Read about landing new landing visa regulations in China for foreigners. Anyone done this yet? I was going to go to Yunnan province in March by way of HongKong or Chiangmai to Kunming. Any ideas if I need to get a China visa first. Would be in Yunnan for about 9 days.
Kunming? Yuk! Don’t stay to long there, dirty town worst than Taipei, but make sure to pay a visit to Da Li, about 30 minutes by flight from Kunming. Those days (around 5 years back) the ticket was dirt cheap, around NT$600 only.
the Asian Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that “US and other” passport holders could get:
5-day visas at Shenzhen
3-day visas at Zhuhai
1-month visas at Guangzhou (not UK citizens for this one though)
Guangdong is easing restrictions more than elsewhere the article said, but there are no hard and fast rules. Wherever,you are at the whim of the border official.
China’s tourism people say this hasn’t been publicized due to lack of funds for marketing. Meanwhile, Chinese tourism officials refused requests for interviews 
Like Salmon said, you are probably at the whim of the border official or possibly the check-in personnel at the airport.
I went to Shanghai without a visa in July, in accordance with the rule that you could stay for 48 hours in China if you had an outbound plane ticket. Mind you, the rule has been in place at least since 1998, and the border officials at Shanghai Hongqiao airport were obviously used to people doing that.
However, getting on the plane to Shanghai without having a visa stamped in my passport was sort of a hassle. The check-in lady here in Taipei was very reluctant to let me on the plane, tried to find information on the rule in the computer and by telephone, could’t find any and only checked me in to Hong Kong. Even the transfer personnel in Hong Kong didn’t know what I was talking about and spent at least an hour trying to confirm my information and agreeing to check me in to Shanghai. You’d think that in Hong Kong, they’d know after the rule had been in place for more than 2 years.
It might be handy to have a copy of some brochure or website printout or something to show to the airline personnel, so they let you on the plane.
Btw, Kunming wasn’t that bad 6 years ago, but Dali is definitely better. If you have more time, go to either Lijiang or Xishuang Banna (not much to do there but very relaxed).
HTH
Iris
[quote=“iris”]
However, getting on the plane to Shanghai without having a visa stamped in my passport was sort of a hassle. The check-in lady here in Taipei was very reluctant to let me on the plane, tried to find information on the rule in the computer and by telephone, could’t find any and only checked me in to Hong Kong. Even the transfer personnel in Hong Kong didn’t know what I was talking about and spent at least an hour trying to confirm my information and agreeing to check me in to Shanghai. You’d think that in Hong Kong, they’d know after the rule had been in place for more than 2 years.Iris[/quote]
Iris,
Thanks for the info above, that’s kind of what I was looking for!
Hey guys thanks for the travel advice, but I only said I was flying into Kunming from Chiangmai or HongKong it wasn’t my final destination and and I have traveled there before to Dali, LiJiang and Kunming. Thanks for the advice, but I think Dali totally sucks compared to LiJiang and others areas north of LiJiang. THe local aboriginal tribes in Dali, the Bai are so different than the Naxi in LiJiang. LiJiang is also a more charming place all around and Kunming while having a nice market and a few great temples, is nothing more a typical big Chinese city, perhaps a little above average, however, it is the stopping off point on the way to Lijiang, Dehong and Xishuangbanna.
When I went to Dali and Lijiang in 98 Dali was just a tourist trap full of places selling steak and coffee. Lijiang was much nicer. Mind you, it’s probably a tourist trap now as well.