What should I wear when I travel in China?
Comfortable is the keyword when it comes to your attire while you tour China. The Chinese do not have a very clearly spelt-out dressing code. The country has in rapid changes for quite some time now, and Chinese life today is a curious mixture of traditional Chinese and modern Western mores, customs and etiquette, and the country has learned to recognize and, to various extent, accept differences among people from different backgrounds. Most clothes that you wear in the West should encounter no problems in China. Jeans, sneakers, t shirts an walk shorts are quite acceptable wears for tourists. It is, however, prudent not to wear anything that is extremely revealing, especially in the case of female travelers. Many young Chinese girls in urban areas do dress rather aggressively, but of course traveling in a foreign country is different from hanging around one's own home turf because one does not know foreign lands as well and cannot very well foresee what situations lying ahead.
If you're going to travel into remote rural areas where people have rarely seen any foreigners, you should dress a little more conservatively. Not that the local people would object; generally the Chinese are easy-going and would cut some slacks for men and women from foreign lands. In this particular situation, the main reason to dress a little more conservatively is that you're going to get a lot of attention - curious stares, for instance. (For some reasons, most Chinese do not feel that staring is rude. Not that kind of cold stare, of course, but the kind out of curiosity and interest).
If you are planning to attend formal events, business meetings or evening functions, you should dress up. Dress for ladies and suits and ties for gentlemen should do.
So, when you plan what to wear while traveling in China, give more consideration to matters such as weather, road conditions, etc.
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