Visas

Everyone is required to obtain a visa which is placed in your passport in order to enter China.
You cannot apply more than 3 months in advance. You need to apply for your visa in May or June.
You can no longer apply by mail for your visa.
You can have another person who you trust go to the Chinese consulate in Calgary or Vancouver with your visa application and passport to drop it off and pick up your visa. The Chinese embassy is very prompt in processing your visa in one or two days. The last time , I went to get my visa, it was around $50. You need two passport photos for your visa application. Sometimes the passport photos for the visa application might be a different dimension from the regular passport photo, so you should ask your passport photographer. Costco in Calgary in Southeast Calgary takes good visa photos.
If you go to a travel agency to get them to obtain your visa they will charge you a ridiculous fee.
The Calgary Consulate is open from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon Monday to Friday. They close promptly at
12 noon even if there are 40 more people lined up the wicket closes.
In your visa application you might have to list the hotels where you will be staying.
I will ask our tour operator in China to forward me our tour itinerary from their company which I can email to everyone . You can print out this copy to show the Consulate clerk the proof that we are legitimate visitors.
If you have any questions filling out the visa application you can contact me. You can download the visa applications from the Chinese Consulate Website if you google it.

The rules for applying for a visa can change at any time.