144 Hour Visa Exception China
 

Has anyone done the 144 hour Visa exemption when flying into China? If I want to fly from The US to Shanghai, stay for the 144 hours and then fly on to Hong Kong for a few days then fly home to the US will that work or have I violated the rules for the visa exception?

Assuming that you have an American passport, you are perfectly fine. Just make sure that your flights in and out of China a non-stop (not stopping anywhere in China).

Can I stop in Hong Kng for a few days before flying back to the US?

With a US passport, you do not need a visa for Hong Kong.

I think the question is whether Hong Kong counts as in or out of China for the purposes of the visa-free stay in China. A little online research suggests that the answer is that it is out.

You are fine going to HK from Shanghai (as it is considered a different country for this purpose) but you cannot do HK-Shanghai-HK.