Do I need a plug adapter here?
Short answer
Often not. Sockets here accept flat two-pin, round two-pin and angled three-pin plugs, so most travellers' plugs fit as they are.
The socket takes more than one shape
This is the part that makes China unusual. Beijing's own guidance says flat two-pin plugs in the US and Japanese style, cylindrical pins in the German and European style, and triangular three-pin plugs can all be used.
So the adapter you packed may turn out to be dead weight. It is worth looking at the wall before unpacking the travel kit, which is the opposite of the advice almost everywhere else.
Voltage is the real question
The supply is 220 volts. Anything labelled 120 volts should not go straight into the wall — the plug fitting will not protect you from the voltage behind it.
Modern chargers from the major manufacturers, for laptops and phones and cameras, are built for the full range and are fine. The thing to read is the small print on the brick, not the shape of the pins.
If you get it wrong
A replacement charger is easy to buy and cheap — Beijing's guidance puts an incompatible one's replacement under 50 yuan. This is a solvable afternoon, not a ruined trip.
The devices worth checking before you leave are the ones with a motor or a heating element. Those are where a single-voltage design still shows up, and where the wrong supply does visible damage.
Good to know
- Flat, round and angled three-pin plugs all fit — check the wall before buying an adapter
- 220V: anything marked 120V only needs a converter, not just an adapter
Japan runs on 100 volts — the lowest mains voltage anywhere. Most chargers cope; anything with a heating element or a motor often does not.
Your plug probably fits — Thai sockets take flat American pins and round European ones alike. That is the trap, because the supply is 220 volts: fitting and working are two different questions.
220 volts, and most sockets take two round pins. European plugs go in as they are; American and Japanese ones need an adapter — which the tourism board says any electrical shop will sell you.
Yes, unless you already carry a European one. Korea runs 220V at 60Hz on round two-pin sockets.
Taiwan runs on 110V with flat two-pin sockets — the American pattern. European and Australian plugs need an adapter; some devices need more.