China's 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit: A Complete 2026 Guide

China's 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit is the easiest legal route into the country for most Western passports: no visa application, no consulate appointment, no fee. As of 20 August 2026, 57 countries qualify — Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added on that date, taking the list from 55 to 57. You can enter at any of 65 open ports across 24 provinces and municipalities, move freely between them for up to 240 hours, and exit to a third country or region (Hong Kong and Macao count as a third region). What you actually need: a passport valid for 6+ months, a confirmed onward ticket to a third country dated inside the window, and an application at the dedicated transit counter on arrival. The 240-hour clock starts at immigration, not at landing. You cannot exit back to the country you arrived from — that single rule is what catches most travellers. This episode covers who qualifies, the exact documents, how the ports work, the cross-province rules, and the two mistakes that get people refused at the counter. Full policy walkthrough: https://travelhubchina.com/articles/china-240-hour-visa-free/ Check your own passport in 30 seconds: https://travelhubchina.com/tools/china-240h-visa-free-checker/ One clarification that trips people up: the 240-hour transit is a different scheme from the 30-day unilateral visa-free list (50 countries as of 2026) and from bilateral visa-exemption treaties. If you hold an EU, UK, Australian, New Zealand, Japanese or Korean passport you may qualify under more than one route — transit is the one that unlocks a cross-province itinerary.