Chinese Language Essentials for Quarantine in China

If you are making the return trip to China anytime soon, you will need to go through hotel quarantine. If it is your first Chinese quarantine experience, it may seem pretty intimidating, especially if you do not speak Chinese. If you have certain dietary needs, such as eating vegetarian or vegan, you may also be nervous about not being able to communicate those needs to the quarantine hotel staff in Chinese. In this article, we will take a look at some common words and phrases you may need when you arrive in Chinese quarantine.

First, let’s look at some quarantine-related words in Chinese.

Chinese Quarantine Terms

You may hear a few of these terms as you are undergoing quarantine.

COVID-19    

新冠肺炎
xīnguān fèiyán

ex. COVID-19 is a type of virus:

新冠肺炎是一种病毒.

Xīnguān fèiyán shì yī zhǒng bìngdú.

OR

新冠病毒
xīnguān bìngdú

ex. COVID-19 is a type of virus:      

新冠病毒是一种病毒

Xīnguān bìngdú shì yī zhǒng bìngdú.

Quarantine

隔离
gélí

ex. Do people coming to China need to quarantine?

来中国的人要隔离吗？Lái zhōngguó de rén yào gélí ma?

Nucleic acid test (COVID test)

核酸检测
hésuān jiǎncè 

ex. Please show me your nucleic acid test results.

请出示核酸检测结果。Qǐng chūshì hésuān jiǎncè jiéguǒ.

Positive (test result)

阳性
yángxìng

ex. What happens if the results are positive?

如果结果是阳性的怎么办？Rúguǒ jiéguǒ shì yángxìng de zěnme bàn?

Negative (test result)

阴性
yīnxìng 

ex. Do you have the certificates for two negative PCR tests?

你有两次核酸检测阴性证明吗？Nǐ yǒu liǎng cì hésuān jiǎncè yīnxìng zhèngmíng ma?

To take one’s temperature

测温
cè wēn 

ex. Taking temperatures is a pandemic control measure.

测温是疫情防控的一个措施。Cè wēn shì yìqíng fáng kòng de yīgè cuòshī.

What if I am Vegan or Vegetarian in Quarantine?

If you are returning to China and need to quarantine, you will not get a choice in hotel or facility, so there is no way to know ahead of time what meals the hotel serves or whether they will be able to accommodate your vegetarian or vegan needs. Hotels will usually provide three meals per day, though you will usually not have any choice in the food provided.

At the Hotel

If you want to try to get a special dietary accommodation, try these phrases with the front desk when you arrive:

I’m vegetarian/I am vegan:
我吃素/我吃纯素。
Wǒ chīsù/ Wǒ chī chún sù.

I don’t eat meat：
我不吃肉。
Wǒ bù chī ròu.

Please give me vegetarian meals:
请给我素菜。
Qǐng gěi wǒ sùcài.

Ordering In Delivery

Some quarantine hotels allow for food delivery (that’s wàimài 外卖 to you seasoned China hands out there). If you want to order food through an app during your quarantine, you can also leave notes to the restaurant in the 备注 (notes) section of your order, such as:

Please don’t use meat:
不要放肉。
Búyào fàng ròu.

If you want to make sure your order does not include a certain ingredient, you can say you are allergic to whatever item you do not want in your meal:

I’m allergic to eggs:
我对鸡蛋过敏。
Wǒ duì jīdàn guòmǐn.

Note: Unless you have medical records or a doctor’s note in Chinese to prove your allergy, quarantine hotel kitchens are unlikely to accommodate this request.

Here is a handy chart of all the products you may want to ask about  in your Chinese quarantine meals:

What if the hotel cannot accommodate my request?

In case you wind up in a hotel that cannot meet your needs nor allow food delivery, we recommend packing as much food in your check-in luggage as possible. Any food that can be kept at room temperature is a good choice, such as canned or dried foods, crackers, bread,  peanut butter and jelly, cereal and muesli, etc.

Most hotel rooms will have a kettle for boiling water, which can also be used creatively to boil pasta or noodles. You may want to pack your own utensils too if you want them as the hotel will likely only provide chopsticks.

We hope you found this guide helpful, and we wish you a smooth quarantine experience. If you want to learn more quarantine-related vocabulary, learn how to speak about being vegetarian or vegan in Chinese, or if you want to practice using the vocabulary you know to make requests in Chinese, sign up for online Chinese lessons with Culture Yard!

About the Author

Eden is a sinologist and language enthusiast from the USA who has lived in China for five years. She currently works at Culture Yard, an online Chinese language school which offers Mandarin Chinese classes. Her hobbies include reading, writing, and travel.