or using metros etc?

[sexualhelon]

Thinking about rolling through late June after Japan. Have only done layovers at airports before. Any tips on language barrier stuff or using metros etc?

The metro is pretty easy in the big cities. You definitely need to have a VPN before visiting - Google, FB, Instagram, etc... won't work without it. People use wechat for everything - at least the last time I was there. If you have a translator on your phone, you can get buy with that but the language barrier makes it hard to interact normally with (most) people. In the bigger cities it's a bit easier - maybe more so than people think it will be (depending) but that also depends what you're doing.

[fur lined sea]

i didn't take my board but there's spots in chengdu EVERYWHERE. lots of waxed up spots around the centre and by the mao monument, there was a really cool manny pad around the corner from the mosque in the muslim district, near peoples park. next time i go i'm 100% taking my board

Awesome, this is what I want to hear. Only in Chengdu for a day or two but I can’t wait.

Well, I will say that if you go to Chonggqing definitely go to Chengdu too.

I went to Chongqing last trip. That place was bonkers. Would definitely go back if possible.

[fur lined sea]

Expand Quote

Thinking about rolling through late June after Japan. Have only done layovers at airports before. Any tips on language barrier stuff or using metros etc?

[close]

The metro is pretty easy in the big cities. You definitely need to have a VPN before visiting - Google, FB, Instagram, etc... won't work without it. People use wechat for everything - at least the last time I was there. If you have a translator on your phone, you can get buy with that but the language barrier makes it hard to interact normally with (most) people. In the bigger cities it's a bit easier - maybe more so than people think it will be (depending) but that also depends what you're doing.

This is all still correct. You can use an e sim to get around all of blocked sites and apps, too. The good news is that Slap is not blocked here.

I recommend Shanghai if you’re trying to go to China for the first time. That’s where I met the most skaters, most of them were Americans living abroad and most Chinese skaters could speak some English there, too. Plus the Shanghai spots are already waxed, broken in and ready to go.

[drinkwaterjamie]

Thinking about rolling through late June after Japan. Have only done layovers at airports before. Any tips on language barrier stuff or using metros etc?

get a e-sim from trip.com, set up alipay/wechatpay, didi for taxi's, take a small amount of cash with you in case it backfires and download mandarin as a translate. you'll be fine !!! in bigger cities, you find people speak a few words of english, might be good to learn "how much" and "no thank you" before you fly out, it goes a long way. also make sure you have cigarettes, good bargaining tool if you're ever in any negotiations and a lot of people exchange cigarettes when first greeting