Getting a health checkup in China as a foreign visitor
Can I get a health checkup in China as a visitor, and how do I arrange it?
The short answer
Yes. Public hospitals, private hospitals and dedicated checkup centres all offer health checkups, and you can book one as a self-paying visitor. The decision that matters is not where but what: ask for the actual item list, the exclusions, the preparation instructions, the report language and how results are discussed, before you pay for a package. A larger package is not a better one, and a checkup for your own information is a different thing from an examination required by an immigration or employment process.
Guide last reviewed:
Who this applies to
Voluntary, self-paid preventive checkups for visitors and people travelling for screening.
Not certificate examinations for visas, residence, study or employment — those go to a designated travel-health institution and are covered separately below.
Mainland China. The examples below are Beijing and Shanghai; other cities publish their own arrangements.
Step by step
1 Decide what you actually want the checkup to answer
A preventive checkup, a targeted assessment of a specific concern and a certificate examination are three different requests. Shanghai’s health-check overview describes services across public hospitals, private hospitals and dedicated checkup settings, and lists components such as BMI, blood and urine tests, imaging and doctor examinations — but it is a description of what exists, not a standardised menu, and the article’s own promotional framing is not our recommendation.
City News Service, republished by Shanghai municipal government · Source checked:
2 Ask for the item list and the exclusions in writing
Request the complete list of examinations included in the package you are considering, what is explicitly not included, the examination address, the preparation instructions (fasting, timing, medication), the report language and how and when results are discussed. A package title tells you nothing about whether its tests suit your circumstances. Ask a qualified clinician which items are appropriate for you, and do not add imaging simply because a bigger package contains it.
Beijing Municipal Health Commission, publishing Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s notice · Source checked:
3 Book through the screening service’s own route
Screening centres commonly book separately from specialist clinics. A Beijing Municipal Health Commission notice publishing Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s arrangements shows online screening appointments handled through the hospital’s own channels, covering several examination types. Ask specifically about tests that need a separate booking, such as endoscopy.
Beijing Municipal Health Commission, publishing Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s notice · Source checked:
4 Send certificate examinations to the right institution
If a school, employer or immigration process needs a certificate, it generally goes to a designated travel-health institution rather than a commercial checkup package. Beijing’s official listing separates entry examinations at the Customs-affiliated centre’s Haidian location from exit and immigration examinations at its Dongcheng location. Shanghai International Travel Healthcare Center at 15 Jinbang Road handles residence-related examinations for applicants staying a year or longer, and publishes its own document requirements, including arrangements for reviewing overseas examination records.
Ask, before booking, how a recommended follow-up consultation would be booked and billed, and whether the same institution can do it. A screening report that raises a question while you are mid-trip is a scheduling problem as much as a medical one, and it is far easier to answer in advance than on the day.
City News Service, republished by Shanghai municipal government · Source checked:
Worked examples
Published checkup packages, with their dates
Our price page lists institution-published screening references including PUMCH’s ordinary male basic screening for under-40s, a targeted prostate screening package, and Beijing United Family’s basic family-medicine checkup. Each is published by the institution itself and is not independently verified, and each carries the date we checked it.
Clifford’s men’s checkup C in Guangzhou is kept as a historical published reference. It is useful for understanding how packages are structured and priced, not as a current quote.
We do not sell, resell or book checkup packages, and we take no commission on them.
Published package prices are institution-published references with dates; they are not quotes and their contents change.
Nothing here is a clinical recommendation about which tests you should have.
We have not verified the clinical quality, accreditation or laboratory standards of any screening provider.
Certificate requirements are set by the receiving authority, not by us or by the examining institution. Confirm with that authority first.
Common questions
Do I need an appointment for a health checkup, or can I walk in?
Book ahead. Checkup services usually run on their own schedule, many tests require fasting or other preparation, and some examinations need a separate booking. Walking in may get you a partial set of tests and a second trip.
Is a commercial checkup package accepted for a visa or residence permit?
Usually not. Certificate examinations are handled by designated travel-health institutions with their own document requirements, and a privately purchased screening report may not meet the receiving office’s requirements. Confirm what is required before paying for anything.
Will I get an English report?
Do not assume so. Ask about report language as a specific question when booking, separately from whether staff speak English during the examination itself. If you need the results interpreted at home, ask for the underlying values and imaging files, not only a summary conclusion.
How long do results take?
It varies by institution and by which tests are included, and some results follow days after the examination. Ask for the expected turnaround and how the report will reach you before you book, particularly if you are leaving China soon afterwards.
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