Between the lines I read that there is more to the question/challenge of getting her passport than the name on either of the birth certificates.

Is it that you want the passport, but more specifically you want the passport with name of your choice on it, rather than any/current name? Or is this a question of questionable nationality rather than birth name? Like, does she have Chinese citizenship and ID?

I am pretty sure that the ORIGINAL birth certificate cannot be altered now, 18 years after birth, so this would be more like a process of acquiring a name change. I don't know how that goes in China.

Might be different in UK, but in my home country within EU, it doesn't matter what name our son had´s on his Chinese birth certificate. There is no requirement of having my family name on it, for him to be recognized as my descendant, and obtaining EU passport or other privileges with that recognition.

It was only that the first passport (and other registrations) had to be done with the exact Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese name. If we/he later wants to change the name, he can do that and then get new passport/other documents with the new name. We might do that, because the direct Pinyin version results in a bit incorrect spelling. But as far as just getting a passport goes, that's has not been a problem.

"assets acquired AFTER marriage are considered community property in China - regardless of how one tries to hide or manipulate the assets"

Unfortunately that doesn't work both ways.

If the name of the foreign spouse is not on the property deeds, it having been "seriously complicated" to do at the time may not be a valid excuse to consider the foreign spouse having a claim on the property after the marriage (or even during marriage in some cases).

It may be complicated indeed, but I would argue worth the effort in long run. In particular for younger couples for which there may be a "after marriage".

That said, thought came up for older generation, what would happen if the Chinese spouse passes away first and the foreign spouse has no name on the property? Sub scenarios with shared children or only the Chinese spouse having children?

With the developments in extra-curricular education in China in recent years, such schools and/or camps will be limited to subjects like art or sports, or simply daycare for younger children.

In other fields (including Mandarin language) the offering will be extremely restricted, considering they must be strictly non-profit and as such probably focused to serve families in need. They would gladly take the money from wealthier families, but are not allowed to.

But if immersion to Mandarin language is the primary objective, the subject may not matter to you that much. Given the above, there are probably more options to choose from arts and sports, than there were before.

Also considering that less children will spend their holidays at training centers now, there are generally more kids at playgrounds etc. My son can usually spend half a day downstairs at the playgrounds of this gated block, mingling with neighbors and getting all the Mandarin he needs, but this works only because he is ultra social. Lucky me.

This said, now that travel to China is opening up again, I do suspect that near-future trend in extra-curricular education in China (in particular with Mandarin language) will increasingly serve foreign families - or for example Cantonese speakers.

Summer schools educating foreign children and families about the language and culture, even throwing some math or whatever in it, could be both profitable and serve additional interests of the powers-that-be here.

I faintly recall posts about a local branch of some leisure/beer type hiking group, but that was maybe 3+ years ago. I suppose if it was mainly foreigner-run, many have left since then.

Couldn't find the posts quickly, and forgot the name of the gathering.

Globally there is some pressure to implement the 48-hour negative test requirement for arrivals from China, but airlines, travel agents and transfer hubs may play it safe and require it already even if destination country has not yet made it official.

They probably want to avoid the trouble and responsibility if such requirement comes up when a person is already transferring in Bangkok, for example. A person may be prevented from boarding the connecting flight to Europe for example, and then who pays...