In China, treatment is paid up front — deposits are normal, and refund terms are whatever you agreed to. That makes the deposit request the moment of maximum leverage in the whole process. These ten questions, sent as one message and answered in one document, are how you use it.
The ten questions
- What exactly does this price cover? The procedure, technique and scope in writing — not a treatment name, the actual operative content.
- What is not included? Medication, follow-up visits, imaging beyond the package, materials — each with a price, even if it is “not expected to be needed”.
- Who is the practitioner, and what is their licence number? The person who will actually perform the treatment, not the institution’s brand.
- What products or devices will be used, by brand and model? Implant systems, lenses, injectables, lasers — catalogue names, not adjectives. Registered products in China carry NMPA registration numbers; ask for them.
- Is anaesthesia or sedation involved, who provides it, and what does it cost? A separate line on any honest quote.
- How many follow-up visits are included, and what does a visit cost after that? Recovery is where budgets quietly break.
- What is the policy if the result needs correction? For surgery: what counts as a revision, who decides, and what it costs in the first year. For dental and elective work, this is the single most valuable clause you will get.
- What are the deposit and refund terms? Exactly what the deposit locks in, what happens if you cancel or reschedule, and who authorises the refund.
- Can international patients get an itemised invoice in English? Facility name, dates, procedure names, licence numbers — the format insurers actually reimburse. Ask now, not after payment.
- Will the hospital put all of the above in one written document? A quote in a chat window is a conversation. A quote on letterhead with a total and its exclusions is a contract’s backbone.
How to send it
Paste the ten questions as a single message — in Chinese if possible; the terms in our guides give you the exact vocabulary. Then judge the reply on one axis: does it come back as one document, or as ten separate reassurances? Institutions used to international patients answer this list routinely; you will often get a PDF within a day. Institutions that answer each question with “don’t worry” are not hiding a bad hospital — but they are showing you how every later disagreement will go.
When not to send a deposit at all
✓Reasonable to proceed
- Written quote received, itemised, with exclusions
- Licences shown without hesitation
- Refund terms stated in the same document
- Small deposit against a dated appointment
+Walk away
- Countdown-timer discounts attached to the quote
- “Special foreign-patient price” that changed between messages
- Licence questions answered with photos of the lobby
- Refund terms “discussed after payment”
About to send a deposit?
Send us the quote first. We will tell you which of the ten questions it answers and which it dodges — free, no referral fee, no clinic recommendation.