Asking for Help in China: Phrases for When Things Go Wrong
Most trips in China go smoothly, and then one day your phone dies in a subway station with no English sign in sight. The phrases here are the ones you will actually use when you need a stranger, a hotel clerk or a police officer to stop and help.
Keep two of them ready before you need them: 救命 if something is genuinely dangerous, and 我需要帮助 for everything else. The rest you can read straight off your phone at the moment it matters.
Useful phrases
- 救命！Help!
Shout this only when you or someone near you is in real danger, the way you would yell help at home. Bystanders in China react to it immediately.
- 帮帮我！Help me, please!
Softer than 救命 (jiùmìng) and used far more often. Point at the problem, whether it is a jammed locker or a dropped bag, while you say it.
- 我需要帮助。I need help.
The polite version, and the one that works with hotel staff and station officers. Say it calmly, then show the line written down if they look blank.
- 你会说英语吗？Do you speak English?
Ask this before launching into a long explanation. If the answer is no, switch to 请写下来 (qǐng xiě xiàlái) and let them type or write it out.
- 请说慢一点。Please speak more slowly.
Use it the moment someone answers at full speed. Most people slow down instantly, and repeating it once more usually fixes the rest.
- 请写下来。Please write it down.
The single most useful line on this page. Numbers, addresses and directions all arrive correctly once they are typed or written down.
- 我不懂。I don't understand.
Three words that reset a conversation. Better than nodding along to something you have not understood at all.
- 打110。Dial 110.
110 reads as yāo yāo líng, not yī yī líng, when it is spoken as a phone number. Police calls are free from any phone, and the operator will want your location first.
- 这里有会说英语的人吗？Is there anyone here who speaks English?
Ask a staff member rather than a stranger on the street. Train station counters and hotel lobbies are where this usually gets a yes.
- 请帮我叫救护车。Please call an ambulance for me.
Say it clearly and stay where you are. Hotel front desks and shop staff make this call for guests all the time, and they know the address to give.
- 我迷路了。I'm lost.
Follow it with the name of your hotel on your phone screen. Drivers and officers recognise hotel names much faster than street addresses.
- 我的手机没电了。My phone is out of battery.
The setup line before asking to borrow a charger or a phone. Say it, then point at a socket or show 可以帮我打电话吗 (kěyǐ bāng wǒ dǎ diànhuà ma).
- 最近的派出所在哪里？Where is the nearest police station?
派出所 (pàichūsuǒ) is the neighborhood station, not a city headquarters. Any shopkeeper can point you to the nearest one.
- 谢谢你的帮助。Thank you for your help.
Say it on the way out, even if the help was small. It costs nothing and often turns a five-minute favor into a longer one.
Quick cultural tip
The three numbers to know
Police is 110, the fire brigade is 119 and an ambulance is 120. Calls to all three are free from any phone, including a borrowed one, and the operators usually speak only Chinese. Give your location slowly, or hand the phone to hotel staff, who deal with this often.
When you dial 110, a 派出所 (pàichūsuǒ) team responds — that is your local police station, the one covering the neighborhood you are standing in. Front desks at big-city hotels can call on your behalf and will usually know which one is closest.