That amount sounds right, based on the numerous tours I've done there. If the tour leader is great then I give even more.

Culturally there may be no tipping in restaurants / bars etc, but the travel industry is different.

While there is no tipping in China, workers in the travel industry dealing with foreigners have become spoiled by foreign tourists who don't know any better. The result is that now they expect it.

If you want to save money, why not just take a taxi from the airport to your hotel. Based on what I know, this is likely to reduce your cost by as much as 80%.

I've got to agree with the above poster. Why not just get a taxi to your hotel? As long as you have the name written out in Chinese characters and they run the meter it's the same as taxi service anywhere else in the world. If you were in NYC would you hire someone to get you at the airport or just take a taxi?

BTW, we never tipped in China. I think it's our bad habit, and not one we should get anyone hooked on.

PS - I just re-read your post and realized that, oh, yeah we did get picked up at Guilin and got a ride to Yangshuo, paid 200rmb and did not tip the driver. Since our flight arrived late at night, it seemed like a good idea to make pre-arrangements for that.

NO tipping culture for all east asia, from japan, korea, mainland china, taiwan, hongkong, ....

A few exceptions, guided tour is one of them. If they are the regular taxi driver, definitely not. They are also not "ALLOW" to take tip, you can sue them anytime and they have to re-fund you double the amount. If they are the driver in the guided tour, normally we do tip.

I would like to slightly amend my post. For Yangshuo it is definitely better to have your hotel in Yangshuo send a Yangshuo taxi to pick you up (200rmb flat rate) otherwise the Guilin taxi drivers will try to gouge you. It is nearly a 90 minute taxi ride (almost 3 hours for the Guilin driver who must then return to Guilin - he pregers local business). In big cities it is not useful to pre-arrange.

Hi basically as a general rule tipping is not encourage in Shanghai as the government tries to weed out corruption,so its not a general practice to tip like the taxi driver,hotel porter,or waiters.But u may require to tip the tourist guide n the driver if u join a tour .They will let u know beforehand if this is required n to the sum as well.If not u need not tip if u dont wish to.The service will just be as good even without the tipping.

Don't get me going on this topic. You can do a search in the upper box and find many other posts on tipping.

Best advice, feel no obligation whatsoever to tip. No one deserves it by their presence or doing their job competently. Chinese never tip anyone in China.

If you are treated to someone who went outside the boundaries of their customary duties, then go ahead if you like (purely optional), do a slight bow and say, Xie Xie (tse tse) and give them the tip. Of course, never tip with small coins less than one yuan, as it is like tipping with pennies and nickels in the USA, an insult.

You sure have received a lot of replies. I guess this is a hot button topic. While tipping is not officially condoned, as those above replied, some in the travel industry have come to expect it but, I think not quite as much as has been suggested. If I arranged for a hotel to pick me up and if I have had time to exchange currency, I might tip the driver 10 yuan (about $1.40) but it is not really required. As for taxis, if the driver has been courteous (I speak a very little amount of Mandarin), I usually round up, i.e. if the fare is about 38, I give the driver 40 yuan and indicate that no change is necessary. When I lived in China, in some restaurants the servers kind of expected a tip (maybe up to 10 yuan) and in some tipping was strictly forbidden. (You can tell it is forbidden because the server will refuse a tip and, I assume, could be fired if they took it.)

Contrary to many peoples beliefs,tipping will only degrade n worsen the services.Its a good policy that tipping is efinately not encourage in China in general,so to say everybody will work decently n earnestly n all the clients will get equal treatment regardless of status.If tipping is rampant n expected u can be sure of unequal n shody treatment good treatment to only the tippers thus worsen the situation.Most in the hospitality industry in China do not view tipping as a good thing but as said before tippings to the tour guide n driver should be voluntary basis n preinformed usually before the star of the tour.I had seen tipping so rampant in certain countries that affect the level of standard n services given by the workers.its such a shame.