Visa to Enter China

If you are coming to China for just a few days, a tourist visa is sufficient. In this case, it is not necessary to apply for a business visa which requires invitation letters. If you want to get a one year multiple entry business visa, then you will need an invitation letter from a Chinese company. Also, you can apply for a 3 day temporary visa at the Zhuhai or Shenzhen borders.
We recommended that you get your China visa in your home country before arriving in China. You can contact your local Chinese embassy or a local travel agency for details.
Alternatively, you can fly to Hong Kong without a visa and apply for a China visa there. You can ask your hotel or a travel agency there for details. Also, you can go to the Chinese Consulate directly. In HK the Chinese Consulate is located in the China Resources Building, 26 Harbour Road, Wanchai. The entrance is located on the side of the building and you must get in the line as early as possible. They are limiting the number of visas issued each day so you may have to wait another 24 hours if you get there late.

Language

English is not an official language in China, but many young people in the big cities can speak some English. So, we recommend that you bring a Chinese friend to be your interpreter when you are in China.

Hotels

Chinese hotels are generally not expensive; the prices range from $30 to $100 per night for a decent hotel. But, you need to book your hotel in advance to get a discount. If you go to the hotel directly, especially for a good hotel, you cannot get a discount. For some small hotels, there is no need to book in advance. You can just walk around until you find an economic hotel.

Food
Chinese food is almost always delicious. A dinner usually costs from $3 to $10.

Transportation

Subways are primarily only available in big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The city bus is cheap, but it is very slow due to much traffic. Furthermore, it may be difficult for you to know where to get off the bus because most street signs are in Chinese. Taxi is the best way for a traveler, because it is inexpensive. But most taxi drivers do not speak English, so you better show the driver a piece of paper with your destination written in Chinese.

Shopping

It is better for you to go to shopping with a Chinese friend, otherwise the seller will ask for a high price unless you buy from the supermarket. So, you need to learn to bargain with Chinese sellers. One effective way is to just walk away after offering a low price. If the seller calls you back, it is an indication that he is likely to make a deal with you.

Some useful information you have posted there, thank you.

What are the staying time limits for both visas? (Tourist/Business).

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Originally Posted by Anthony

Some useful information you have posted there, thank you.

What are the staying time limits for both visas? (Tourist/Business).

you're suggested to contact China Embassy at your end to know the staying time limits for both visas as it might be different to different applicants. Welcome to China, we are also a professional biz service company in China, covering sourcing, verification, quality control, biz investigation etc...

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Originally Posted by Anthony

Some useful information you have posted there, thank you.

What are the staying time limits for both visas? (Tourist/Business).

Both are 3 months at most.

I've been thinking about doing this recently, going over to China and having a bulk amount of goods shipped back to the UK.

Is it really that much cheaper? Considering most goods can be bought online, is it really worth the cost of travelling over there, hotels, food, shipping charges to get goods back?

And where would you go to get any sort of bulk? Do the stores really hold large enough amounts of stock to make the trip worthwhile?

You don't visit stores to make large purchases (unless your buying branded goods), you go to the factories.

Originally Posted by uhafmail

You don't visit stores to make large purchases (unless your buying branded goods), you go to the factories.

Yes, that's true. But maybe the amont is too big for small buyers. If you buy really very large amount, you can attend the trade show or search factories online then visit them to talk about busniess.

Ahh ok, is there anywhere online I could find a list of these tradeshows? Preferably in English

Global Sources is a good place to start

Originally Posted by Jedec

Global Sources is a good place to start

The factories on Global Sources are most big factories or trading companies. The tradeshow is a good way. And I suggest you can use your own sourcing agent in China. Because the real good factories maybe don't have a website or promotion online. They just focus on production, only trading companies spend much efforts on marketing.