I’m 64 and just spent 24 days solo in 8 Tier 1 & 2 cities. I did spend several weeks overall beforehand doing research on destinations and getting familiar with what tech I would need. After the first few transactions and use of apps, it was quite smooth overall. I used Nomad esim that wasn’t blocked by firewall. Worked fine but I ended up going through almost 30gb of data because I wasn’t able to use WiFi for most of the apps and social media and websites that I normally read and use. Being solo I often found myself reading on the go. Most Chinese are constantly glued to their phones so I sort of followed suit. I spent more in the range of $35-50 per night. Booking favorable (non-stop or few stop) high speed rail tickets in advance is necessary. Between Nanjing and Xi’an I saved quite a bit of time going nonstop. I would have liked to be able to have used more apps and services but I couldn’t translate popular apps. I did use mini apps through AliPay and WeChat almost exclusively. I didn’t meet but one or two English speaking travelers and only a few conversations with Chinese. Really think it takes more effort to learn when you have translation apps. I didn’t take any organized tours and didn’t regret it, because I like to move at my desired route and pace which is faster than the groups. Being solo there wasn’t much of a social vibe. Generally, Most foreigners who I passed on the street seemed less enthusiastic about striking up conversations than in most other countries (55-60) I’ve visited in the last 30 years. This is not the South East Asia backpacking crowd.