I forgot to mention the wifi hotspot. I had Skyroam Solis with me, but I could not get any signals at all.
Interestingly I had booze with me, I did not have one sip. I don't know why. When I was working from home in the US, I went through a full bottle of bourbon a week. During quarantine, I just did not have the appetite to drink. I had 10 small airline serving bottles of booze lined up in the motel room, and did not take a peak.

I did download all 40 episodes of "The Man in the High Castle" Amazon TV shows onto my Ipad, they turned out to be a good way to pass time.

You downloaded all 40 episodes, so I can assume that you left quarantine disappointed ;)

YariGuy Please welcome all FT people to join us on Thursdays. While I willingly confess that I have brought insanely dumb ladies, the FT crowd is kind of smart.

Europeans can now travel to China again
 

I don't have a link handy because it was shared with us in our Wechat group and my phone is sleeping, but here are the key points that I recall:
1. ~30 countries
2. if you have an RP, you can apply for an entry visa, free of charge
3. after you arrive, you can get a new RP

Points 2 and 3 don't sit well with me because, whether or not 3 is easy/cheap, I would still pay my agent Y4500 (his fee) in order to minimize paperwork and trips to Pudong (each sucks up a solid half day).

Furthermore, as a US citizen, I'm not welcome back anyway.

That having been said, this is certainly a positive development.

The Wechat account "African Time" advises those of us with RPs to sit tight in China until we have the green light to leave and return. While "African Time" might seem like a flaky China resource on the surface, I've consistently found their reporting to be reliable.

Any mention of ease of restriction to flight supply, ie the '5-ones' ?

I believe many europeean countries offers reciprocal entry to Chinese, so this will lift the demand side. If no new availability, econ seats will stay north of 5000 €...

1. Reciprocity will happen, even within the context of 5-ones. Take France, for example: one weekly flight from CAN, PEK, and PVG. France could justify closing all three routes unless it gets 3 weekly frequencies to China. I predict they will go with 2 PVG and one CAN (PEK/BJS is sort off limits for now)

2. Inbound fares are extremely high because Chinese nationals who are still overseas are willing to pay top dollar in order to come home, but this is a finite market (i.e. after they get here, they will stay put for a while)

3. I've been researching outbound fares because I would like to go to the US before year end
-my desired route is PVG-JAX
-DL is $4,000
-UA is $1,665
-CA is $567, but with brutal connections; still, the fact that they are coming in at 1/6 of DL suggests to me that DL and UA will match (or almost match)
-CX at $1,000 is sort of in the game, but outbound only
-HU will probably relaunch PVG-BOS at some point
-MU PVG-JFK will remain pricey until UA restarts EWR-PVG

True.
I meant reciprocity for passenger entry though. IIRC, multiple countries have approved entry for Chinese citizen but with an added "pending China allowing entry for EU citizens". So if ≈30 European countries are now/soon allowed to enter China, Chinese passengers will automatically be allowed into multiple European countries. With a continued 5-ones a higher demand will be met with the same insufficient supply.

I've been watching fares too, and econ seats have steadily been in the 5000€ and above region. Finnair recently was approved to fly HEL-PVG under 5-ones and immediately sold out. There are seats in OCT at around 2300€, and that is actually business class seats (econ sold out).
Today I finally was able to ship one Chinese pax on CZ CDG-CAN for "amazing" 2000€ in econ. These are easily 5000€ and up, and I so far I see no end to the skewed demand/supply situation.

Here it is: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1o_MOG2z19XajxH48N8Jmg

You wouldn't believe the number of people who sent it to me yesterday... just as I collect my M visa this morning from the HK Visa for China office and will head back to Shenzhen Thursday morning assuming my second HK$3150 Covid-19 test this week is also negative (one to collect the visa and one to cross the border).

It's certainly a positive development because it indicates a loosening of the border policy though I agree with your reading of it: I don't think it really helps people with RPs to do casual trips from and back to China. As you say, they still have to issue a new visa and will cancel your RP in the process (I assume this new visa will still be a single-entry M visa). A few other observations:

(a) Primarily this appears to remove the requirement for the Invitation Letter from your local Chinese Foreign Affairs Office to issue the M visa to people with RPs and a few other visa types. It doesn't mention anything about other documentation but I would assume you still need the regular documentation such as an invitation letter from your company. For stranded RP holders in eligible countries this is a major improvement because the FAO Invitation Letter process has been a main challenge for some.

(b) It appears to be based on the country of application rather than the country of citizenship (so wouldn't help me in HK but would help me home in the UK). In my experience, the Visa for China offices (or whatever the equivalent wherever you are) have been extremely helpful in guiding these applications to get us back so it shouldn't be too difficult for somebody to clarify this with their local Chinese visa office by email.

Also from the group https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4szxd1nZVRUFAi5CuA6RLg . This screenshot is easier to read.

1. New visa might mean getting new RP, as [MENTION=4346]moondog[/MENTION] said
2. I suppose - in line with previous practice of where you are expected to apply for a visa pre-COVID - this is applicable to foreigners according to their residence and not their nationality. So an Australian with EU permanent residence living in Copenhagen can apply. But not a Dane with Australian PR in Sydney.
3. Quarantine restrictions will still have to be abided by. The <24h test is causing even the keenest HK travellers wishing to travel North headaches.
4. Are the countries in the list the countries that said "pending China allowing entry for EU citizens"?

Most people who recently returned on those 5k fares don't fancy traveling abroad again until the air fare situation normalizes. Business travel is a separate issue, but 10k to/from Europe is pretty much out of the question for me unless there is a $1 million+ deal on the table.

I’d also say the 2 weeks quarantine in a Chinese hotel is a suitable deterrent for many to avoid leaving and trying to come back.

Indeed. This < 24h requirement has necessitated me taking two private priority tests submitted on Monday at 9am and today, Wednesday, at 9am in order to guarantee I can satisfy both the requirements for the visa collection (<72h before a fixed appointment) and immigration (<24h before crossing) so they could not realistically be the same test. Given that across the border, I understand that anyone can rock up at a public health clinic and get a test for ~RMB300 I have been highly entertained by the rigmarole of getting these tests done by recognised labs in HK and it's cost me ~10x that price for each test.

No matter, I can be back in my office being productive before the end of August and my company has already begun the process of applying for a new RP for me which will be quite tight given the fact the M visa lasts 30 days and I'm in quarantine for the first two weeks so will need to get that special identity photo receipt done the day I get out. Oh, for the travel bubble...

Even if Chinese nationals can enter Europe, they'd still have to quarantine for 14 days on return to China, at their own cost in a hotel. That should serve as a pretty serious deterrent for outbound travel.

Many people can do half or more of the quarantine in their own homes. Even for those that can't, the hotel prices are well below normal market rates (combination of government rules, and low occupancy).

That having been said, if you paid 5k to fly from SYD to SHA, and are not rich, you are probably inclined to stay in Shanghai for a while.

ETA: I'm firmly opposed to exporting tipping culture to China, but if you selectively distribute $150, your quarantine will be better. Even $30 is okay if focus on the door guard who wields the most power.

/me wonders if that's a violation of the FCPA ;)