Short answer: Yes. Your passport is a legally accepted ID for a Chinese mobile number, and any China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom shop that handles foreign documents can sell you a prepaid SIM in about a quarter of an hour. What you cannot do is buy one anonymously: every number in mainland China must be tied to a verified identity at the point of sale, so the card is registered to your passport while you stand at the counter. Bring the physical passport, not a copy or a photo. eSIM is the one part of this that is still moving. Chinese carriers only began selling eSIM phone service in October 2025 under a commercial trial, so mainland eSIM remains an in-person, store-only process, and most short-stay visitors are still better served by an international travel eSIM bought before they fly.
Why you cannot buy an anonymous SIM
Real-name registration is not a shop policy, it is a regulation. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Provisions on Real-Name Registration of Telephone Users as Order No. 25, published on July 16, 2013 and in force since September 1, 2013. Article 7 lists the identity documents an individual may present, and item 4 is a foreign citizen passport. Article 6 obliges the carrier to ask for that document and the customer to cooperate.
In practice this means the counter staff will scan your passport, may take a live photo of you, and will enter your name, document number and often a local address into the national registration system before the line activates. This is the same identity data immigration already holds. Anyone offering you a pre-registered or anonymous card, online or on the street, is selling someone else's identity registration, and the number can be cut off without warning.
Where to buy one
| Channel | What to expect | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier counter at the airport | Arrivals halls at the major international gateways have China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom desks, some open around the clock. Staff are used to passports and usually speak some English. Plan choice is narrow and prices sit above city level. | Landing late, wanting a working number before leaving the terminal |
| Carrier-owned store in town | The full plan menu and lower prices. Look for the official China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom signage rather than a small agent, because small resellers often cannot process a foreign passport at all. | Longer stays, or wanting a cheaper plan and time to compare |
| International travel eSIM, bought before departure | Installed from a QR code, no queue and no counter. Whether your traffic exits outside mainland China depends on the provider's routing, not on the word eSIM. | Short trips, dual-SIM phones, travellers who need their usual apps |
| Pocket Wi-Fi rental | A separate device and deposit, shared by several travellers. Useful for families and small groups; it does not give you a Chinese phone number. | Groups and multi-device travellers |
What to bring
The physical passport is mandatory, and staff will check that it is the same document you entered the country on. A visa or a visa-free entry stamp may be looked at alongside it. Some stores ask for a local address, so have your hotel name and address ready, ideally written in Chinese. You do not need a Chinese bank account, a local guarantor or a residence permit for a short-stay prepaid card.
Your phone also has to cooperate. It must be carrier-unlocked and able to work on Chinese 4G or 5G bands. Chinese carriers sell short-validity tourist products, commonly 7, 15 and 30 days, so match the plan to your itinerary and do not buy a 30-day pack for a five-day trip. Prices differ by carrier, city and channel, and change often, so treat any figure you read online as indicative and confirm at the counter.
Can you get an eSIM in China instead?
This changed recently enough that much of the advice online is out of date. On October 13, 2025, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom all confirmed approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to run eSIM phone service as a commercial trial, and the three carriers began selling it the same day. The first mainland-market iPhone to ship without a physical SIM tray, the iPhone Air, went on sale in China on October 22, 2025.
Three consequences matter for a visitor. First, mainland eSIM is still a trial-stage, in-person product: activation requires identity verification at a carrier's own store, so it is not something you can arrange from abroad. Second, eSIM numbers count toward the same limit as physical cards, with a maximum of five numbers per identity document. Third, device support is uneven, and most iPhone models sold inside mainland China have no eSIM capability at all, so a phone bought there cannot use one. Do not build your trip around a mainland eSIM. Treat it as a bonus if your device and your local store both support it.
Local SIM or international eSIM: which connection sees what
The choice is not only about price, because the two connections do not reach the same internet. A card issued by a Chinese carrier connects through a mainland network, and on that connection a number of widely used overseas services are generally unreachable, including Google search and Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. An international travel eSIM or your home carrier's roaming passes traffic out through a network outside mainland China, and those services usually work as they do at home.
Read the provider's routing carefully before you buy. Not every eSIM sold for China leaves the mainland: some plans are local-breakout products that behave exactly like a Chinese SIM. If access to your usual apps is the reason you are buying, confirm the routing in writing. If you want the full picture of what is and is not reachable, and why a VPN is not the answer we recommend, see Do I need a VPN to use the internet in China?
If you are staying longer
Business travellers, students and anyone on a multi-week itinerary should buy at a carrier-owned store rather than the airport, and should ask two questions at the counter: whether the plan can be topped up from outside China, and what happens to the number if you leave and come back. Ask for a receipt or an electronic bill and keep it, because it is what you will be asked for if you later need to retrieve the number, replace a lost card or close the account. Deleting an eSIM profile from your phone does not close the account; only the carrier can do that.
Chinese carriers also run a dedicated service channel for foreign nationals, including a store locator published by the ministry and English-language support on the main hotlines: 10086 for China Mobile, 10010 for China Unicom, 10000 for China Telecom and 10099 for China Broadcasting Network. If a small branch turns you away, call the hotline and ask for the nearest self-operated store that processes foreign passports.
The short version
Bring your passport to an official carrier counter or store, expect fifteen minutes of paperwork, and buy a tourist plan sized to your trip. If you also need your usual overseas apps, buy an international travel eSIM before you fly and confirm that it routes outside the mainland. Running both is a common and sensible setup: the Chinese number for taxis, deliveries and local calls, the travel eSIM for everything else.
We can build the connectivity plan into your itinerary, including arrival-day logistics and which option suits your devices. Tell us your route and we will map it out: start a custom enquiry.
Last updated: October 29, 2026. Sources: Provisions on Real-Name Registration of Telephone Users (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Order No. 25, 2013), gov.cn; Guide for Foreign Business People Working and Living in China (2025 edition); Chongqing government service guide for telecom cards for foreign nationals; China News Service and Xinhua Finance reporting on the eSIM commercial trial approval, October 2025.
