I still think that you need to know a little Chinese, when travelling to China. Even for Beijing and Shanghai, 2 biggest cities in China, not so many people here understand English…
Once in the restaurant, I asked for the bill. “Bill, receipt” does not work. I waive a piece of paper. The waiter seemed very happy since he got my request. And to my surprise, I got a chunk of tissues :))
Two good things occur to me: (1) My girlfriend and my friend (Dudy) can speak a bit of Chinese and (2) People are friendly when I speak English to them, even they don’t understand 🙂