Before you start

Passport, and usually a residence permit or valid visa
A Chengdu address for broadband
An unlocked handset
A payment method for top-ups

Step-by-step

1
Get the SIM on day one
Any China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom shop issues one against your passport under real-name registration. Prepaid data plans are cheap. Do this before the bank and before flat viewings.
In personWho: YouDay 1
2
Register it in your own name, not the company's
An employer-registered number takes your bank verification and payment wallets with it when you change jobs. One extra shop visit removes the whole problem.
In personWho: You
3
Order broadband and check the building first
Chinese fibre is fast and cheap; installation depends on the building's wiring and landlord cooperation. Taking over an existing live line in the flat is far quicker than a new install — ask at the viewing.
In personWho: You1–2 weeks
4
Sort out access to blocked services before you fly
Email, password manager, authenticator, banking. Set the arrangement up and test it while you still have unrestricted access. There is no Hong Kong border here, so there is no local fallback of the kind Shenzhen residents rely on.
OnlineWho: YouBefore departure
5
Move two-factor authentication off a number you might lose
If a home bank texts codes to your old number and it lapses, you can be locked out of your own money from another country. Keep the old SIM alive cheaply or move to an authenticator app.
OnlineWho: YouBefore departure
6
Install the apps the city runs on
WeChat for social and much that is official, Alipay for payments and city services, Amap or Baidu Maps for navigation, DiDi for taxis, Meituan and Ele.me for delivery. Google Maps does not work in mainland China.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 1

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence permit or valid visa
Chengdu address for broadband
Payment method for top-ups

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no Hong Kong fallback here, which makes advance planning matter more.

Shenzhen and Guangzhou residents commonly use a Hong Kong or Macau SIM roaming on mainland towers to get an unfiltered connection, and it is an ordinary arrangement in the Pearl River Delta. Chengdu is fifteen hundred kilometres from that border. Whatever your arrangement for reaching blocked services is going to be, set it up and test it before you arrive, because the local improvisations available in the delta do not exist here.

Source: community-reported

The Chinese phone number is the root of your identity, and losing it is expensive.

Real-name registration binds the number to your passport, and from there it becomes the verification anchor for your bank, Alipay, WeChat Pay, hospital bookings, delivery apps and often your compound's door access. Re-establishing it after a lapse means redoing the registration and re-verifying every downstream service individually. Keep it topped up through long absences.

Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

WeChat is more load-bearing in a second-tier city than a first-tier one.

With a smaller foreign community and much less English-language service infrastructure, WeChat is how you find a plumber, join a hiking group, get your landlord to fix the boiler and reach the consulate's community announcements. Groups here are the substitute for the expat services that exist commercially in Shanghai. Set it up before arrival if possible — verification sometimes needs an existing user to vouch for you.

Source: community-reported

Google Maps does not work, and in western Sichuan that stops being an inconvenience.

China mandates a coordinate offset on published mapping data and Google's mainland base data is poor and misaligned. In the city Amap or Baidu Maps solves it entirely. On the roads west of Chengdu, where the alternative is no signal and no map at all, downloading offline Amap coverage before you leave the city is a genuine safety step rather than a convenience.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting the employer register your SIM in the company's name.
Arriving without a tested arrangement for reaching blocked accounts.
Assuming a Pearl River Delta workaround is available fifteen hundred kilometres inland.
Leaving two-factor authentication on a home number you then let lapse.
Driving into the mountains without offline maps downloaded.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.