There are a few things you should know/do to prepare before heading to China.
Getting a Visa
Before you fly to China you need a visa. The Chinese government wants to know who you are, what you plan to do in China, and how long you plan on staying. In fact, they want to see an invitation from somebody in China asking you to come visit.
Since I was going over for training with my company, it was relatively straightforward for me to get such a document. I think if you book a tour the tour company will send you such a letter. But if you were just planning on showing up, it might be a little difficult.
This invitation letter must accompany your visa application. It can take a few weeks to get a visa, so start early. Somewhat paradoxically, the visa application wants to know the exact date you will arrive. This implies you need to have your flights booked before you get your visa. So if your visa is denied for any reason, you could be SOL. In theory, anyway.
Arranging a Tour
If you want to prearrange a tour, I'd recommend www.chinahighlights.com who took care of me. Very easy to deal with, very professional, very responsive. They did a great job. There are undoubtedly other tour companies that can help you, such as the ones advertising on my site...
Communicating back home
I was not interested in paying exhorbinant long distance rates to talk to my family back home. I have a laptop, so I setup a Skype account and bought a simple pair of internet headphones. Through the hotel's internet connection I called home every night and talked for as long as I wanted, and I didn't spend more than $10 for the entire trip!
Now sometimes the connection was flaky, sometimes it dropped me. And that $10 was for the Skype service, not the internet connection, which was probably another $10. But 80% reliability was worth the massive savings in long distance charges. If you setup a Skype account, try it out at home first to make sure everything is working.
