Tourist VISA
Visitors to China may visit their local embassies and consulates with their passports and applicable documents to apply for an L-visa, which will allow them to stay in China for a maximum of 90 days.
Visa-free Transit
Currently, certain Chinese ports of entry offer 72- or 144-hour visa-free transit to overseas friends from 53 countries transiting in China.
Ports of entry offering 144-hour visa-free transit:
Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Shenyang, Dalian, Xiamen, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, kunming
Ports of entry offering 72-hour visa-free transit:
Xi’ an, Guilin, Chongqing, Harbin, Changsha
Countries eligible for the visa-free transit:
(I) Europe (39 countries): Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Island, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco , Russia, the U.K., Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Belarus.
(2) America (6 countries) : The U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile.
(3) Oceania (2 countries): Australia and New Zealand.
(4) Asia (6 countries): Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Hainan Province tourist-visa waiver programme:
Hainan Province has introduced a tourist-visa waiver programn1e for citizens from 59 countries, who, when travelling to Hainan for holiday with normal passports, may enter visa-free for up to 30 days when received by travel agencies established in the province.
Tax refund upon departure from China
China has a departure tax-refund policy nationwide. Foreign visitors who have purchased RMB500 worth or more tax-refundable items in a designated shop in a day and have not resided continuously in China for over 183 days may apply for tax refunds. The tax-refund percentage is 11% and the currency is in RMB.