Countries with Visa Exemptions
Country List of Mutual Visa Exemption
Africa: Mauritius, Seychelles
America: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Suriname
Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
Europe: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, San Marino, Serbia
Oceania: Fiji, Tonga
Nationalities with ordinary passport on above list are entitled to enter China for 15 to 30 days without a visa.
Country List of 15 Days Visa Exemption till 31 December 2025
Asia: Brunei, Malaysia, South Korea
Europe: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
Nationalities with ordinary passport on above list are entitled to enter China for 15 days without visa until 31 December 2025.
APEC Business Card
If you hold an APEC Business Card who from Japan, Russia, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia etc., you could visit China without a visa.
International Flight Network of Zhengzhou Airport
Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Jeju, Cheongju, Phnom Penh, Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Nha Trang, Helsinki, Sydney, Milan, Londun, Luxembourg.
Ho Chi Minh and Osaka will be connected in 2025.
As the policy may change for Chinese Visa of Foreigners, please visit the Chinese Embassy website for latest information.
You can also visit Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more information.
Required Documents for an Academic Exchange Visa:
Attendees at our conference can apply for a Category F VISA (Academic exchanges).
You are required to have an Invitation letter, which Zhengzhou University will issue after reviewing your documents. To receive this Invitation Letter, please provide the required information by completing the China VISA Request Data form before Monday, March 10, 2025
- The consular district (name of the embassy or consulate) for your place of residence. Please check on the website of the Chinese embassy in your country.
- The date you plan to arrive in May 2025
- How many days will you stay in China?
- Your full name, as shown on your passport
- Gender
- Date of Birth
- Occupation
- Nationality
- Passport Number
You also need to book your accommodation before you applying the visa. Please refer to the “APCDA 2025 Annual Conference – Hotel Options & Reservation Form” for the hotel details.
Visa Application Online:
There are two websites where you can apply for a visa to China. Every nationality which has a formal diplomatic relationship with China can apply a visa by logging on to China Online Visa Application (COVA): https://cova.mfa.gov.cn/qzCoCommonController.do?show&pageId=index&locale=en_US
You need to select your continent, country and city, and the website will jump to the page for your application process. For country like United States of America, the applicant will stay on COVA for the application process. After completing the COVA forms as required, please make sure to print the full set of COVA forms (8-9 pages) and sign on the Confirmation Page and the 8th page.
For country like Japan, India, Philippines and Vietnam, the applicant will be linked to Chinese Visa Application Service Center. If you prefer to skip this step, you could use this link for direct application: https://www.visaforchina.cn/globle/
When making travel plans in Zhengzhou, we recommend using Trip.com. The information is more accurate for China than other travel websites. The two recommended hotels are the Huazhi Hotel and the Madison Hotel. The map below shows the distances between our location on campus and these hotels. APCDA Staff and keynote speakers will stay at the Huazhi Hotel and a shuttle will be available to take us to the conference location and back.
Huazhi Hotel华智酒店 is the flagship hotel of Huawise Hotels & Resorts. The facility and service standard equals to a five stars Hotel. The hotel provides free gym, pool and Laundromat for all guests.
Address: No. 97, Kexue Avenue, Zhongyuan District, Zhengzhou
地址：郑州市中原区科学大道97号
Contact: Ms. Xiaoyu Gu 顾晓宇
Mobile: +86-137 0088 7803
E-mail：649217101@qq.com
Room Rate: RMB 380 ($55 USD) / per night
The room rate is available for 1 double bed or 2 single bed with 2 breakfasts
Madison Hotel – Zhengzhou University
Address: Building 6, Waliuxin Village, 100m southeast from the cross of Kexue Avenue and Chunteng Road, Zhongyuan District, Zhengzhou
地址：郑州中原区科学大道与春藤路交叉口东南100米洼刘新村6号楼
Contact: Ms. Na Zhang 张娜
Mobile: +86-191 4942 2089
E-mail：121329404@qq.com
Room Rate: RMB 320 ($45) / per night
The room rate is available for 1 double bed or 2 single bed with 2 breakfasts
There are several other nearby hotels and attendees are welcome to choose any hotel they wish.
Zhengzhou is on the Yellow River. The Yellow River, or Huang He, is the second longest river in China and is historically significant as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Its estimated length is 5,464 km and watershed of 795,00 km. The Yellow River was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization. It is considered as a blessing and a curse throughout history and has been nicknamed both “China’s Pride” and “China’s Sorrow.”
The Yellow River Valley west of Mount Song from the edge of the Qinling divide. The settlement is Lantian county.
The Yellow River descends from Gyaring Lake in the high plains of Tibet at an altitude of 4,293 m (14,085 ft). The distance from the river mouth
is 1,965 km (1,221 mi). Lowland visitors run the risk of altitude sickness. The shallow lake collects muddy waters from the surrounding grassy plateau made of thick deposits of loess, a fine dust deposited by glacial winds in the remote past. Suspended loess stays in the water, imparting to the river the yellow color after which it is named. Deposition of this dust fills up the riverbed, resulting in course changes and extensive flooding. Frequent dams and reservoirs help control this formerly disastrous problem.
Zhengzhou is the capital city of Henan Province situated in the middle of China. It is a Chinese historical city.
One of the unique places to visit is the Henan Museum. It is one of the oldest museums in China located in Songshan Lu, west part of the railway station in the old government quarter. It is a history and archaeology museum with a collection of 130,000 pieces of cultural relics through the ages. Henan Museum’s current building has an area of more than 100,000 square feet, with a floor space of 78,000 square feet.
The tourists are amazed with the spectacular entrance and central atrium where a spiral staircase will bring you to the top. The glass roof at the top of the atrium is awesome, too.
Each floor housed a different historical artifacts from 5000 years of Chinese history including bronze and pottery of porcelain.
It is known as China’s first Buddhist temple located outside the walls of ancient Eastern Han capital, east of Luoyang, Henan. It is a significant
religious and historical site in Zhengzhou. It is established in 68 AD under the patronage of Emperor Ming in Eastern Han dynasty.
The main temple building was constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. An area of 13 hectares with numerous halls divided by courtyards and gardens. Significant statues include Maitreya (laughing Buddha in China), Amitabha, the Jade Buddha, and stone statues of the two white horses which brought the Indian monks to China and two mythical lions at the entrance.
Longmen Grottos is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site as “an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity” located in Luoyang China. It is the world’s biggest Buddhist cave treasury with thousands of stone carvings. Grottoes were carved into 97,000 Buddha statues. The grottoes were carved on the mountain on both sides of Yi river. The work on the grottos began in 493 AD.
The grottos and niches of Longmen has the largest and most impressive collection of Chinese art of the late Northern Wei and Tang Dynasty.
The tourists who visited the place were amazed with the beauty and history.
Song Mountain is one of the Five Mountains of China and offers spectacular views, kung fu demonstrations at the Shaolin Buddhist temple, and the amazing Pagoda Forest. As early as 1st millenium BC,
Chinese astronomical mythology had an idea that Mount Song is “the center of Heaven and Earth”. It was respected by successive dynasties of the Chinese Empire.
It is the fourth highest peak but second in prominence at 869m (4,895 ft.). The highest peak in the range is Lian Tian Feng at 1,512 m. Songshan National Scenic spot is named after it.
This monastery or temple relates to two folk names of the range still in popular use due to legendary sattus: Shaoshi Mountain, which means all peaks west of the valley, and Taishi Mountain, meaning all peaks east of the alley. Mount Song appears to be a two-peak range when actually there are many to count.
Shaolin Temple is famous for its association with martial arts and Zen Buddhism. It is monastic institution renowned as the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. Its location at the foot of Wuru Peak of the Shongshan mountain range in Dengfeng county, Henan province. It is located 72 km southwest of Zhengzhou, modern capital of Henan province, and 48 km southeast of Louyang, former capital of Northern Wei Dynasty.
From approximately 1000 BC, Chinese astronomical mythology declared Mount Song to be “the center of Heaven and Earth.” It was respected as such by the successive dynasties of the Chinese Empire. In about 490 AD, Batuo, a Buddhist monk from India, arrived in China. He translated Buddhist scriptures to Chinese and trained monks in martial arts. The
Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei helped him build the Shaolin Temple on the side of Mont Song in about 495 AD.
A second Indian monk, Bodhidharma, a Zen Buddhist missionary who traveled for decades throughout China, arrived at Shaolin about 527. The Shaolin Temple community gradually grew to become the center of Chinese Zen Buddhism and known for “Shaolin Kung Fu.”
Various wars over the centuries (including during the Cultural Revolution) forced the monks to abandon the temple and destroyed most of the buildings, but each time, the monks returned and rebuilt the buildings in the same style. In 1996, It was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit and in 2010 become a United Nations World Heritage Site.
This monument commemorates the workers’ strike in 1923 and is a symbol of the city’s revolutionary history. The tower is 63 meters high and has 14 floors. It was historically the tallest building in Zhengzhou until 1976. It is made from reinforced concrete, and in a Chinese architectural style. It is two pentagonal conjoined towers, meant to commemorate the striking workers of the Erqi Strike, who went on strike while building the Beijing– Hankou railway. At the top of the tower is a five-pointed red star and a 2.7-meter clock below. The clock plays the Chinese revolutionary song The East Is Red every hour. The tower displays various historical relics, pictures, and written materials about the strike.
A popular recreational destination offering entertainment and leisure activities for visitors.
This temple is a cultural and historical site that provides insight into the traditional religious practices of the region.
These attractions offer a diverse range of experiences, from historical and cultural exploration to natural beauty and recreational activities, making Zhengzhou a compelling destination for tourists.
“Only Henan” constructs a panoramic immersive theatrical theme park between heaven and earth with chessboard, rammed earth, and wheat fields. Using the unique “Fantasy City” architecture as a carrier and a brand-new viewing mode, it tells stories about “land, food, and inheritance”.
The architectural remains of the second grinding wheel factory in China have been transformed into the Ersha Cultural and Creative Park. Guided by cultural and creative industries, technology, fashion, art, life, and even urban memory are intensively integrated and developed within this old factory area. Here, not only can you choose some cultural and creative products and experience the fashion of modern urban streets, but you can also personally witness the shock brought by the old industrial heritage.