What restrictions on transit points still exist? Isn't the latest policy simply a 48-hour negative PCR test from any testing venue that the local PRC consulate approves of? I haven't bothered to figure out how they calculate the 48 hours yet.

In terms of "more airlines allowed", I'm guessing that giving existing back more of their previous frequencies will take precedence.

If your originating flight is from outside of China, you are not allowed to transit in China or in Macau. You can transit in Hong Kong to another location BUT you cannot transit from Hong Kong to mainland China.

No, nothing has changed, and most rumors went nowhere.

-of course you can't transit in China because quarantine happens at the point of entry
-Macau is similar. If you q for seven days there, you are effectively already in China
-in the case of HK, you need to wait until day 3 before you can take the in-airport PCR test
I'm pretty sure the OP wasn't asking about these cases though.

Yeah, transiting in other countries is now pretty easy, with less requirements for Covid tests and HDC codes.
Also, there's several new routes being announced (Hainan and Air China).
There's definitely some positive developments for getting to China.

Does anyone know why UA has zeroed out Y between Dec 4 and 30?

In which direction?

Edit: okay, see it now: SFO ---> PVG is zeroed out. No idea why.
PVG ---> SFO is still showing up.

I take back my statement, things are changing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...uverify%20wall

There is some speculation here whether that is actually true though. At least it may not be quite as 'easy' to home quarantine as this article makes it sound like.
I was searching this exact info a couple of days ago, and the MAIN article (pre-dating the Bloomberg one mentioned above) that popped up in search engines was from globaltimes.cn: BUT, the link was already dead within an hour of posting, so I never saw the full article. Only managed to grab this snippet before the search engine's cache was purged. The notice mentioned below is rumored to have been fake and photoshopped!!!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1164be21de.jpg

They put out good sounding news for the foreign press. Watch the stocks pop in HK and then sell off their profits whilst they backtrack on everything they say on the ground. It's happened too many times now to be a coincidence.

Oh ye of little faith.

Actually I share your lack of faith at the moment. Hard to tell which way things are headed. Once they get protestors off the street I would not be at all suprised to see policies reworded to sound better but many cities reverting to their prior practices.

Was it Zhengzhou today that reiterated its full commitment to a complete eradication of covid so they would not be changing any quaranting or testing rules?

I dunno...
Something is different this time. There's an eerie atmosphere floating around, and unusual, uncommon behavior from the people.

I've seen the moniker of "most important moment in Chinese history since 1989" a few times now.

Are you talking about the Covid rules? I think it’s the same ambiguous poop show it’s been for the last few years. If you’re talking about the protests, they’ve already pretty much ended in Shanghai at least. Nothing more is going to come of them IMHO.

I agree with your last two sentences. You and I have both seen similar games countless times.

I am talking about everything; the mood of the people, the unease that's lingering in the air, the uncertainty, the Covid restrictions; all of it.
This is not the same as before. This all feels like completely new territory, IMO.

Added: they just removed all testing stations here in Beijing (except some in the apartment complexes), and no more 'recent test result' needed for subways, buses, and malls from Monday onward.
Not sure how this is all going to work out, or play out.....but dang!!!!