I'm assuming you're going to a major city and aren't visiting a sensitive area like Tibet or Xinjiang. I highly recommend using a foreign mobile carrier so that

I'm assuming you're going to a major city and aren't visiting a sensitive area like Tibet or Xinjiang. I highly recommend using a foreign mobile carrier so that you won't need to bother with a VPN on your mobile. It's just easier when you're new there. Dissidents are kidnapped for speaking out, that is true, but that's because they have potential to influence the masses. You probably don't have that kind of influence, so nobody cares what you think or say. You should definitely prepare a VPN before you leave. I recommend Shadowsocks. You can talk about it, no problem. I would avoid doing so on WeChat however, because who knows, maybe the regime will decide to use that against you in the future.