Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
SHANGHAI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — On Monday, the first day of China's trial visa-free regime for Russians with ordinary passports, two international airports in the city of Shanghai in eastern China, Hongqiao Airport and Pudong Airport, received the first groups of tourists from Russia who took advantage of the preferential measures.
Ms. Garmaeva, who arrived in Shanghai on flight FM848, became the first Russian visa-free traveler to cross the border at Hongqiao Airport. She said this was her second trip to China this year. Compared with applying for a tourist visa, the visa-free policy made the trip more convenient and efficient, she said.
The Kustovs, passengers on the same flight, said they booked their plane tickets to Shanghai as soon as they learned China had introduced a visa-free regime for Russian citizens. They added that they planned to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary during their trip around the country.
Let us recall that China introduced a trial visa-free regime for Russian citizens holding regular foreign passports from September 15, 2025 to September 14, 2026.
Russian citizens holding valid regular foreign passports can visit China under a visa-free regime for the purposes of doing business, making tourist trips, visiting relatives and friends, exchanging visits, and for transit, while the period of their stay in China should not exceed 30 days, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
According to statistics from the main border control service of Shanghai, 196,000 Russian tourists entered the country through this eastern Chinese metropolis in the first eight months of this year, which is 56 percent more year-on-year.
As of the end of July 2025, China has unilaterally or mutually agreed to grant visa-free entry to citizens of 75 countries. Since the beginning of this year, more than 3.644 million foreign nationals have entered China through Shanghai Port, an increase of 42.2 percent over the same period last year. Of these, 1.957 million people entered the country using the visa-free entry and 240-hour visa-free transit entry, accounting for more than 50 percent of the total number of incoming foreign tourists. -0-
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