To travel into China you need a visa stuck into your passport. As of August 2009, most nationalties can obtain a Chinese visa in Hong Kong from the visa office in Wanchai. There is a 'blacklist' of 33 countries including India, Indonesia  and South Africa for which passport holders might have to apply in their own country. To save time while travelling, it is wise to go to an embassy or consulate in your own country to apply for a Chinese visa in advance. In London you have to use the services of a visa agency connected to the embassy, while if you live in the north of England you can still apply in person at the Manchester consulate. In the USA, the consulate in Houston has received good reports, while the New York Consulate is one to avoid.    The consulate in LA is mostly used by agencies.  However, you can drop off your visa request in person in the morning and come back in the afternoon for same day service.  This was tested on a Tourist visa.  Note though that the consulate in LA is right next to Skid Row and not a generally nice area.  Generally it is wise to use an agency in the USA such as MyChina Visa   as you are more likely to get a longer visa and more enteries. To apply for a visa you will need a completed visa application form and  one recent passport sized photo. Regulations from 2008 that asked for return flight tickets and accommodation bookings are generally not enforced in 2009.

When completing the itinerary section  of the visa appication form do not mention Tibet. For a longer visa, it is a good idea to write a long itinerary visiting many provinces. For tourist L visas, length of entries are usually 30 or 60 days and occasionally 90 days or longer. You can extend a visa once and sometimes twice when in China at the local PSB office for a fee, or if you have a double or multi entry, you can leave China by crossing the border at Hong Kong for example, and then retruning to start a new entry.

For a business/working visa you also need to have an invitation letter from a Chinese Company or business counterpart which clearly states that the trip to China is business-related. Alternatively a letter of introduction from the company in which you are working can be accepted as well. Normally it will take 3-4 working days to process however you can have a second day pick-up or third day pick-up if you want to pay extra Or you can have it sent to by mail. Make sure your passport has a minimum validity of 6 months before the travel date.  If you are going to be travelling between Hong Kong and China you will need to get a double entry visas.

You used to be able to obtain visas at Hong Kong Airport fairly quickly and easily. See: Hong Kong Airport China Visa .

NOTE (1):  Visa on arrival at Shenzhen / Zhuhai is possible for most nationalities - the main exception is American passport holders. Cost is 160 Rmb for most passport holders, but around 450 Rmb for British passport holders.

NOTE (2): Different visa issuing offices are interpreting these regulations in different ways. For example, for  Australians and Americans applying in their home country one year multi entry visas are quite common. For som other nationalities, single or double entry appear to be the maximum possible.