It's probably more advisable that the OP makes his own decision as how to spend his OWN money, especially for something that he doesn't need to purchase.
My wife and I have transited PVG about 5 times in the past few years and have spent several nights there w/o the need for a Chinese visa. The ONLY thing that they do require if transiting and continuing on a flight in a few hours is that the pax go to customs and retrieve their bags and recheck them in. All of this, and the trip to the transit desk, was with the escort of a Chinese group-leader who assisted ALL pax's transiting that day. Anyway, that's how we were handled, except for the times that we stayed for a few nights.
The first time we stayed in Shanghai I purchased about $300.00 worth of Mao Zedong lighters which I managed to bring back to Vegas in my checked luggage. They were a big hit since they played the Chinese national anthem, and everybody wanted more. The next year I went back over and purchased about $500.00 worth of them and put them in my carry on ----- WRONG---All of them were confiscated at security, by some of the most unfriendly dudes that I've ever encountered! My mom was really bummed out, but she finally got over it.
Anyway, back on subject --- The OP DOES NOT NEED A CHINESE VISA to do what he is planning, and if an uninformed t/a gives him a hard time, he needs to demand a ruling by someone higher up, and stay on top of it until you get your b/p's!
Telling someone on here to Pop for over $400.00 for unnecessary visa's (that he isn't required to purchase), just in case you happen to run into an uninformed/ignorant g/a is bad advise, IMO!
