Originally Posted by
moondog
While I agree that PRC visa policy can be fickle (e.g. a single foreign policy incident changes the landscape), I think you're being a bit too hyperbolic. Put differently, if I didn't absolutely have to be in Sz three weeks from now, I'd be completely comfortable using current regulations in order make the plan. That having been, since the cost differential between a border visa and a true visa is minimal for uk citizens, I'd try to snag the latter.
The problem with getting a true visa is - because I live in Kuala Lumpur right now, the Chinese embassy would want to interview me again to get a tourist visa (mandatory for all non-citizens getting a visa in Malaysia, even tourist visas). And I don't have time to sit around all day, last time I arrived for a 9am appointment and got seen at 4.30pm, lost an entire days' work.