High-Speed Rail from Guangzhou and Shenzhen: Buying Tickets on 12306 (as of November 2026)

I'm a university student living in Dongguan, Guangdong. When friends want to venture from Guangzhou or Shenzhen to places like Guilin, Changsha or Xiamen, the question I hear most is, "How do I buy a high-speed rail ticket?" China's high-speed rail (gaotie) is very convenient once you're used to it, but it has rules you may not be used to, such as real-name ticketing. This article walks through how foreigners buy a ticket with a passport and get on the train, as of November 2026.

First, understand "real-name" ticketing

Every rail ticket in China is issued in the passenger's name. When you buy a ticket, you register the traveler's ID, and you use that same ID at the gates. For foreigners, that's your passport.

What matters is that you must have the passport you registered with when you're at the station. Electronic tickets with no paper ticket are the norm, so think of the passport itself as your ticket. Getting even one character of your passport number wrong can stop you from boarding, so enter it carefully.

The rest is in the PDF edition.