Lines Drawn on the Ground

Special Notes

This route runs on a policy with a clock in it, so several things here follow rules rather than preferences. Told straight.

• Bookings are not open yet — one thing has to be real first. The carrier and the issuing party for the crossing from the Shenzhen exit port into Hong Kong are being settled, and until they are named we take no orders and no deposits. The reason is structural: on this plan the exit is the one deadline that cannot slip, and an exit leg with no named carrier is not a sellable exit. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
• The stay window is counted in hours — the permitted stay runs continuously from your entry stamp, ten times twenty-four hours. We compute each order from your actual arrival time on day one to the planned exit time on day ten. As designed this plan leaves roughly a full day of margin. An order whose computed stay exceeds the window is not sellable, whatever the printed day count says.
• Your full ticket, and the two ends of it — we read your complete international itinerary in writing, not just the arrival flight. The place your last inbound leg departs from must differ from the place your first outbound leg arrives at. This plan leaves for Hong Kong, so your last inbound leg must not depart from Hong Kong, and an itinerary that returns to its own origin, such as United States to mainland China to United States, does not qualify for this plan.
• Different ports, and no going back — entry is Beijing, exit is the Shenzhen land port, and the two are not interchangeable. All four cities sit inside the areas the policy permits: Beijing municipality, Shaanxi province, Shanghai municipality, Guangdong province. Nothing outside those areas is scheduled, and once the party leaves the permitted area it does not re-enter, which is why day ten ends at the port.
• Day ten is the hard deadline — exit clearance on day ten is the one node that cannot slip. We hold at least four hours of buffer before your planned crossing and schedule nothing self-arranged after Huaqiangbei.
• The Hong Kong side is separate — being eligible to enter Hong Kong has nothing to do with the mainland transit policy. You confirm that eligibility in writing before payment, and everything inside Hong Kong is on your own account.
• Policy re-check at quoting — before payment on each order we re-check the policy as published for that departure date. An order that does not pass the re-check is not taken, and we say so rather than sell.
• Which visa route applies to non-US passports — for any passport other than a US passport the applicable route is being settled in commercial review. Until it is, your quote states in writing which route your order runs on and the result of the check above. Guests connecting through a third place on the way in must not connect through Hong Kong on the inbound leg.
• No departures October 1 to 7 — visitor volume at the Terracotta Warriors site peaks in that week and capacity on the three intercity legs is at its tightest, against a plan whose exit cannot slip.
• Day two never falls on a Monday — the Forbidden City closes on Mondays. Where your requested departure date would put day two on a Monday, days two and three swap, so the Great Wall day moves to day two and the Forbidden City day to day three. Each remains a standalone day, and the swap is confirmed in writing before payment.
• November and December departures — the operating and weather-suspension rules for the upward chairlift at Mutianyu and for cycling on the Xi'an city wall are not yet confirmed with our ground partners for those months. Until they are, every quote for a November or December departure states in writing the operating terms of those two items and what replaces them if the operator suspends service.
• The Shenzhen robotaxi ride — this is the one thing on the ground here that we will not promise. Availability sits with the operator, not with us, so it is not in your price and it is not sold to you as part of this plan. On day ten we check operator availability for your date, and where it runs we arrange the ride and state its price in writing when you choose it. Where it does not run, the day continues with a Shenzhen alternative, which is stated in writing in your quote before you travel.
• Party size and intercity class — Until they are settled, every quote states both in writing for that order, and no order is taken without them.
• Confirmation and changes — the confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalized with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. A date change on this plan touches rail and flight inventory and re-opens the whole entry-and-exit check above, because the exit date is fixed by the stay window.