Electricity

I used my room key to turn on the electricity in both the dorm room in Shanghai and in the hotel room in Beijing.  You slide the key card into the slot to turn on the electricity.  When you leave, you have to take the key with you so you can't leave anything on.  The a/c turns off as well as all electrical outlets and lights.  You can't leave something plugged in to charge while you are gone because there is no power to charge anything while you are gone.  A good way to conserve energy but so different than how we do things in the U.S.

Also, every where in China the light switches turn off in the up position and on in the down position.  The opposite of the switches in the U.S.