The short version#
Some links on China Trip Compass are affiliate links. If you book or buy through one, we receive a commission from the merchant. You pay exactly the same price — the commission comes out of the merchant's margin, not out of your pocket.
This site is free to read, has no paywall and no registration, and affiliate commission is the main reason that is possible.
Which links#
Affiliate links appear in clearly marked "Partner pick" boxes and, occasionally, inline in the text where a specific service is the practical answer to a problem. They cover categories including:
- Hotel and accommodation booking
- High-speed rail and flight booking
- Data eSIMs and connectivity
- Travel insurance
- Tours, tickets and guided days
- Visa processing services
Every affiliate link carries rel="sponsored" in its markup, which is the standard technical signal to search engines and to any tool that reads it.
What it does not affect#
Which places we recommend. No destination, hotel, restaurant or attraction pays to be included, ranked or praised. The Great Wall section we tell you to visit is chosen on the merits.
What we say about a service. Where the best option is not commissionable, we say so. Several pages on this site explicitly tell readers to take the cheaper, non-affiliate route — the ¥100 bamboo raft instead of the ¥380 Li River cruise, second class instead of first, the ¥8 tourist bus instead of a private car.
Whether we mention a problem. If a partner service has a limitation, we describe it.
Advertising#
The site carries a small number of display advertising slots. Advertisers have no influence over editorial content and no advance sight of it. Ad slots are visually distinct from editorial content.
Our own products#
The shop sells resources we produce ourselves — planners and phrase packs. Those are our highest-margin income and, deliberately, the one we would rather grow, because it is the funding source with the least influence on what we recommend.
Questions#
If you want to know whether a specific link is an affiliate link, or how a particular recommendation was arrived at, ask us. We will tell you.