I renewed my visa/ residence permit this year, which needs to be in conjunction with renewal of my "foreign expert certificate" -- which is necessary for my job. The latter has gone through an overhaul this year, and is now a US/UK driving-license-style card. It's supposed to be able to be used in lieu of e.g. a passport, but I can't be bothered to test that, since the hassle factor of having to remember an extra ID is much greater to me.

The residence permit does not state (in an obvious way) which category visa you have, but my FEC states that I am an "A" category. I have no idea of any tangible benefits over and above "B" -- we got a 4 year renewal, not 5, but that's because my son's passport expires in 4 years -- and in past experience, the most they will renew to is the expiry date of family member's passport validity (no idea if that's a rule, that's just my experience).

I'm under the impression the "B" category holders can also get up to 5 years, so not sure if that is an exclusive "A" thing.

Since importing a car presumably has a prohibitive customs bill attached to it, I'm not sure there is an advantage there, unless one needs the equivalent of "The Beast" or something!

My impression is that the categories are about the "hassle factor" of getting the visa in the first place. This has practical applications for me, since I do get expressions of interest for staff (with PhDs!) that want to work for me, but will not fulfil "A" criteria (mostly due to the abysmally low salaries for scientists in China, lack of Chinese language, and living in Beijing). Getting the paperwork can take months and months and months..

tb