China’s immigration authorities processed 650 million passengers and 35.045 million transportation vehicles for border crossing in 2018, up by 9.9% and 13.1% respectively, according to the National Immigration Administration.
For the 15th year, the number of Chinese nationals entering and leaving the country continued to grow steadily. Last year, Chinese nationals made a total of 560 million inbound and outbound crossings, a year-on-year increase of 12%.
The number comprised 340 million mainlanders (including 11.337 million from border areas), and 160 million Hong Kongers, 50.311 million Macau residents and 12.254 million Taiwan residents.
During the year, 95.328 million international nationals crossed the China borders, up by 11.6% compared to 2017.
The top 10 nationalities entering China were Myanmar (border areas included), Vietnam (border areas included), South Korea, Japan, the United States, Russia, Mongolia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
The number of foreigners visiting China under the 72-hour and 144-hour visa-free transit policies grew by 23.9% to 101,000. A total of 247,000 foreigners (up 12,8%) entered the country at Hainan under the visa-free arrangement for the nationals of 59 countries, effective since May 1, 2018.
Some 35.045 million cars, aircraft, trains and ships were inspected for inbound and outbound transportation, up by 13.1%, both numbers were at record high levels.
The number of motor vehicles inspected increased by 13.6% to 33.529 million, aircraft grew by 7.7% to 997,000 and trains by 23.3% to 74,000, while the number of ships decreased by 4.5% to 445,000.
