I believe the language used with regards to pre-2020 visas has always been "temporary suspension," and at least publicly that hasn't changed. E.g. "Announcement on the Temporary Suspension of Entry by Foreign Nationals Holding Valid Chinese Visas or Residence Permits（2020-03-27）"

This.

If you have a 10-year visa with a far off expiration date and don't have to travel immediately, I'd recommend waiting until mid-2023 to see if old visas become un-suspended. The consulates are only giving out single-entry visas right now. The worse case would be applying for a new visa, getting a single entry visa with an existing 10-year visa with a 2029 expiration getting cancelled, and then China announces un-suspension of pre-2020 visas a week later.

There's previous precedent for "un-suspension" in that existing residence permits were suspended at the same time as visas but became valid again a few months later.

That's my plan as well. If the temporary suspension is lifted next year, we'll still have over 5 years of validity.

Just got a 5-year WP and 5-year RP....I'm good through 2027!

Congrats! Are you an overseas Chinese? I always tried for 5 year RP/WP but never could get one whilst my colleague who is Canadian but was born in China got it with no issues. Are you going to try for the PR? It's pretty easy to get these days.

Thanks.
Nah, not Chinese. Just been here [on-and-off] forever, I guess. First time ever I got anything over 1 year.
PR, you say? Interesting. Hmmm...what's the requirement?

The main requirement is paying over 100k rmb in taxes for 4+ years in a row. If you�ve done that and live in a tier one city you�ll get it.

ha! I have to check...I might be close to that!

Judging by the latest news, I think further easing of entry requirements may happen as early as the next spring.

Data point 1: Cases are spiking way above previous levels, e.g. Guangzhou, but there are no widespread nationwide lockdowns this time, and last week's directives to ease covid rules are still in effect.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...st-cases-spike

Data point 2 (possibly the more important one): Xi's walking around un-masked in a crowded indoor ballroom in Bali, schmoozing and squabbling with other unmasked big cheeses like the good old days, so he has clearly overcome whatever personal concerns he's had about Covid. It's also likely a signal to the rest of his government as well as his citizens that it's alright to begin moving to normalcy.

From what I can gather, the "easing of Covid tests" issue has been almost entirely driven by "who should pay?" and our tendency to test extremely often because it is free for us. While it's true that going to restaurants isn't a necessity, public transportation is in many cases. So, the asking individuals to foot the bill is contentious. Meanwhile, regional governments don't want to be burdened either, and the central government's limits are being tested. Something has to give, but I don't expect the result to be elimination of the testing program.

[Unsubstantiated rumor] I hear speculation that quarantine may drop to 3+3 as of Jan 1, 2023 and to 0+3 by March 31. [/Unsubstantiated rumor]

This is based on a phony screenshot making the rounds purporting to be from the American Chamber of Commerce in China. They have denied receiving any such information.

I saw that screenshot too. My immediate reaction was "why would AmCham know something like this". So I discounted it. That being said, with what they are doing in GZ at the moment, I think they are planning to let it rip a bit and see what happens. Basically they are trying a bit of Sweden 2020 in Guangzhou about 2.5 years later.

Didn't GZ just announce they are building quarantine centers for 250,000 people? I don't have any idea what the direction is for the next 3 months, so many conflicting things going on.

Building that enormous new quarantine facility there is entirely consistent with "letting it rip". In fact, we're getting one here in Shanghai (on Fuxing Island) as well.

The only scenario I can think of that makes sense where you'd need quarantine centers for 250,000 people is if you're going to practically let everyone enter / travel "freely" with the exception that if you test positive (so testing will continue, although the methodology for testing is still unsure, maybe a mandatory test every X days) you must quarantine.

I guess one other scenario that "could" make sense is if you plan on being much more loose about sending people to quarantine (i.e.: "you were within 10km of a confirmed case, you must go to quarantine")