1. The service and operator
China Travel Companion is operated by 盛欣怡 (Sheng Xinyi), an individual based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ("we", "us"), through www.thetravel.cn. We provide English-language digital travel guides for international visitors to China: city-specific instructions, local-life information, visual explanations, troubleshooting and Survival / Quick Cards.
We supply informational digital content, not a package holiday, travel-agency booking, transport, hotel, medical service or live emergency response. No physical product is shipped. Contact the China Travel Companion team at gochinatravel@hotmail.com.
You must be legally able to enter a purchase contract, or have a parent or guardian purchase and manage access. These terms do not waive mandatory consumer rights. Our Privacy Policy explains personal information separately.
2. Free previews and paid city access
You may browse designated free previews without buying a guide. Free previews contain selected information and sample steps, not all detailed instructions or all Quick Cards. Urgent emergency essentials remain free.
A Full City Guide includes the complete paid guides and included Quick Cards for the city purchased, across its three journey stages. Quick Cards are not a separate purchase. Paying for Shanghai does not unlock Beijing or any other city; each city’s access is checked separately.
There is no all-cities membership and no recurring subscription. A preview, a shared link, an account sign-in or a URL setting does not establish paid access.
3. Price, payment and Creem’s role
The displayed base price is $39 USD per city, paid once. Any applicable tax, currency conversion or final total must be shown at checkout before you authorise payment. We do not automatically renew a purchase or charge a subscription.
Current availability: checkout is not live. A disabled unlock button or an access-details page does not take payment, simulate a successful purchase or grant access. These terms describe the purchase model to apply when checkout is enabled.
Creem is the planned Merchant of Record and contractual reseller for the transaction. Its Buyer Terms govern its checkout, transaction and buyer services; it handles payments, applicable transaction tax, receipts and transaction refunds. Its Privacy Notice applies to information it processes.
China Travel Companion remains responsible for the guide content, digital delivery, account access and product support. Creem is not the author of our guides and does not operate our city-access system. Creem’s transaction terms apply to its services; our product terms do not override them or applicable law.
4. Digital delivery and account access
Once checkout is available, access is delivered online after payment is verified and the corresponding city entitlement is linked to your account. Use the email associated with your purchase to sign in and open My Guides. You do not receive a parcel or a downloadable offline pack.
A payment receipt alone is not a reason to pay again if the guide is missing. Email us with your purchase email, city and order reference so we can verify the transaction and restore access. Never send full card details or a login code.
Personal access supports up to two registered browsers, for example a phone browser and an iPad browser. Different browsers count separately even on the same device. You can remove an old browser in My Guides; replacement limits may apply to prevent account sharing. Sessions normally last up to 30 days. Signing in again to an existing entitlement does not require another purchase.
You need a compatible web browser and internet connection to use the website. Saving a Quick Card stores a link on that browser, not an offline copy. You may save personal-use screenshots and essential addresses before leaving Wi-Fi.
A one-time purchase is not a promise of perpetual hosting or a lifetime update service. We will not retrospectively shorten an access period disclosed for an existing order. If discontinuation prevents us from supplying paid access as agreed, the remedies in section 7 and applicable law remain available.
5. Personal-use licence and content ownership
A purchase gives you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to access the purchased city’s content for your own travel use, subject to applicable consumer rights. It does not transfer ownership of the guide.
You may show a Quick Card to staff, a driver or a helper, and keep reasonable personal-use screenshots. You may share a public page link; the recipient still needs their own entitlement to view protected content.
You must not resell guides or access, share account credentials, republish protected content, redistribute screenshots as a guide or paid collection, scrape or reproduce substantial content, or bypass access controls without permission. This does not restrict uses expressly permitted by applicable law.
Our original text, organisation and website materials belong to China Travel Companion or the relevant rights holders. Third-party photographs, marks and reference material remain their owners’ property. Buying access does not grant a separate reuse licence for third-party material.
6. Travel information and third-party services
We aim to provide useful, accurate, city-specific instructions and correct reported errors. Airport counters, opening hours, prices, entry rules, app interfaces, restaurant processes and transport arrangements can change. Check time-sensitive requirements with the responsible official service before relying on them, particularly entry eligibility, medical needs and same-day travel.
We do not promise daily updates, real-time availability, universal acceptance of a foreign card or passport, or that every third-party app will work on every phone. Any verification note or date applies only to the information identified, not to every detail in the guide.
Maps, payment apps, ride-hailing, shared bicycles, railways, hotels, restaurants and attractions are independent services. Their charges, availability, eligibility and terms are their own. Mentioning or linking them is not a booking, endorsement of every service, or a guarantee of performance. You enter those arrangements directly with the provider.
Allergy and emergency cards help communication but do not guarantee staff understanding or safe food preparation. For an urgent situation, contact local emergency services rather than waiting for our email support.
7. Refunds and consumer rights
We do not offer a voluntary trial period, money-back guarantee or 14-day change-of-mind refund promise. Once the purchased guide has been made available to you, we do not offer discretionary refunds simply because you have read it, completed your trip, no longer need it or changed your mind. This does not exclude any refund, withdrawal or other remedy required by applicable law or Creem’s transaction rules.
Refund requests are assessed under applicable consumer law, the actual delivery or content issue and the transaction provider’s rules. In particular:
- Paid but no access: contact us so we can verify payment and supply the purchased city. If we cannot deliver as agreed, you may be entitled to a refund.
- Duplicate or incorrect charge: send the relevant order references for investigation and correction through the checkout provider.
- Materially misdescribed or faulty digital content: describe the issue. We will seek to correct it or restore usable access; price reduction or refund rights remain where required if the problem cannot be appropriately resolved.
Where applicable, EU / EEA and UK consumers generally have 14 days from entering the contract to withdraw from an online digital-content purchase. Digital delivery does not automatically remove this right. Loss of a withdrawal right for immediate digital supply depends on the legally required prior express consent, acknowledgement and confirmation. Reading these terms, signing in or clicking an unavailable purchase button is not that consent. Rights concerning faulty or non-conforming content remain.
How to apply: email gochinatravel@hotmail.com with "Refund request", your purchase email, city and order reference. Describe the delivery, charge or content issue, or state that you are exercising an applicable statutory withdrawal right. You do not need to prove a technical fault to exercise a valid statutory withdrawal right. Do not send payment credentials. We aim to respond within 5 business days and submit approved refund requests to the payment provider within 5 business days of approval. Any shorter statutory deadline takes precedence.
For a Creem transaction, approved refunds are requested and processed through Creem, not by a separate off-platform payment. Creem’s buyer support or customer portal may also assist if a transaction issue remains unresolved. Creem may issue a refund where required by law, payment-provider rules or its transaction terms, including for technical errors or duplicate payments; this product policy does not prevent that. Refund timing and payment-method handling follow the provider’s process and applicable law. After a confirmed refund, the licence and paid access for that city end; other valid city purchases remain separate.
8. Changes, suspension and termination
We may correct content, improve instructions and make necessary maintenance or security changes. These changes must not remove mandatory rights or materially reduce paid content below what was agreed without an appropriate remedy.
We may restrict or suspend access for credible abuse, unauthorised resale or account sharing, fraud, security risk or legal requirements. Where reasonably possible, we explain the issue and let you contact us to challenge an error. Urgent security restrictions may be applied first. Revocation is not an automatic forfeiture of any refund or consumer right.
If we discontinue a purchased service or make a material change affecting existing access, we will provide reasonable notice where possible and any required remedy for undelivered service. You may ask to close your account; our Privacy Policy explains deletion and records that may need to remain.
9. Responsibility and limitations
The guide supports your decisions; it cannot control border decisions, weather, third-party operations or your personal travel arrangements. We are not responsible for failures caused solely by an independent provider or by your failure to follow relevant safety or official requirements, except where applicable law makes us responsible.
To the extent legally permitted, we do not accept liability for indirect or consequential loss or business losses arising from use outside the guide’s personal-travel purpose. We remain responsible to the extent required for our own failure to provide the digital content as agreed.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including applicable liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, negligence causing death or personal injury, or mandatory consumer remedies. These limitations do not limit Creem’s own responsibilities under its Buyer Terms or applicable law.
10. Applicable law and disputes
These product terms are governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China, subject to applicable conflict-of-laws rules and any mandatory consumer protections in your country of residence. This choice does not remove protections you cannot waive, or your right to use a competent court or statutory dispute process available under applicable law. We do not impose an exclusive foreign-court clause or mandatory private arbitration.
Please email us first to seek a practical resolution. This is not a condition that prevents you from asserting legal rights or meeting a legal deadline. Creem’s Buyer Terms separately govern disputes concerning its transaction services.
11. Contact and updates
For content, access, refunds or these terms, email gochinatravel@hotmail.com or use Help & Support. Support is by email, not a live emergency service, and no instant response is promised.
The date at the top identifies this version. We will publish revisions here and communicate material changes affecting existing users where required. A later revision does not retrospectively remove rights already attached to a purchase. Any new material purchase condition must be disclosed before that purchase.