It honestly didn't occur to me at all because, pre-March 2020, pretty much everybody had some sort of valid PRC visa. I'm pretty sure new RP applicants inside of China can prepare all of the necessary documents here and have originals sent over if absolutely (e.g. technically your degrees should be originals but maybe nobody really cares) required. If you're not in China, you'll probably be advised (by Vincent etc or any company HR...who also uses a Vincent) to get a Z visa in your home country...which, you have to convert to an RP within 30 days (effectively 9 days if you end up with 21-day quarantine).

In hindsight, I was pretty inefficient during my first RP application ~7 years ago (e.g. the criminal background check didn't need to be the FBI report that takes 60 days to generate; my courthouse in Florida or my PSB in Shanghai both could have fulfilled the same requirement quickly). Vincent and his colleague actually did help me with my initial RP; it's my fault for not asking them for advice on how to streamline that part of the process.

While I realize that travelinmanS is dubious, I remain convinced that anyone who is sponsored by a legit Chinese company can still pull off the process.

The differences between now and 7 years ago are: 1. Xi; 2. Covid; and 3. certain job categories are now frowned upon. These are obvious hurdles, but the bureaucracy continues to chug along on its own.

In closing, I've probably mentioned this upthread, but there is no way in hell I would advise any of you to go it alone. Basically, contact an agent or two, run your plan buy them, get feedback (i.e. will this work?), and then decide whether or not you want to take the plunge.