躺平Tangping

The playbook

Ninety days, one errand

The visa math nobody tells you: the US 10-year tourist visa allows 60 days per entry. You reach 90 with either one PSB extension filed mid-stay, or one border hop. Here is the whole cycle, day by day.

  1. T−60 to T−14

    Before you fly

    • 10-year multi-entry L visa application (60 days per entry — the 90-day trip is built from this)
    • Link your US card to Alipay and WeChat Pay; test both with a small transaction
    • Install and test your eSIM roaming plan or VPN — after landing is too late
    • Health insurance valid in mainland China
    • Apartment shortlisted in an oversupplied district of your base city

  2. Day 0–3

    Landing

    • Arrive; entry stamp starts your 60-day clock
    • Sign the lease: 押一付三 — one month deposit + three months rent, which maps exactly onto a 90-day stay
    • Register at the local police station within 24 hours of moving in (mandatory for private rentals; hotels do it for you)
    • Transit card, local SIM, grocery and delivery apps

  3. Day 4–44

    Live

    • This is the part you came for. Monthly burn in Kunming: roughly $765–800 all-in
    • Deflation quietly works in your favor — your dollar buys a bit more each month

  4. Day 45–53

    The extension window

    • File the +30-day extension at the city's PSB Exit-Entry Administration
    • Must be submitted at least 7 days before day 60; decision within 7 working days
    • Fee for US citizens: ~¥760. Bring passport, registration slip, itinerary
    • Prefer not to deal with the PSB? Take the hop instead (below)

  5. Day 88–90

    Exit

    • Fly out before the extended clock expires
    • Deposit back, utilities settled, registration closed out
    • Next cycle can start whenever you like — the visa is multi-entry for 10 years

Plan B (or plan A)

Visa-refresh hop strategies

Crossing any border and re-entering resets your 60-day clock. Three routes, ranked by cost from each base. One honest constraint: frequent back-to-back resets eventually draw questions at the border — hop once per cycle, not four times a year forever.

Hong Kong

From: Any base (best from Changsha — 3h high-speed rail)

Cost: $80–250 round trip

The classic. Exit mainland immigration, re-enter, fresh 60 days. No visa needed for HK itself.

Vietnam

From: Nanning (3–4h overland to the Dong Dang border)

Cost: $20–60 overland

The cheapest reset in the country. Hanoi is 8h total if you want a real side trip.

Laos

From: Kunming (direct rail on the China–Laos line)

Cost: $60–120

Scenic rail through the mountains to Luang Prabang. Doubles as a vacation from your vacation.

Cycle math

Why 90 days — and why twice a year is the ceiling

These numbers aren't arbitrary. Three separate rules converge on the same design, and the cap is a feature.

90 days

Max per stay

Since 2013, a tourist visa extends once only. Your 60-day entry + one 30-day PSB extension = 90 days, and that's the wall. One entry, one errand, one clean quarter.

183 days

The tax line

Spend 183+ days in mainland China in a calendar year — tourist days count — and you become a Chinese tax resident, with filing obligations to match. Two 90-day cycles = 180 days: just under the line, every year, by design.

2 / year

The border's patience

Serial back-to-back re-entries pattern-match to "living here on a tourist visa," and entry is always discretionary. A spring cycle and a fall cycle stay invisible. We don't sell a lifestyle of endless hops — the honest advice and the good product are the same thing.