Originally Posted by coastalguy

I booked PDX->ORD->PEK->HND,NRT->DFW->PDX earlier this month and flew just this last weekend, returning Wednesday (yesterday). Spent well over three hours working my way through immigration at PEK this last Sunday - a complete and total cluster f***! Emperor Caligula himself couldn't have designed a more convoluted, back-a**wards process full of ignorance and stupidity.

As a result, I have little desire to ever return at this point. While unfortunate my romantic vision of China has been ruined by inefficient immigration processes and lackadaisical, unprofessional attitudes toward visitors in general. Pretty much a mirror of our visit to Hong Kong earlier this year. Clearly the "TWOV" program (and its predecessor) lack general success not because it isn't a valuable proposition, but more likely as a result of the absence of processes and procedures to see that it is carried out efficiently.

Bottom line: If you're planning on making any city in China part of a MR beware of tight connections, bring an over abundance of patience and willingness to be told by five different people that you need five different "things" before you can be "processed" into the country. Oh and be prepared to wait in lines lasting an hour or longer, each.