Can I use a foreign passport when a sight requires “real-name booking”?

What real-name means: the ticket is tied to one identity document, and the gate checks that document against the booking. The default document is the mainland ID card, which gates read by tapping; a passport has to be handled some other way. Booking itself is receding at many museums: Shenzhen Museum dropped it on 22 July 2024, and three Chongqing museums, including the Three Gorges Museum, on 1 October 2025. The ID check stays: Chongqing's notices say you enter on a valid identity document. Shenzhen Museum's notice explicitly lets foreign-passport holders in through the green channel.

Case one, the official channel lists the passport: pick passport as the document type, enter the number, bring the original. Examples with the museum's or site's own wording: the Palace Museum in Beijing (ticket.dpm.org.cn: non-mainland visitors book and enter on a passport), Mutianyu Great Wall, the Terracotta Army and Beilin Museum in Xi'an, the Shaanxi History Museum (passport is on its list, but booking runs only through its WeChat official account), Wuhou Shrine in Chengdu, and Chimelong in Guangzhou, whose FAQ lists the passport among valid entry documents.

Case two, the window: you book online, or not at all, then take the passport to a ticket window or service desk to collect a paper ticket, or go through a staffed lane instead of the ID gate. Beijing's National Natural History Museum tells foreign visitors to collect tickets at the window with their passport (it takes no same-day bookings on site). Prince Gong's Mansion swaps the booking for an entry pass at its service desk on the day. Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Chengdu sends anyone without a mainland ID card to the ticket window. Dujiangyan and Mount Qingcheng say it in one line: book on a passport and use the staffed lane, or show your document at the ticket window.

Case three, nothing said: the official text mentions only the resident ID card or 'valid identity document', and the booking is a WeChat mini-program. Examples: the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, and the Han Yangling Museum near Xi'an ('your own valid ID card and booking QR code'). Treat these as unknown, not as closed: the passport may or may not be in the form's drop-down, and the official page doesn't tell you.

When a mini-program only takes an ID card: look for the site's own English route first. Chengdu Museum has an English booking interface that uses email, and the Badaling Great Wall website has a button for foreign visitors that goes to Trip.com. Then check the official notice for a window or staffed lane, then phone the site. If there is still nothing official, plan it as a sight you may not get into that day. Shanghai's museums are covered in their own entry.

Third-party sellers (Trip.com, Klook) are a separate question from the passport. Some venues route foreign visitors to Trip.com themselves (the Badaling Great Wall button above), but others rule resellers out: the Shaanxi History Museum says it has not authorised any third-party platform, travel agency or individual to sell its tickets and asks visitors to book only through its WeChat official account. It also treats an uncancelled booking as a no-show, which blocks new bookings for 180 days, so cancel in the official channel before your slot's entry closes. The Terracotta Army's ticketing page lists only its own website (ID card or passport) and two official WeChat accounts.