If you have nowhere to turn, seek a relief station for food, shelter, and travel home
A relief station provides basic food and accommodation, arranges hospital care for acute illness, and helps contact family. If you cannot afford to return home, it can provide a ticket. Stays are usually no longer than ten days, with exceptions. Arrival and departure are voluntary; this is not detention and it does not provide cash. Tickets are for your registered hometown or place of residence, so decide which destination you need.
What it takes
Free. Go to the local relief-management station yourself, or ask police or civil-affairs staff to help you get there. You must truthfully register your name and belongings. The difficult part can be saying that you have no money and nowhere to go.
What you may gain
Stations provide food and accommodation meeting hygiene requirements, arrange hospital treatment for sudden acute illness, and help contact relatives or an employer. People unable to afford travel to their household-registration location or usual residence can receive rail, bus, or boat travel vouchers. Relief usually lasts no more than ten days, but may be extended while awaiting family collection, treatment, or placement. Police and other officials encountering homeless people while carrying out their duties should tell them how to seek help. They should guide or escort disabled people, minors, older people, and those with limited mobility. This is a nationwide Chinese system introduced in 2003.
Context & considerations
Seeking help and leaving are voluntary. The service provides basic food and shelter, not cash. Travel vouchers are issued for your registered hometown or residence; clarify where you need to go before applying.
Research & references
State Council (2003). Measures for the Relief and Management of Urban Vagrants and Beggars without Means of Support, Order 381, Articles 5–7. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2003/content_62246.htm; Ministry of Civil Affairs (2003). Implementing rules, Order 24, Articles 11 and 12. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2003/content_62510.htm.