Sources and methodology
Source records, with the uncertainty left in.
China Travel Prep separates official facts, product inference, and practical recommendations so you know what to trust and what to verify.
Reviewed 2026-08-10
How a result is built
- 1. Official fact. Entry rules and other regulated claims must link to the authority that publishes them.
- 2. Deterministic interpretation. The tool applies a visible rule to the answers you provided; it does not invent eligibility from free-form text.
- 3. Practical recommendation. Setup advice names the likely failure and gives an independent recovery path.
Claim-level citations and reusable assets
A citation is attached as closely as practical to the claim or matrix row it supports. A provider statement stays scoped to that named provider, plan, route, or product; it is not evidence for every product in the category.
Public CSV and JSON downloads repeat the visible rows, source identifiers, review date, methodology, update boundary, change history, and limitations. They are static editorial records, not private traveler datasets, rankings, live status, or observed outcomes.
Freshness and unresolved cases
Material time-sensitive claims include a last-checked date. Unknown or ambiguous inputs return a preliminary result and the exact official checks to complete; they never become a confident claim by default.
The visible review date records a real review of the cited material. Change history records what changed on the page. An update boundary names which live owner can make the guidance stale before the next editorial review.
Official-source review register
These are the checked-in official records used to review high-risk guidance. A checked date means our team reviewed the linked source on that date. It does not claim the source is unchanged today or guarantee a traveler's outcome.
Entry
- National Immigration Administration — 240-hour visa-free transit policy
Checked against this source on .
- National Immigration Administration — November 2025 policy and arrival-card announcement
Checked against this source on .
- National Immigration Administration — unilateral visa-exemption policy
Checked against this source on .
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Chinese embassies and consulates abroad
Checked against this source on .
Phone and internet
- State Council — Guide to Working and Living in China (communications and visitor services)
Checked against this source on .
Payment
- State Council — Guide to Working and Living in China (visitor payments)
Checked against this source on .
Arrival
- State Council — visitor transportation and accommodation guide
Checked against this source on .
- Shanghai government — airport transport overview
Checked against this source on .
Tool and Answer pages may also link provider, bank, carrier, airport, or operator documentation when that source controls the outcome.
What this cannot guarantee
A trip check is preparation guidance, not legal advice, entry clearance, a payment guarantee, or a promise that a carrier, wallet, hotel, or booking operator will behave the same on your travel date.
How topics are selected
A topic is published when it owns a distinct practical task and its important claims can be maintained from direct sources. If a high-risk claim cannot be supported, the page stays held or returns the exact official check instead of a guessed answer.
Corrections and factual change record
A report is checked against the exact published claim, current direct source, and product behavior. Confirmed problems are corrected or narrowed; the page review date and What changed note move only when that work occurs. No response time or favorable outcome is promised.
- 2026-08-10 — added three source-bounded decision assets under existing payment, connectivity, and arrival-app Answer owners, with exact static exports.
- 2026-08-10 — documented methodology and update boundaries for the existing synthetic Driver Card, payment-recovery, and PVG route-choice examples; their operational claims were unchanged.
Report an outdated or incorrect detail
We compare correction reports with the published sources before changing guidance. Do not include passport, payment, hotel, contact, or other sensitive details.