China by the Numbers 2026

Most China guides hand you a number and drop the paper trail. This page runs the other way. Every figure below carries the authority that published it, so you can check the arithmetic yourself instead of trusting a blog that copied another blog.

A number without its source is a rumour with a decimal point.

i keep this list for the questions that repeat: how much cash can i carry, what does a residence permit cost, where does the tax refund lose two percentage points. The links lead to the full guide, because a table cannot hold the conditions that decide whether a rule reaches you at all.

How to use this page

Three habits make the numbers below usable. Read the source column before you quote a figure. Check the date on the notice, since a 2019 fee schedule and a 2025 one can sit in the same category. And when a figure surprises you, open the guide, because the exception usually sits one paragraph under the headline rule.

Prices marked RMB¥ are the real number. Dollar figures appear only where the original rule is written in dollars, which is the case for foreign-card mobile spending and for visa fees set by reciprocity.

Money and payments

Entry, visas and residence

Overstaying

The penalty table below comes from the published discretion standards, and the detail that matters sits in the second row: the clock starts on day eleven, not day one.

Income tax

Getting around

Connectivity

Shopping, parcels and refunds

Daily cost and insurance

How to cite this page

You may quote any figure here, with or without a link. When you do, cite the notice rather than this page, because the notice is what a reader can check independently. A workable form: the figure, the issuing authority, the notice number, and the month you verified it.

If you need the conditions around a number, for instance whether a residence permit disqualifies you from the tax refund, link the guide in the first column. Those pages carry the exceptions and the worked examples, and they update when a rule changes.

Common questions

How often do these figures change?

Fees move slowly and thresholds move in bursts. The tax refund floor sat at RMB¥500 for years and dropped to RMB¥200 in 2025. I re-check the whole table against primary sources before publishing a new guide, and the caption on each table carries the date of the last pass.

Why does a figure here differ from what a counter told me?

Three common reasons: the counter applied a local practice rather than the national rule, the rule changed after the staff were trained, or the figure you were quoted covers a different band. Overstay fines are the clearest example, since the daily count starts on day eleven rather than day one.

Do these figures include Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan?

No. Visa, tax and customs figures here describe the mainland. Hong Kong and Macao run separate immigration and customs systems, and a mainland visa does not grant entry to either.

Which figure matters most for a short trip?

The RMB¥200 payment threshold, because it decides whether a wallet or a card is cheaper on any given bill. A week of small purchases costs nothing in fees, while one large purchase through the same wallet costs 3% of the whole amount.

Why are some figures in dollars?

Only where the original rule is written that way. Foreign-card mobile spending limits and US visa fees are set in dollars by the authorities that issue them, so converting them would add a second error to every quote. Everything priced in yuan keeps its yuan figure.

Can I reuse this table in a newsletter or a class?

Yes. Quote what you need and name the source notice. If the table itself travels, link back so readers reach the version that gets corrected.

A list of numbers is only as good as the day it was checked. If one of these figures no longer matches what you see, tell me through the contact page and i will correct it here first.