Originally Posted by
CPH-Flyer
One does not necessarily need a visa to China, just plan it as a transit to a 3rd country (which does actually include Hong Kong) and you get up to 144 hours visa free. Of course that does make the ticket a bit more complex.
It is indeed more complicated if you try to milk the 144h transit visa by getting an extra ticket to the third country. My kids used it once (sent them from PEK to HKG as UMs) and I was at landside at PEK for 3,5h after their flight landed. It didn't end well - fortunately they were together so they weren't scared or anything.
144 hours in the area around the airport - so if you are flying into PEK you can't take HSR to Shanghai for a day or 2. As you know you need your passport to buy HSR tickets and hotels do check the visa when checking into any hotel.