Hi
I am a student about to undertake a degree in ID back in England but moved here to China (Beijing, but have travelled around a bit) for a gap year.
The main thing to watch out for - Taxi drivers.
If you clearly don’t know what you’re doing, they will screw you in to the ground. ALWAYS use the proper taxi drivers and make sure they are on duty and using their meters. If they refuse you (probably if you’re Western, they hate Westerns after an incident in Beijing), then point to the clear numbers on their dashboard. It basically means ‘do as I say or I will report you to your superior.’
Apart from that just make sure you keep your wits about you in general. All the time I’ve been here I have felt safe but it’s just people trying to take your money if you can’t speak the language or obviously don’t know anything about where you are.
There really is a lot to say about this but yer, it’s Taxi drivers. If you don’t use the proper ones with them using their meters and on duty (if not they will try to agree a price before hand) then you could end up losing an awful lot of money.
Have fun though! It has many positives here but the negatives can often weigh you down so don’t let them!
Liam