Extensions are possible when in china - 2 times 30 days, i was told at the embassy but thats quite a few years ago. Call them and ask..

You get max 30 days if applying from a country other than your own.

90 days if you apply from your homeland and have docs to back it up i.e. hotelbooking (booking.com is free to book and free to cancel after you've got the stamp).

So, what do you lot do for a living then, some examples? Or what did you do before? I was a statistician, now i'm a bum :)

Indeed, to be a teacher is a good idea for most people but I don't think i'm cut out for it, and I'm not qualified (though i did teach statistics in SH a few years ago). I also understand that the requirements changed recently to block unqualified teachers, and rightly so.

I've just read a post about smuggling avocados across the vietnam border, not THATS an idea i like :)

Another one i like the sound of is hiring architects in china to draw designs and alterations to buildings in the west.

Im not good looking enough to be a gigolo.

I should have added, I also don't want to become a rentboy.

I would'nt agree that everyone is looking for ways to make good fast money. Short-term thinking is probably the reason so many of those I've met failed and continue to fail. Personally, I don't need the money but it would be nice to have an interesting and slightly profitable enterprise. In Europe I've met dozens of Chinese people who run successful sideline businesses and they have no problem being transparent, because they're genuinely adding value by providing a product or service in a convenient/cheap way, and have built relationships and ways-of-working which cannot be copy-pasted.