By shear coincidence, I left China on 11/28 (and started this thread on 11/29). I pretty much pulled that date out of thin air a month or so prior, but in mid November, there were hints that changes were in the works and by 3-4 days prior, the writing on the wall suggested that positive cases were likely to explode. Being positive would have seriously messed things up for me under the old rules because I wouldn't have been allowed to even set foot in the airport. I gather that's not such big deal any more, but we certainly didn't know they were going to pretty much decimate the health code system (that had been gospel since March). As such, I think my timing was smart based on what we knew beforehand. Tmk, there was not a noticeable spike (or drop) in airfares.