China, along with a few other countries, requires US citizens to apply for and obtain visas at a consulate before arrival. I didn't have the time or the patience to arrange for a tourist visa to enter China, so I took advantage of the "transit visa." There are 5 places in China where you're allowed to arrive, spend 72 hours (as long as you don't leave the city), and move on to another country. Shanghai is one of those places (along with Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing).
All you have to do is make sure your departing flight from Shanghai is scheduled to leave no more than 72 hours and 0 minutes from your arrival. When you check-in for your flight to Shanghai the desk agent for your airline will ask for a copy of your Chinese visa. Your airline doesn't want to transport you to some place you're not going to be welcomed. Not all desk agents are that familiar with the 72 hour rule for China. When I told my desk agent from Dragonair in Hong Kong that I had no visa and what I was doing, she went to check with a supervisor, and carefully counted up my hours in Shanghai. Upon seeing that my departing flight was scheduled to leave 71 hours and 45 minutes after my arrival, she said she was "worried" for me. Really, though, there's nothing to worry about. The only thing that could go wrong would be if my inbound flight to Shanghai were early, thereby meaning that I would be in Shanghai for more than 72 hours. My understanding is that the clock starts when you approach the customs official, so if worse came to worse, I was prepared to sit in the bathroom until it was safe to emerge. And really, what's the worst that can happen? The whole point of this is that they want me to leave the country after 72 hours. They certainly wouldn't detain me and keep me there longer!
I approached the customs official in Shanghai and, except for the fact that she had to go hunting for a special stamp, it went smoothly. It's very important to show proof that you have purchased an outbound ticket and that you're going to some place different than from where you arrived (i.e., you can't leave home, go to China for 71 hours, and then just turn around and go back home). And don't worry about what happens if your outbound flight is delayed, thereby keeping you in China for more than 72 hours. That won't be held against you -- you only need proof that your purchased ticket was on a flight scheduled to leave within 72 hours. The process did take a few minutes, as I had to fill out another form while I could feel the pain of the person behind me in line wondering why he was so unlucky to be waiting for the one fellow who was getting all of this special attention.
And I have to say that the Chinese customs official was very friendly. Perhaps it's because this was the only customs area in the world that I've seen with a little keypad asking you, the traveler, to judge the customs official on a 4-point scale from Greatly Satisified to Satisified to Unsatisified to Greatly Unsatisfied (all with corresponding smiley-face or frowning-face emoticons). After I got my stamp, I told her I was going to give her the "Greatly Satisified" grade -- and she beamed a big smile in response.
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