Same here, I entered on Feb 23. They didn't hand out entry cards voluntarily on the plane (because it was from Taiwan and most people didn't need one) but had one for me when I asked.

Breezed through the foreigner immigration line without a wait. The Chinese one had a long wait. So I guess it all depends on your arrival time.

Also, in other good news, seems like the PCR requirement is slowly being removed. Started with announcement from the Chinese embassy in New Zealand and now Thailand and South Africa.

Try this:
Walgreens in MA

Thanks. I'm not in Massachusetts at the moment. Their store locator rebuffed me when I queried the test.

Once Biden declares the pandemic over, they'll start charging even if you've got a cough :)

This would be the right URL for finding which Walgreens does which Covid testing:

https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/covid19/testing

Also might be worth contacting your airline to make sure it works, as the word "PCR" doesn't show up on the test (it shows as Rapid-NAAT, which I can easily see unsuspecting check-in agents confusing it with "Rapid-Antigen" which would not be allowed per the Chinese embassy).

A PCR is actually just one type of nucleic acid (NAAT) test; whereas this is another:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...lab/naats.html

All this is ok per the Chinese embassy, as there is no mention of it needing to be PCR, just nucleic acid:

"All China-bound travelers will need to take nucleic acid test for COVID-19 within 48 hours before boarding, and can only travel to China when your test result is negative or after it turns from positive to negative. Please always bring the proof of your negative COVID-19 test result with you for inspection."

Consular Services_Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America

I was worried about it since "Nucleic acid" = "PCR" and "Rapid = antigen" for the past few years it seemed.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8b185be398.png

When I click on your link, Walgreens wants me to visit these places (note the fact that they coddle the MA border).

Looks like someone just made a "Walgreens in MA just doesn't do Covid tests" declaration at some point in time. Hopefully CVS can help or there's a convenient (fast returning) Covid test available from somewhere. When I was looking in Louisiana, there was a lot of "tests usually come back withing 24-48 hours language" which was not going to cut it for my needs.

More embassies are putting language on removing the PCR test requirement on their websites. Tends to be an early indicator of policy changes, so expect a universal announcement to that effect soon.

Now only an antigen test is required and airlines will no longer ask to see any results before check-in, so it'll be entirely down to the honor system via the customs form.

One can hope. I flew from China to USA in January and parts of it were a bit of a nightmare. I was originally booked on AA128 heading from PVG to DFW. However, that was cancelled. I got auto-rebooked on Finnair connecting through HEL and CDG due to the cancellation. All good right?

NOT IN THE LEAST: I needed to figure out if I met the Covid requirements of my new itinerary. Of course, since I didn't know what requirements Helsinki had on flights connecting through to the USA (eventually) I had to Google on US based phone what the requirements were while on hold on my Chinese phone with Finnair....all while just chilling outside security at PVG. Eventually get through to Finnair and they tell me I need a 24 hour PCR with printed results in English to board the plane (even if I was connecting through). I only had a 24 hour code that would have turned to 48 by the time I got in the check in line for Finnair (beside: the health code and Covid result on the phone wouldn't have worked anyway), so I was SOL unless I could find a English language Covid test with printed results in Shanghai very short notice.

Another person in line got booked on a United flight (PVG->SFO) leaving the next day, so at that point in time I figured I'd have American rebook me again, to put me on the United flight - since I knew I could meet the covid requirements. All in all, so much time wasted on silly administrative Covid requirements. This just seems like an easy out that politicians use as an easy way to appease a general population not engaged in international business. Meanwhile, those of us playing this game get stuck dealing with nuts and bolts of actually figuring out how to meet these requirements in a world that largely forgot about Covid, and relative to us, removed their Covid infrastructure.

One also hopes that after China drops its 48-hour test requirement the stragglers who have yet to cancel their own test mandates for travelers from China will respond in kind. Not holding my breath, though.

Although annoying, the outbound (from China) PCR test requirement is less important for me. Though decreased, PCR testing availability is still widely available, and cheap (RMB16).

No real source unfortunately, but:

1) supposedly 17 countries dropped the PCR Test for China Entry requirement as of March 1. Antigen test, including a self-administered one, that is NOT even checked is sufficient.
Countries are: Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, UAE, New Zealand, Maldives, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Switzerland, Hungary, Kenya, and Egypt.

2) Tourist Visas said to be starting to get issued within a month or so.

Good points.

If tourist visas will be issued again next month, I hope that previously issued 10 year Q2 visas (not expired) should be allowed for entry.

If you obtained your 10 year entry visa before March 2020, you will need to apply a new entry visa from Chinese Embassy as they voided all visas issued before. Once you obtained the new visa, you could fly to China with a negative PCR test report (paper report) within 48 hours of departure time of your flight （departure time of the flight into China, if you transiting in somewhere, the first segment(s) does not count).

This is NOT really correct, although does apply to anyone wanting to visit China right now on certain Visa types.
They temporarily SUSPENDED visas back in March 2020, not voided them.
And since RPs were un-suspended only a few months after being suspended, it's generally believed/hoped that this could also occur for L and Q2 visas issued prior to March 2020 at some point in the future.