quite straight forward in Chengdu, Sichuan Province

It was clear that I was not going to make it easily to Beijing, get a Russian and Mongolian Visa and make it to the border in 7 days. I had heard on my travels that I could renew my Visa in Chengdu. When I arrived I did an internet research and saw some nightmare stories of fellow travelers renewing Visas. This is just to share my experience on-line and have done so on Facebook as well

Firstly you have to find the Public Security Bureau. Fortunately my hostel had a local map and it was listed there. In Chengdu it is called the Chengdu Exit and Entry Service Center. Below you will find photos of the place, as well as some photos of inside the place for orientation. It is located just behind the Mao Statue (Left hand side as you look at the Mao statue from Tianfu Square)

Requirements: 1) Copy of passport 2) photocopy of valid visa (5 days left of validity) 3) copy of official receipt of where I was staying (hotel receipt) 4) colour passport photo.   (Online research mentioned evidence of funds so I took copies of my bank and credit cards, but this was not required.)

Process: Had to complete 2 forms. 1) Application form 2) Travel itinerary. (for the latter I did not have to have booking evidence of the hotels and places I was staying in as I had to have when I applied for my original visa in Singapore. But I am sure this will help the process better) 3) Payment of RMB160 (I had expected a lot more from fellow American travelers on the Internet, also emergency rates would be higher.)   Finally, you had to pay immediately at counter 20 which was in the same room for your application to be processed. The only thing which was an issue is that it took a while to process. I applied on the 1st of September and could only collect my passport on the 9th. Including the weekend this was 6 working days. Not sure if this was normal duration or that my original visa expired on the 10th so my new one would start the day after. So the main issue is timing. Everything else was quite straight forward.