Emergency Care in China: What Happens If You Get Hurt as an Expat or Traveler

Getting hurt in a country where you do not speak the language is frightening. The good news is that China's emergency system follows a small number of rules that are easy to learn before you need them.

This guide explains those rules for expats and travelers: which number to call, where an ambulance will take you, how triage and payment work in a Chinese emergency department (急诊), and what to keep for your insurer. It describes how the system generally works. It is not medical advice, and in a real emergency the instructions of the dispatcher and the treating clinicians come first.

Quick summary

• Call 120 for medical emergencies. 120 is China's public emergency medical number. Police is 110, fire is 119, and traffic accidents are 122.
• Nearest capable emergency department first. For a serious injury or illness the priority is the nearest appropriate emergency department, not a famous specialist hospital across town. Specialist follow-up is arranged once the patient is stable.
• Ambulance fees are set city by city. In Beijing, 120 transport is billed under a published municipal schedule: a base charge for the first 3 km plus a per-kilometre charge for the distance actually carried, with treatment, medicines and consumables billed separately. Other cities publish their own rules. Do not delay urgent care over cost.
• Resuscitation does not wait for payment. Life-threatening cases are stabilised first. For stable conditions, hospitals may ask for registration or payment before non-urgent tests, medicines or procedures.
• Keep every receipt. Your travel or international health insurer will want the itemised bill, the official receipt (发票) and the medical records, and the originals are usually in Chinese.

Calling 120: how the ambulance service works

For many travelers from North America, calling an ambulance carries real financial dread, and people with fractures or acute injuries sometimes take a taxi to avoid a surprise bill. In China, dialling 120 connects you to a public emergency medical service run by the city.

When you call, the dispatcher needs four things, in Mandarin if at all possible:

1. The exact location: the address, the nearest landmark or hotel name, and the floor or room.
2. Who the patient is: age and sex.
3. The main problem: for example "not breathing normally", "heavy bleeding", "fell and cannot move a leg".
4. A call-back number that will be answered.

Do not assume the dispatcher speaks English. A hotel front desk, a local colleague or a translation app on speaker can relay the information, and it helps to save your address in Chinese characters on your phone the day you arrive.

What an ambulance ride costs, using Beijing as the example

Beijing publishes its ambulance charges as a municipal price schedule. The bill is built from separate lines rather than a single fee:

Charge	How it is calculated
Ambulance transport	A base charge covering the first 3 km, then a per-kilometre charge for the distance the patient is actually carried
Pre-hospital emergency treatment	A separate charge when the crew treats a critical case before arrival
Medicines, consumables and special equipment	Billed item by item on top of transport

Other cities set their own schedules, so the same ride can cost a different amount in Shanghai or Chengdu. For the current figures in a given city, check the local emergency medical centre or the price notice from the municipal authority. Whatever the amount, treat it as an itemised medical bill and keep the receipt for your insurer. It should never be the reason to delay calling for help.

Nearest capable emergency department first, specialist follow-up second

Foreigners who have read about China's large specialist hospitals sometimes plan to go straight to the "best" hospital for their problem. For anything serious, that is the wrong order.

• For a serious injury or illness, go to, or let the ambulance take you to, the nearest emergency department capable of managing it. Crossing a large city in traffic to reach a preferred destination costs time that a bleeding, breathless or head-injured patient does not have.
• Once the patient is stable, the treating team can advise whether a transfer or a specialist follow-up is appropriate, and when it is safe to travel there.

Two common situations

A child with a facial cut. First look for emergency signs: bleeding that will not stop with firm pressure, loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion or a possible neck injury. If any are present, call 120. If the child is stable, go to the nearest capable emergency department, where clinicians assess the wound, the risk of infection and any need for imaging. If cosmetic or reconstructive follow-up is clinically appropriate, they can refer you to a plastic surgery service once the immediate problem is dealt with. Do not assume that a named specialist centre will see you immediately or offer a particular surgeon or technique.

A fishbone stuck in the throat. Freshwater fish is common in Chinese cooking, and lodged fishbones are a frequent reason for urgent visits. Seek prompt medical assessment at an emergency department or emergency ENT service rather than trying to dislodge it yourself. Deep throat or oesophageal foreign bodies can become emergencies, and difficulty breathing or drooling because you cannot swallow means calling 120.

Where to go first, by problem

Problem	Practical first destination	What to do
Facial cut or burn	Nearest capable emergency department	Control bleeding and get assessed. Ask about reconstructive follow-up once the patient is stable.
Suspected fracture or major trauma	Nearest trauma-capable emergency department, via 120	Do not move a possible spine, pelvis or major limb injury without medical advice.
Suspected poisoning	Call 120 or go to the nearest emergency department	Bring the container or a photo of the substance. Do not induce vomiting unless clinicians tell you to.
Eye or ear, nose and throat emergency	Nearest emergency eye, ENT or general emergency department	Seek prompt assessment. Do not try to remove a deep foreign body yourself.
Seriously unwell child	Nearest capable paediatric or general emergency department, via 120	Call 120 for breathing difficulty, drowsiness, seizures, severe dehydration or other red flags.
Possible stroke	Nearest stroke-capable emergency centre, via 120	Note the time symptoms started. Do not drive the patient yourself when emergency transport is indicated.

For more on how Chinese hospitals are organised, and what the Grade 3 Class A (三级甲等) label does and does not tell you, see What a Grade A Tertiary Hospital in China Actually Is.

How emergency care changes across China

What "nearest capable" means depends on where you are.

Where you are	What emergency care usually looks like	What to expect
Municipalities and provincial capitals (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing)	Many large tertiary hospitals and more specialist services	Traffic, current capacity and the patient's condition still decide the destination. Call 120 for serious symptoms and let dispatch choose.
Prefectural cities (for example Guilin, Lijiang, Luoyang)	Standalone specialist hospitals are rare; one or two large general hospitals handle most emergencies	For a stable problem, the main municipal people's hospital or the affiliated hospital of a local medical university is often a practical start. In an emergency, use the nearest capable emergency department.
Rural and remote areas (for example western Sichuan, northern Xinjiang, Tibet)	County-level public hospitals stabilise the patient and arrange transfer to a regional centre	Tell clinicians about altitude exposure, how the injury happened, your medicines, allergies and chronic conditions. Road distance, weather and terrain affect any transfer plan.

If you are heading somewhere remote, check before you go that your insurance covers emergency transfer and evacuation, and how to contact the insurer's assistance line from China.

Step by step: what to do if you get hurt

1. Call 120 for warning signs. Loss of consciousness, difficulty breathing, chest pain, stroke signs, severe bleeding, major trauma, a possible head or spinal injury, drowning, poisoning or a severe allergic reaction all mean calling 120. If you are unsure whether it is an emergency, call rather than self-triage. A taxi or ride-hailing car is reasonable only for a clearly stable, minor problem when the patient can walk and communicate normally.
2. Register at the emergency department. Bring a passport if you have it, but do not delay treatment to find documents. Hospitals can open a temporary record and ask for identification later.
3. Triage. A triage nurse checks vital signs and assigns a priority. Critical patients go straight to resuscitation or emergency treatment areas without waiting for routine registration steps. Stable patients may wait according to the hospital's triage system and current demand, then be directed to emergency surgery, emergency internal medicine, emergency ENT or another service.
4. Tests and treatment. CT, X-ray, ultrasound and blood tests are available at many larger hospitals and are ordered when clinically needed. The hospital will tell you when results are expected; it depends on the hospital and the clinical priority.
5. Pay and keep records when you are able. For stable care, pay the itemised fees using the methods the hospital accepts. For emergency care, payment can follow initial treatment. Ask for the itemised bill, the official receipt (发票), test reports and prescriptions, and keep the Chinese originals even if an English version is available.

Payment and insurance

Chinese public hospitals generally expect patients without Chinese social insurance to pay themselves first. Only some hospitals, usually international departments or private clinics, bill international insurers directly, and even then only for eligible policies.

For a smooth claim, contact your insurer's assistance line as early as is practical. Many insurers require notification before admission or before an expensive procedure. Keep the itemised bill, the official receipt, the discharge summary and any imaging on disc. Payment methods vary; many hospitals accept Alipay or WeChat Pay, which foreigners can link to an international card, and our payment guide covers the setup.

Where PriumCare fits in China

We are not an emergency service. In an emergency, call 120 first and follow the dispatcher and the treating team.

Where our role starts is afterwards, and it is administrative rather than clinical. Where that support is confirmed in your service scope, PriumCare can help with the steps that follow a stay in an emergency department: organising and translating reports and discharge documents, collecting the itemised bills and receipts your insurer asks for, and, once the treating clinicians consider it appropriate, arranging a specialist follow-up appointment with language support.

We do not diagnose, we do not treat, and we do not decide where an ambulance takes a patient. The hospital's clinicians decide the care you receive, and the hospital's own bill governs what you pay.

For non-urgent care, Navigating Medical Care in China for International Patients explains how routine visits work, and Public, Private or International: Choosing a Hospital in China compares the service settings you can book. If you need help after an emergency visit, contact our team.

Frequently asked questions

What is the emergency number in China?

Dial 120 for a medical emergency and an ambulance. The other emergency numbers are 110 for police, 119 for fire and 122 for traffic accidents. All four are free to call from a mobile phone.

Will the 120 operator speak English?

Do not assume so. State the exact location, the patient's age, the main symptom and any immediate danger. A hotel concierge, a local colleague or a translation app can relay this in Mandarin, and saving your address in Chinese characters on your phone makes the call much easier.

Do I need to pay a deposit before emergency treatment?

For life-threatening emergencies, stabilisation should begin without delay. For stable conditions, hospitals may require payment before non-urgent medicines, tests or procedures. Ask about the payment process once the patient is safe, and notify your insurer as early as is practical.

Can an ambulance take me to any hospital I choose?

You can state a preference, but 120 crews and dispatchers choose the destination based on the patient's condition, distance, the emergency capability available and local routing rules. In a life-threatening emergency, expect to be taken to the nearest appropriate centre.

Are rabies and tetanus shots available after a bite or a dirty wound?

After an animal bite or scratch, or a contaminated wound, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water and seek prompt assessment at a designated exposure clinic or an emergency department. Opening hours, vaccine stock and the correct treatment plan vary by location, so call ahead when it is safe to do so. Do not wait to see whether the wound looks infected.

Will my travel insurance pay the hospital directly?

Sometimes, but do not count on it. Direct billing depends on your policy, your insurer and the specific hospital. Most emergency visits at public hospitals are paid by the patient first and claimed afterwards, which is why the itemised bill and official receipt matter.

Sources and further reading

• World Health Organization, rabies fact sheet (first aid and post-exposure care): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, travelers' health information for China: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/china
• Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, notice on pre-hospital emergency prices (metered ambulance billing by distance carried): https://fgw.beijing.gov.cn/gzdt/fgzs/mtbdx/bzwlxw/201912/t20191221_1392769.htm
• What a Grade A Tertiary Hospital in China Actually Is
• Stroke: symptoms, emergency response and treatment
• Navigating Medical Care in China for International Patients