The difference between a good day and a forgettable one in China often comes down to who is speaking. A licensed guide who works in your group's language, knows which site your delegation can actually enter, and understands what your guests will find interesting turns a list of sights into an argument you will still be discussing on the flight home. This guide explains the languages we work in, where we can cover, how we match a guide to your group, and what a full day with a guide actually includes.
Last updated: November 2026
Which languages do we provide tour guides in?
We work with licensed guides across eleven provinces and municipalities, and the language coverage is not uniform, so the honest answer depends on where you are going.
Across our Xi'an and Shaanxi operation, the widest coverage sits in the northwest. We hold rates for English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean, each at two levels: a mid-level guide and a senior or specialist guide. In Beijing, Guilin, Luoyang, Chongqing and Huangshan we work across a comparable core set of English, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. Shanghai has the broadest spread of any single city in our network, with guides available in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Thai and Indonesian.
Two points follow from this and both matter when you are planning.
First, if your group needs a language outside the common European set, tell us early and we will confirm the city rather than assume it. Japanese and Korean guides are centred on the Xi'an and Shaanxi circuit. Thai and Indonesian guides sit in Shanghai. Italian covers Shanghai and Luoyang. In Guilin we can also source a guide for any language you require, which is useful when a delegation needs one working language in several cities at once.
Second, a city you have not heard of may still work. We hold guide rates in Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing as well, and our Guilin coverage includes an all-languages entry for groups whose itinerary crosses provinces.
What is the difference between a mid-level and a senior guide?
The two levels are not a quality verdict on the person. They are different scopes of work, and the right choice depends on what your group is doing rather than on how much you want to spend.
A mid-level guide handles the standard visit: the major sites, the historical sequence, the practical details of moving between them and the questions that come up along the way. A senior or specialist guide is the person you want when the content is the point. That is a museum curator explaining a specific bronze hoard, an architecture specialist reading a Tang dynasty plan, a guide who can hold a two-hour conversation in your language about Han dynasty foreign policy without losing the thread.
For most leisure and study groups a mid-level guide on most days is the right allocation, with a senior guide on the one or two days where the substance matters. Business and academic delegations usually want the senior level throughout, because the questions are the point rather than the sightseeing.
How do we match a guide to your group?
We do not send the same guide to every English-speaking group. Three inputs determine the match, and we ask for all three before we assign anyone.
The first is the language and level, which come out of the coverage above. The second is the subject. A group going to Sanxingdui, a group going to a porcelain workshop and a group going to a university laboratory need three different people even if they all speak English and all travel in the same month. The third is the shape of the day. A full day, a half day and an evening meal briefing are different commitments, and a guide who has spent a morning with you is not automatically the right person for the evening.
Once we have those three, the guide is briefed on your group before arrival: the industry or academic field your guests work in, the questions they are likely to ask, whether anyone in the party has dietary or mobility constraints, and what has already been covered on earlier days so the commentary does not repeat itself.
What does a full day with a guide include?
A full day is an eight-hour engagement. A half day is typically four hours, and the rate is set at roughly half to two-thirds of the full-day figure rather than a simple division, because the setup and briefing time does not shrink in proportion to the hours on the ground.
Overtime beyond the agreed day is charged per hour and is only relevant if the plan changes on the day, usually because a meeting runs long or a site closes later than expected. We agree the trigger with you before the trip so it never becomes a surprise on an invoice.
The guide's own meal allowance and any venue costs such as a lecture room are handled separately and shown as their own lines, so you can see exactly what the guide is costing versus what the venue is costing.
How much does a tour guide cost in China?
Guide fees are quoted in Chinese yuan per day and depend on three things: the language, the level and the city. The table below shows our Xi'an and Shaanxi rates, which is the widest coverage we hold and a useful reference point for other cities.
| Language | Mid-level full day | Mid-level half day | Senior full day | Senior half day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 800 | 500 | 1,200 | 700 |
| French | 900 | 550 | 1,300 | 800 |
| German | 900 | 550 | 1,500 | 800 |
| Russian | 1,000 | 500 | 1,500 | 750 |
| Spanish | 900 | 550 | 1,500 | 800 |
| Portuguese | 900 | 550 | 1,300 | 800 |
| Japanese | 900 | 550 | 1,300 | 800 |
| Korean | 900 | 550 | 1,300 | 800 |
| Mandarin | 600 | 350 | 1,000 | 600 |
Two observations from the table. The mid-level English rate is the lowest of any foreign language, which reflects how deep the pool of English-speaking guides is. And the gap between mid-level and senior is widest in German, Spanish and Russian, at roughly 600 to 650 yuan a day, because the specialist pool in those languages is thinner.
These are guide fees only. They sit alongside your vehicle, driver, entrance tickets, meals, insurance and the group service fee, and the total is what appears on your quotation. If you want the full breakdown rather than a single guide line, our China Trip Planning and Itineraries guide explains how we build a quotation, and how to get around a Chinese city in 2026 covers the transport side.
Which kind of trip needs a guide most?
A guide earns its cost in a very different way depending on what your group is doing.
Leisure travellers benefit most from a senior guide on the days with the deepest history and a mid-level guide for the rest. If your group mostly wants photography, shopping and food, you need a good guide on the first day of each city for orientation and almost none afterwards.
Study and school groups need the mid-level guide consistently, with the senior level reserved for the academic or technical sessions. A campus visit and a workshop are different work, and the guide who handles the workshop is usually not the one you want running the campus tour.
Business and corporate delegations should ask for the senior level throughout. The commercial or technical substance is what the trip is for, and the sites are the context. This is also where our Translators and Experts guide becomes relevant, because a delegation that needs to interview people, attend a formal meeting or hold a briefing session needs a different set of people from the ones who lead the sightseeing days.
Medical and wellness travellers usually want the mid-level guide on transfer and orientation days, and specialists only when a treatment, a therapy or a clinical visit is part of the plan. We cover this kind of itinerary in more detail in our medical travel guide.
How do we brief a guide who has never met your group?
Every guide receives a written brief before the first day. It covers who is travelling, what the group does, which questions have already been answered on earlier days, and any constraints that will affect the day on the ground, including mobility needs and dietary requirements that affect where you stop for lunch.
The same brief goes to the driver and to the operator on the ground, so the guide is not the only person who knows the plan. That coordination is what prevents the common failure where a group arrives at a site that has already closed for the day, or where a guide spends an hour on a topic the group explicitly does not care about.
For delegations where the agenda is still being negotiated at the time of booking, we send a provisional brief and update it as each site confirms. In our experience the most common late change is a meeting slot moving by an hour, and the guide budget absorbs that without a fee change as long as the total day length is unchanged.
What should we ask for when we book?
Send us five things and we can come back with a named recommendation and a firm quote.
Tell us the city or cities, the dates, the number of guests, the language you need, and whether the visit is sightseeing, academic, commercial or a combination. Add the subject interests if you have them, because that is what separates a mid-level guide from a senior one in practice.
If you already know your group has a specific interest, an engineering delegation visiting manufacturing plants and a history group visiting the same museums should not receive the same guide. Say what the group does, and we will match accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
Can we get a guide who speaks an unusual language?
Often, yes, but not in every city. Guilin in particular can source guides for any language. Elsewhere, Japanese and Korean are strongest around Xi'an and Shaanxi, Thai and Indonesian around Shanghai, and Italian around Shanghai and Luoyang. Send us the language and the city and we will confirm what is actually available rather than guess.
Is the guide fee included in the tour price?
No. The guide fee is a separate line on your quotation, shown by language and level so you can see exactly what the guide costs. It is not folded into a per-person price, which means you can change the guide level for one day without rebuilding the whole quotation.
What happens if our group needs a guide only for part of the trip?
That is normal and it is one of the reasons we quote half days separately. Many groups use a mid-level guide for the first day in a city for orientation and then add a senior guide for a single museum or site later in the itinerary.
Do you provide a guide for a private group or a coach tour?
Both. The same guide works either way, but the brief changes: a private group can be walked through a slower or more specialised route, while a coach group needs the commentary timed to the vehicle schedule.
Can the guide handle questions about our own industry?
Often, yes. This is where the senior level earns its difference. Tell us your field when you enquire and we will match a guide whose background is close to it, so the questions on site land with someone who can actually answer them.
Can we speak to the guide before the trip?
Yes, and we encourage it on delegations where the agenda matters. Ask for a short call or a written introduction, and we will arrange it with the assigned guide.
Next steps
Tell us the city, the dates, the group size and the language, and we will confirm which guides are available and what each option costs. If your delegation needs interpreters or subject specialists alongside the guide, our Translators and Experts guide covers that side.
If you want to see how a guided day fits into a complete itinerary before you commit, our China Trip Planning and Itineraries section walks through the structure, and Tailor-Made and Special Interest Travel explains how we build a trip around one theme rather than a list of cities.