Is it hard to travel around in china without someone who knows English as well as chinese or a tour guide?

It is not very hard.
In big cities of China, you can find most of the direction boards are written in both of Chinese and English and you can easily find the directions.
In most of the famous attractions such as Lijiang, Li River and so on, you can find many facilities for foreign visitors, so that they can easily travel on your own.
So, please do not worry about it.