Every foreigner has to register where they sleep with the local police station within 24 hours of arriving. Hotels do it for you. Landlords usually don't — take your passport and the lease and go in person.

The city's own English portal, and the best single starting point. Visa rules, hospital lists and event listings, kept reasonably current.

Where the official answer lives when a form or a rule is in question.

Chinese only, and the site locals actually use for how-do-I-do-X. Worth running through a translator — it is usually more specific than anything in English.

Residence permits, visa extensions, lost passports. Book the appointment before you go; walk-ins lose a day.

The national rules in English — visa categories, what each one allows, and the current transit-visa exemptions.

Applying from outside China, and the online appointment system for embassies and consulates.

Work permits and social insurance. If your employer enrols you in 社保, this is where the balance and the reimbursement rules are.

Seventeen lines and still digging. You don't need a card — the QR code inside Alipay or WeChat opens the gates.

The map that works here, with bus times and metro exits that are correct. Foreign maps are not.

Taxis and private cars. It runs inside Alipay and WeChat, so you can skip the separate app and the separate registration.

High-speed rail tickets. Futian and Shenzhen North are the two stations you'll use; Guangzhou is under 40 minutes.

Futian, Lo Wu, Shenzhen Bay and Huanggang — Huanggang runs 24 hours. Check queue times before you leave, not at the border.

SZX, at the end of Metro Line 11. About 50 minutes from Futian.

Set this up first. It takes foreign Visa and Mastercard directly, which means you can pay for almost everything before you have a local bank account.

The other half of daily life. Also foreign-card capable, and the only way to split a bill with anyone you meet.

Opening a local account: passport, residence permit, a Chinese mobile number, and a morning. Bring your employer's letter if you have one.

Private clinics in Futian and Nanshan with English-speaking doctors and appointment times that are actually kept. Most international insurance works.

Typhoon and rainstorm signals, May to September. A red rainstorm or a typhoon signal closes schools and offices — this is the page that says so.

Usually good by Chinese standards. Worth a glance in winter when the northerly wind brings haze down the coast.

The main listings site. Agents take roughly a month's rent as commission, and the deposit is usually two months plus one.

Worth cross-checking against Beike — the same flat is often on both at different prices.

The long-established international school, and the reason so many families end up in Shekou.

Nanshan campus, American curriculum, rolling admission.

IB, and takes both foreign passport holders and returnees.

Reviews, photographed menus and the prepaid deals that make eating out cheaper than cooking. The map view is how you find anything nearby.

Delivery of food, groceries, medicine and a phone charger at 1am, usually inside half an hour.

Everything else, next day. Have it sent to the locker or the front desk of your building, not to your door.

News, restaurants, jobs, events and a directory of the city, in English. Running since 2001, which makes it the longest-lived English site about Shenzhen.

English events, restaurant openings and city writing. The listings are the reason to check it weekly.

The city's English-language newspaper. Where policy changes show up first in a language you can read.

The long-running expat noticeboard: gigs, quiz nights, football teams and people selling a fridge before they leave.

Questions answered by people who actually live here. Search before posting — yours has been asked.

The Chinese dictionary. The camera lookup pays for itself the first time you point it at a menu or a utility bill.