Things I wish I knew before visiting China

Touring

Over the years, many of China's historical sites and artifacts have either been looted by Western colonial powers, or destroyed by invading armies (both foreign and Chinese themselves). As recently as the mid-1970's at the end of China's Cultural Revolution, China was actively destroying cultural and religious structures and artifacts to reinforce Mao's social orthodoxy.

The Chinese have only recently begun to appreciate the value of their long and rich history and culture. They've rebuilt many damaged or destroyed sites, and worked hard to reopen many tourist destinations of historical, cultural or religious interest. However, even when China has attempted to perform an excavation of historical value (that of the Ming emperor Dingling's tomb), they totally botched it and many important artifacts, including the emperor's and empresses' corpses, were either lost or destroyed.

So when you are touring China, it's important to realize that there are relatively few intact ancient archeological sites comparable to the Roman Forum, Colisseum, or the Greek Acropolis, nor well-preserved "recent" (i.e. within the last 500 years) sites. A lot of what you see has often been rebuilt within the last several years. For original content, fortunately there is still the Great Wall (which was too vast for even the Chinese to destroy) and the Terracotta Warriors (buried and lost over the centuries, and only recently rediscovered). Note even emperor Qin Shi Huang's Terrcotta Warriors and Horses were severely damaged by a rebel Chinese general of the time, so they have had to be painstakingly reassembled and restored!

Site maintenance, tourist facilities, English-language offerings and transportation options are all inferior to most Western tourist sites. The good news is that the admission fees are all reasonable.

And finally, touring China during the hot summer months is worse than touring Europe during the same period. First, China is hotter and more humid. Second, there are fewer places to cool off. At the very least when touring the Mediterranean, there are hotels with pools and beaches nearby or you can buy a cold drink with ice, if you desire a respite from the long, hot days of touring. However in China, few hotels have pools, there are no beach options near most tourist sites, and ice is a relatively rare commodity. In addition, Chinese ice cream is vastly inferior to Italian gelatti or ice creams.

Restaurants and Eating

Unlike Chinese restaurants in the U.S., restaurants in China:

1. Do not have non-smoking tables or sections. If smoking is really bothersome and you have a decent-size group, ask for the private room. Most larger restaurants have them.
2. Most servers do not speak any English.
3. Do not provide napkins or often do so for 1-2 Yuan. Don't use the provided packaged napkins or wet towels if you don't want to pay for them later!
4. Do not have or provide serving utensils. So unless you are completely comfortable eating foods communal style, you will have to ask for extra chopsticks or soup spoons to use.
5. Tea is often not included and can sometimes be the most expensive item you order. So don't assume the tea is complimentary.
6. Chinese beer is so cheap that it's not much more than other non-alcoholic beverages. 
7. Do not provide drinking water or glasses.
8. Serve drinks hot or room temperature--no matter how hot it is outside! So if you want a cold drink, please sure to specifically request it!
9. Serve beverages and food in a different order. In the U.S., you typically get drinks first, then appetizers (such as dumplings and soups), and then other dishes we consider to be the main courses. And rice is usually served along with these main courses. In China however, soups or rice are generally served very late in the meal. And beverages often come after some of the food is already served.
10. Generally do not accept credit cards. And if they do accept them, you usually have to leave the room to pay because, like in Europe, the restaurant staff are usually not permitted to take your credit card out of your possession. And unlike Europe, the use of portable credit card scanner/machines is far less common.
11. Do not have wait staff that expect a tip.

In summary, napkins, water, tea and rice must usually ordered and paid for a la carte.

Hotels

1. Hotel beds will range from plywood hard to U.S.-style soft. The more international the clientele, the more likely you will get a softer bed.
2. Most American and European hotels make their beds using a flat sheet, blanket, comforter and/or a bedspread. In China there is usually only a single, covered comforter or duvet.
3. There are very few connecting hotel rooms in China. Most hotels don't have any.
4. Hotels always provide potable bottled water for drinking and tooth brushing. If you need more water, just ask housekeeping and they will usually keep you well-stocked for no extra charge.
5. Hotel breakfasts are a common amenity in China so ask whether and how many are included with your hotel fare. 
6. Hotel breakfast buffets typically offer a mix of Western (eggs, bacon/sausages, breads, fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee, juices, etc.) and Chinese (noodles, dumplings, steamed buns, green vegetables, soup) food.
7. Most hotel rooms in China require the room key card to be inserted into a slot in the entryway in order to power the lights and the heating/cooling. So I recommend you request one extra key card so you have the option of leaving a card in the slot upon leaving the room.
8. Upon check-out, many Chinese hotels will immediately have housekeeping make sure the room is vacated and that none of their property was taken. So don't check-out until you have physically left the room with your belongings!
9. Wifi and internet access is available in most hotels. From my experience, roughly half the hotels provided complimentary wifi and the other half charged for it. In-room wifi access is rarer still as most only have wifi access points in the lobby, restaurant and meeting areas. In-room wired Ethernet access seemed common but I did not have my computer to try this. In any case, the internet access speeds are relatively slow as compared to other countries.
10. Every hotel has power outlets that support all the major international standard plugs so you will not likely need any adapters. Just make sure your AC-powered devices and/or chargers are dual-voltage (i.e. 110-120V/220V)--most electronics these days are!
11. There aren't many English-speaking TV channels (and in a couple of our hotels, there were none!), so you'd better learn Chinese!

Bathrooms

1. Assuming you're not using your own, remember to grab toilet paper prior to entering the stall to use the toilet (i.e. on the way in). There is often only one communal toilet paper dispenser at the entry. When they do provide toilet paper, most non-hotel bathrooms do not do so in each stall.
2. While Western-style toilets are becoming more common, most bathrooms will still have many more squat than sit-down toilets. If you must use a sit-down toilet, look for the marked stalls or look for a non-raised toilet platform as the raised platforms are usually the squat toilets.
3. Some public bathrooms do not have sinks or running water, and many don't have soap.
4. For the above reasons, always carry spare toilet paper and some anti-bacterial wipes. 

Miscellaneous

1. If your party will be using two or more cameras, be sure to synchronize the time zone, date and time.
2. When going through Chinese immigration, be aware that they review the passport and visa, and will take a picture, of each member of your party. So have each person ready to step forward when the system prompts you.
3. If you want to use the internet while traveling in China, know what you will want to access and how you will do it before you leave. To access censored sites or content (e.g. Facebook, Twitter are all inaccessible), you will need to have any VPNs and proxies ready to go before you leave the U.S. It will be very difficult to do after you arrive in China.
4. There is no sales tax.
5. You will often get an "invoice". This is not an invoice as most Westerners know it but rather it is a document that provides proof that tax was paid to the relevant taxation authority for the product or service rendered.
6. The air pollution in Beijing, Shanghai and many major cities is very bad. Follow the U.S. Embassy/consulate hourly air quality updates, and wear a good air mask whenever possible (I used Totobobos). A bad, "Code Red" air quality day in the U.S. would be a very good day in China!
7. Be very assertive whenever you are queuing or lining up for something, because most Chinese and many Europeans will cut or push right in front of you. 
8. When using your credit card, after signing the receipt, write a small note or comment as to what you just purchased. Later, when you are reconciling your bills and receipts, you will know what you just bought or ate (remember, the entire receipt is in Chinese!).
9. Prior to your trip, make a list of all the things you plan to buy. Given that most of what we buy and use in the US is now made in China, you can only imagine how much cheaper many of the things you need or want will be over there!
10. Queuing in line, driving an automobile, or crossing the streets in China requires an aggressive attitude. As there seems to be no accepted concept of "yielding the right of way", you must push to avoid people cutting in front of you in line when queuing, and must sometimes step in front of moving vehicles to successfully make it across the street. By being aggressive, you will fit right in and others will be forced to yield to you. If you don't, you will find yourself frustrated by line cutters, or waiting forever to cross busy streets.
11. At the gate and boarding our international flight home, Chinese airport security in Shanghai Pudong airport rescreened our carry-on bags. They forbade us from boarding with liquids, including the bottles of water that we had just purchased in what we thought was the "secured area" of the terminal.