Good country, exhausting tourist industry

China is a genuinely beautiful and interesting place. Terracotta Army is worth every superlative thrown at it. The dim sum is legitimately excellent. extraordinary ancient history gave the trip real depth.

What I struggled with: the tourist infrastructure around the headline sites in Chengdu is relentlessly commercial and payment apps can be tricky for foreigners is a genuine friction point. You can feel the gap between authentic China and the packaged version sold to tourists. The authentic version wins, but you have to work to find it.