1 you'll live
2. My boss asked for and received a good hotel. My Chinese friends took the crappy hotels...made no sense to me because they all flew in on 50k plus tickets
3. 外卖 seems to be okay in all cases I know of

"I have an unused China Mobile SIM."

No, you have an unused China Telecom SIM. You know, China Telecom, the one which runs a CDMA network that doesn't work with most foreign phones.

Besides, this website -- which may or may not be right -- says of China Telecom SIMs, "Only purchase these cards in official stores! They can�t be activated anywhere else, so a card purchased from a street vendor will be useless."

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/best-...-can-get-them/

Good catch on the Telecom thing.

I've never used Telecom before so I don't know about their activation policies first hand, but with Mobile and Unicom if you buy a SIM from a third party, you can register at any official store. Sometimes you can use them for a certain period of time prior to registration. Btw, I haven't seen street vendors in ages. These days electronics markets seem to be the only unofficial outlets.

Thanks for both replies. Good to know 外卖 is OK. I am a big fan of 大众点评 as its former CEO is a good friend who left for 猫眼

1) No I haven't done COVID test in the US. I have stayed at home since Jan.31, and don't expect to be exposed to the virus at all.

I am wondering if I should do a test before I leave. My doctor ordered both COVID and anti-body tests for me. Not sure if this makes any difference when I arrive in China.

2) Seems that we are getting conflicting reports about better hotels.

moondog you mentioned your boss asked for it and got it. Did the boss enter at PVG?

Finally, 50K CNY one-way ticket in coach is way too much. My outbound J award JFK-ZRH-PVG on LX costs 88K miles. My return is 35K miles saver Y award on United, PVG-SFO-BOS, waitlisted for upgrade with pretty good chance of clearing (only 9/60 booked).

As a back up, I hold saver J award on LH NKG-FRA-BOS which requires overnight stay at FRA. Not too impressed with LH 748 J but will take it if UA 858 fails to clear.

They merged with 美团 and the current name is 美团网.
Yes, and he asked upon arrival. Since he's not "one of us", I didn't press him too hard for details. He was able to pick a pretty nice hotel near his house, and they actually set him free on day 2 (upon receiving his test results), but his health code remained red until day 14, which effectively limited him to his own compound. He arrived in late March. I arrived in late February, and was permitted to go straight home from the airport, but was also awarded a red health code. My guards allowed me to leave my compound. I just couldn't enter any establishments that were scanning health codes. My friends who arrived in April, May, and June (1 per month) all had to stay in their hotel rooms for the entire 14 days, but 2 of the 3 didn't have Shanghai 户口.

My Chinese friends are extremely risk averse, and were only interested in nonstop flights.

Sorry to ask, but could someone make a Wiki with up-to-date information of the 'current China entry policy'?

I haven't been following this thread (unfortunately) and assume it's still all based on, and mostly unchanged from the March 26 directive?

My American friends in Shanghai were 7 days in local quarantine hotel and 7 days at home in their apartment.

Interesting. I found the nasal one to be extremely uncomfortable, but painless. Is the throat one worse? Apologies I know this is OT.

I suppose we could make a wikipost for this thread, but the problem is (at least) three-fold: 1. quarantine/test requirements are in a constant state of flux; 2. each port of entry has unique restrictions (e.g. Beijing is the toughest); and 3. inbound passengers from specific countries and/or citizenship receive somewhat special treatment.

The one thing that has not changed since March 28 is that the vast majority of non-Chinese citizens require visas issued after March 28 in order to enter Mainland China.

I would add that I've not heard of any foreigner being issued a new entry visa who doesn't already have a Residence Permit or similar visa and is clearly able to prove to their local Foreign Affairs Office that they are critically needed back in their job or otherwise critically need to get home so China is completely out of bounds for casual visitors at the moment.

Not only is each city dealing with returnees differently as noted above but each local Foreign Affairs Office will have its own process for issuing Invitation Letters that are now required to get new entry visas issued in addition to an Invitation Letter from whoever it is that's actually inviting you (most likely your employer) and these rules and processes are fluid.

I'm happy to offer advice to anyone aiming for Shenzhen if you message me as I'm currently in the process myself.

An online seminar will be held on 28 July with the authorities in Guangzhou titled: "How to Return to China". The Shenzhen Foreign Affairs Office held a similar online seminar a few weeks ago that wasn't too helpful and just confirmed what we already knew but at least they confirmed there was a process and a web site detailing it. It does highlight the fact that the new Invitation Letters that we need to support our new entry visa applications are dealt with by Foreign Affairs Offices on a very local basis. In this case, the city of Guangzhou. So if you're heading there then this online seminar may be useful.

Link to registration page of seminar by Guangzhou Authorities on "How to Return to China"

The European Chamber of Commerce South China Chapter has an online survey to collect data from foreign residents who are stranded abroad. The deadline is July 20:

European Chamber Members Stranded Abroad Due to Covid-19 Survey

It does ask for some personal information (name, employer, location, phone number etc.) that some people may not be willing to provide but that's a personal decision you need to make. This was sent to me with the following text:

[QUOTE]
ASSESSMENT OF PEOPLE STRANDED ABROAD TO PRESENT IT TO THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES
The European Chamber South China Chapter is conducting a survey to understand each individual's general situation with regard to the entry ban. This survey will ask a variety of questions and can be filled out by those out of China and those who have family members outside of China or both. We will assess this information and present the data to relevant government officials to effectively find solutions to this dilemma. We encourage you to take part and fill in this survey by 20 July. Please find the survey through the link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CXKFPXY
[ENDQUOTE]

Two people in this thread have reported getting post-3/28 visas. Neither have detailed their circumstances, nor should we expect them to, but I don't think they have RPs.

One of the posters mentioned an existing Q2 and death of an immediate family member a few months ago, if that helps.

Does anyone know if is allowed to quarantine with 2 people in a hotel room?