Best Time To Travel To: China

Due to its size and extent, China is a climatically difficult country to describe. After all, the country has practically everything you can think of, from the hot tropical climate to the cold mountain climate.

The country has more or less long borders to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Along these borders, one can always take a look to the climate descriptions for the neighboring regions.

In order to be able to describe China to some extent let's try to roughly divide the country. A division into northeast, central China, southern China, southwest China, hinterland / western China (Xinjiang Uyguria), Hong Kong, Tibet and Inner Mongolia would be possible.

If you consider that there are extremely high mountain ranges along most of the borders with neighboring countries, then the relatively unique location of the country becomes clear. China is somewhat isolated just by the many of the mountains and this also has climatic consequences for some parts of the country.

In addition, many parts of China are influenced by the Asian monsoons. From October to April the monsoons blow from land and China is under a high pressure system. Then it is cooler and practically winter. The monsoon blows into the country from May to around October and China is subject to a low pressure system. Then it gets warmer, but also more humid. Most of the rain then falls in many regions of China. More distant regions such as Tibet, Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia do not receive as much rain.

Basically, the summers in most parts of China are warm, with hot spots in places. But the winters are very different. In the north, the winters are extremely cold, as well as in Inner Mongolia or in Xinjiang. The winters in Tibet are also extremely cold. In contrast, the winters are much milder in the south and in the southwest.

The north and northeast of China

The northeast consists of relatively large plains around the Huang He, Manchuria and parts of Mongolia. The winters are extremely cold here with lots of frost and moderate amounts of snow. The further north you go, the colder it gets. In Manchuria, the snow can lie for up to 5 months.

The summers are usually very warm to hot coupled with high humidity. The summers also get a lot cooler the further north you go.

The climate tables are relatively typical of Shenyang for Manchuria and Beijing for the rest of the region.

Central China

Central China is generally warmer than the north and northeast. It rains all year round, with most of the rain falling in summer. The winters are extremely changeable, the summers are quite warm. In summer you always have to expect high humidity here. The coastal areas are often under the influence of typhoons, which can bring heavy rainstorms. One of the exceptions in central China is the Sichuan region. Here the winters are very mild and the summers are quite dry. The climate of Shanghai would be typical for the coast, for Sichuan Chongqing's.

The south of China

The south of China is almost in the tropics. In summer it is the warmest but also wettest part of China. Especially between April / May and September / October there is usually a lot of rain. In summer you always have to expect heavy rain storms. Typhoons peak between July and October in particular. The winters in the south are very mild, there are practically no minus temperatures here.

The summer heat can be perceived as very uncomfortable due to the relatively high humidity. The climate tables of Hong Kong, Wuzhou, Guangzhou or Macau would be typical for the south.

The southwest

Here you are mostly inland near the borders with Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. The southwest is quite hilly and mountainous. Because of these mountain ranges, the climate is less warm. In summer one can speak of a pleasant climate. The winters are surprisingly mild. The sun shines quite often and it rains little. You only have to expect cool temperatures, frost and snow at higher altitudes. In summer, the high areas are relatively humid, except in sheltered valleys.

The southwest is considered the region of China with the most pleasant climate all year round. However, a cold spell was reported at the end of January 2011. Typical for the southwest would be Mengzi’s climate table.

Inner Mongolia

Inner Mongolia borders with Xinjian, Siberia and Mongolia. The region consists on the one hand of impressive mountains and on the other hand of steppe-like plains.

The climate is often described as continental. The winters are extremely cold and the summers are quite warm. It doesn't rain a lot, although the rain falls fairly evenly throughout the year.

The winters are usually really severe and last a good 5 months. Above all, strong winds in winter make the temperature feel even colder than it already is.

Chinese hinterland with Xinjiang

This region is rather sparsely populated. It borders to Kyrgyzstan and Tibet, where there are also quite high mountains. The hinterland consists mostly of desert and grassy plains as well as some mountains. The climate here is continental with very cold winters and hot summers. Of course, it's always colder in the mountains.

In the hinterland it rains rather little, the rain falls evenly all year round. As a result, the humidity is low and the climate is quite pleasant (if you disregard the extreme temperatures in winter or summer).

For Hong Kong and Tibet I refer to the individual pages .

When is the best time for China

The best time to travel to China is difficult to determine, the country simply extends over too many zones. In winter, from around October to March, the south is generally recommended. However, in January 2011 heavy rain and snowfall were reported from the south, and October can also be very rainy. Most recently, the south was extremely rainy in April and May. April / May as well as October could be considered the best travel time for Central China, but May was again and again rainy here (e.g. in Hunan). In the summer from April to around October, the north is not bad, but you always have to reckon with rain during this phase. The same applies, as mentioned above, to southern China, which experiences extreme rainfall again and again, especially from April to October. As a kind of compromise for the whole of China, one could, with some reservations, describe October and November as well-suited travel months for China.