If you have a international branch of a Chinese bank nearby setup a account. Icbc is everywhere. If your visa allows it get a local bank account setup asap! Makes life so much easier

Consider a VPN like obscura which proxies behind http3 quic for harder identification

I've had success with mullvad in china myself. Get two vpns setup.

If you bring a sim card with you, the data is usually routed out of china to your home providers network without filtering.

Bring a backup cell phone, no particular reason, it's just good to have a backup setup Incase you lose your main phone.

The major problem isn't getting a VPN to work, it's having it work when you need it. VPNs in China go up and down all the time. If your meeting someone and need to message them and the VPN is down... Your going to have a bad time.

Privacy: everything you do in china will be monitored, all your traffic patterns, every WeChat and qq message. If you want to have interesting conversations try to move them to signal or simplex over a VPN.