China visa requirements
The rule for your own passport, from China's official immigration page, with the date it was last checked. The same answer for every guide in China: Beijing & the Great Wall, Shanghai, Xi’an.
No visa neededup to 30 days
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan
China has been running a unilateral visa-free trial for these nationalities and has repeatedly extended and widened it — tourism, business and family visits, up to 30 days. It is a trial with an end date that keeps moving (currently the end of 2026); confirm on the official site before booking anything.
No visa neededup to 10 days
United States, Canada, United Kingdom
A 240-hour visa-free transit is available at many entry points if you hold an onward ticket to a third country. It is not a tourist visa and the rules on where you may travel are specific.
Visa required in advance€126 for most, more for US passports
Every other passport
An L tourist visa, applied for at a visa centre in person with biometrics.
How to get it: If you need the visa, book the appointment at a Chinese Visa Application Service Centre early — slots run weeks out in peak season and the application asks for a full day-by-day itinerary with bookings.
Exit/Entry Health Declaration — required
When: In the 24 hours before you arrive, and again when you leave.
Have ready: passport, flight number, your address in China.
Produces a QR code scanned at the border. The form states that a false declaration is a criminal matter, not a formality.
Official form · checked 2026-09-11
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, your route and the purpose of the trip. Confirm on the official page before booking.
The guides in China
Beijing & the Great WallChinaAn imperial city, and a wall that runs off into the mountains
ShanghaiChinaA waterfront of 1920s banks facing a skyline from the future, with lane houses and gardens in between
Xi’anChinaEight thousand terracotta soldiers, a city wall you can cycle round, and the eastern end of the Silk Road