@Amy Yes, that's the conclusion we came to as well. And avoid getting a Chinese passport as that just complicates things.

@ocean
As noted above, For entry/exit China, use the child's Chinese passport.

On that note, redjon777 says the process I provided won't work for his particular situation, so regrets.

Renunciation of citizenship seemed rather drastic, so I'd hoped an alternative solution would prove feasible. Regrets.

@Michael
As mentioned before, if my child tries to leave China for UK on a Chinese passport which has no UK visa in, there will be questions from Immigration. I can't see it working.

Seems to me that dual citizenship is a good thing to keep, other factors being equal. 18 years from now is a long time, and...things change.

In an ideal world you could keep both. But this is not an ideal world, so, unless you want to break Chinese law, you have to pick one. A UK passport is better than a Chinese one, but if you're based in China long term, it may be easier to use a Chinese passport and get the 6 month over 2 years multiple entry for the UK.

I take your point: was what I meant by 'other factors'. And I know little for sure about what Chinese law on the matter is - quite likely it is not what many would like it to be. It's just that I have friends with different types of dual citizenship, or anyway dual passports (France/Taiwan, for example), and they find them useful.

Many countries permit dual citizenship. China does not - hence the need to choose.

But the best option is not to choose until you absolutely have to.

For questions or concerns regarding passports, dual nationality, and how to exit/enter china for the child, simply verify the process with the ultimate and definitive source on these matters - the exit/entry office on tuodeng road. You'll need to immediately escalate to a supervisor as the clerks only know how to do visa application intake. If a clerk tries to answer - don't believe them. It's exceedingly rare they would be familiar with such things and they're most probably making things up, to your ultimate detriment.

The supervisor will most probably call the airport exit/entry counterpart to verify and confirm the process and voila - you're good to go.

That's the way it works. There is no law broken, as long as you're legally traveling with your child.

As for an adult traveling on dual passports - you may also want to take the opportunity to ask the chinese passport agency entry/exit officer (NOT the front desk clerks) their policies and procedures for adults, as I would think you'd want to eventually naturalize your wife, but she'd probably want to retain her chinese passport for travel.

@Michael
I spoke to the Head of the PSB in TuoDongLu a couple of years ago and was given a paper record of the relevant law. He was clear: Every child born in China is considered a Chinese citizen (unless/until they renounce it). No multiple nationalities are recognised. If you show your British passport to Immigration on trying to leave to explain why you have no British visa in your Chinese passport it simply will not be recognised. You will not be allowed to leave because you don't have the right stamps in your Chinese passport.

Exiting through HongKong might work - never tried it - but I suspect the Exit/Entry stamps will still catch you out. What passports do you need to use to get a HongKong ID?

And with a child involved, why try risk bending the rules? The PSB have a process which is easy enough to follow. We've used it three times without any issues.