About & editorial policy
China On Arrival is an independent field guide for foreign visitors to China — fact-checked, source-linked guides to visas, payments, trains, hotels and city itineraries, built on official sources rather than folklore. The site has no ads, no sponsored posts, and no press trips.
Who runs China On Arrival?
A small independent team of bilingual researchers based in China, publishing since 2026. We are not a tour operator, do not sell trips, and take no money from the businesses we cover. Our working code and data tooling are public on GitHub. Revenue comes solely from affiliate commissions on booking links, disclosed on every page where they appear.
How are the guides researched?
Every load-bearing fact is tied to its source — the official announcement, the official booking platform, or the reference entry — linked directly in the text. Where a fact is time-sensitive, the guide shows its last-updated date at the top.
- Entry and visa facts are compiled from the National Immigration Administration and dated; we re-check the lists whenever policy changes are announced.
- Platform rules (12306, Alipay, WeChat Pay, hotels) are verified against the official product documentation — 12306, Alipay — and re-tested periodically.
- City and sight facts are anchored to reference entries and official listings: the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Army, the Palace Museum, UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions.
Do you quote official sources?
Yes — where wording matters, we quote it verbatim and name the source. For example, on how China's visa system is administered, the reference entry states it plainly:
"Chinese visas are issued outside China by Chinese diplomatic missions, and within China by the exit and entry administrations (EEAs) of county-level public security bureaus (PSBs) under the guidance of the National Immigration Administration."
— Visa policy of mainland China, Wikipedia, accessed September 2026. For the primary lists themselves we go straight to the regulator: the 30-day unilateral visa-free list and the 240-hour transit rules live on en.nia.gov.cn, and our visa data pages record the date we last re-checked them.
How are errors corrected?
In place, with the updated date changed — we do not silently edit. Material corrections are noted at the bottom of the page. Report errors via the contact page; corrections get priority over everything else in the queue.
How does China On Arrival make money?
Only from affiliate commissions on booking links — never from coverage decisions. Some outbound links (booking, eSIM) are affiliate links served through our /go/ redirect layer. They cost you nothing extra and are marked rel="sponsored". See the full disclosure.