01 · Check Entry Requirements

Entry policy is the one variable you cannot fix on the road. A payment app can be set up in an airport queue and a train can be rebooked from the platform — but if the entry rule does not fit your itinerary, no on-the-ground fix exists. So this check comes first, and your travel dates stay flexible until it passes.

The check, in order

1. Passport basics. Six months of validity and blank visa pages — the boring check that still fails people every year.
2. Which door is open? Unilateral visa-free entry, the 240-hour transit policy, or a regional scheme — each has different nationality lists, stay lengths and allowed ports of entry. See the visa-free policy map for how the three doors differ.
3. Does your itinerary fit the rule? The transit policy requires entry from country A and departure to a different country C. A return ticket home through the same arrival city can quietly break it.
4. What you carry printed. Onward ticket confirmation and your first night's accommodation booking — border officers ask, and a screenshot on a dead phone is not an answer.

Why this comes before dates

Flights are cheap to move; a rejected boarding is not. The correct order is: check the rule for your passport and route → only then fix dates → only then book anything non-refundable. If your route includes two stops inside China, the allowed-port list matters as much as the stay length.

Rules here change often, which is why this page carries a "last checked" note. For a specific passport-and-itinerary check, that is a 15-minute question, not a blog post.