More Than a Guide — Your Cultural Butler in China

I'm Yalan, a Shanghai-based private guide, travel planner, and interpreter.

I care about what you want to get out of your journey.

A good guide tells you what you're looking at. I pay attention to your pace, how you're feeling, what catches your eye, and what sparks your curiosity. If you're tired after exploring a museum, we can slow down. If something unexpected piques your interest, we can stay a little longer. If plans change, I'll adjust them. If something goes wrong, I'll take care of it.

The idea is simple: you shouldn't have to worry about your holiday while you're on holiday.

Understanding a culture is one thing. Helping someone else understand it is another.

I grew up in China and have also studied and worked in the UK. I studied advanced translation in China before moving to the UK to pursue a master's degree in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating, I worked in advertising. Since returning to China, I've spent six years working with international organisations and universities, alongside years of translation and interpreting work for government bodies, tourism organisations, and international businesses.

I'm familiar with China's history, traditions, and contemporary life, and I understand the curiosity and questions that can arise when visitors encounter a different culture for the first time. These experiences have taught me to see things from different cultural perspectives.

When I share China with you, my goal isn't simply to give you more information. It's to create those moments when something suddenly clicks, and you find yourself saying, "Oh, now I get it!"

That moment might come at a historic site, during a Wing Chun lesson, while trying on traditional Hanfu, or simply in an everyday scene on a local street.

I want to share the China I love with you.

I love China — not the carefully curated version you see on postcards, but a real, complex, ever-changing place. I love the way old and new exist side by side, and the little details woven into everyday life that are so easy to miss when you're just passing through.

Over the past year, I've worked with travellers from Australia, the United States, Germany, Denmark, the UK, India, and the Philippines. Some have visited for short business trips, while others have spent weeks exploring multiple cities on tailor-made journeys.

One Australian family travelled with me for 21 days across seven Chinese cities. When they returned to China, they got in touch with me again to plan their second tailor-made trip.

Here's what they had to say:

"Yalan showed us things we ordinarily would have missed. The love and pride in her country combined with every effort she took to make our trip easy and comfortable made it especially memorable for us."

Famous landmarks are easy to find in any travel guide.

I want to show you the China beyond the landmarks — the moments that help you understand this place a little better.