Clearly CAN doesn't have it's act together on this, procedure being lost between airport staff, airline staff, and Immigration staff. If one is so moved, perhaps file a complaint with these people, who are the ones (along with airlines) with the most pressing interest in seeing TWOV succeed and increase at Guangzhou. http://english.gz.gov.cn/publicfiles...03/778229.html

With enough complaints and a declaration that next time one will transit through PEK, PVG, CTU, or HKG, there might be some local pressure to get this confusion at the airport streamlined and cleaned up.