The Primary Gateway to China

ByZhangMinjiao Correspondence bySunJie

Alarge，world-classaviationhub，BeijingCapital International Airport has earnedareputation as \"No.1 Gateway\"aswellas\"No.1Window\"toChinaforinternational visitors.

Theairportisthefirststopfornumerousinternational touristsarrivinginChina.AsofMay15，Beijingports recordedmorethan7.3millioninboundandoutbound passenger trips this year， with foreign nationals accounting forabout 28% .Tobuild China's No.1 Gateway into \"No.1 window\" to showcase the country'sunwavering commitment to opening-up，BeijingGeneral Stationof Exit and Entry Immigration Inspection （BeijingII Station） has vigorously carriedoutall thestrategiesof China'sNational Immigration Administration by further refining related policies， providing multilingual servicesand upgrading technologies.

At11：30amonFebruary14，threeinternationalflights landedattheairport'sTerminal3almostsimultaneously.A huge batch of visitors from Japan， Germany， the UK， France， Russia，andothercountries disembarked and headed to the immigration inspection hall.Beijing General Station of Exit andEntry Immigration Inspection had alreadypreparedto greet the huge flow of inbound passengers， establishing a speciallanefortemporaryentrypermitapplicationsandfast lanesfor expedited border inspection.

\"Anyonewhoneedstoapply fora temporary entry permit，thisway，please.Ifnot，please take thelanesforforeign nationals.\" SunJie，deputychiefofthe thirdsquadof the second enforcementdivisionunder Beijing General Station ofExit and Entry Immigration Inspection， said fluently in English while standingin front of the special lane to directthe passengerflow properly.

\"You've gotawiss passport，so you can enjoy visa-free access. You needn't queue up at the lane for the temporary entrypermitapplication，\"SunkindlyremindedaSwiss nationalvisiting China forthe firsttime.\"Howconvenient！\" TheSwissmansmiledwithrelief.

ThiswasthesecondtimeGermantravelerPitzhadvisited China.\"The first time was15 yearsago，when your country had yettoofferthevisa-free policy.So，Ineededtoapplyfora visafrom China's Embassy in Germany.Butthis time around， Ienjoyvisa-freeentryandIwill stayhereforfourdays.Much tomy surprise，Chinahasmadetremendousachievements inthepastcoupleofyears.Forme，everythingI'veseenis impressive，\"hesaid.

\"Howlongare you going to stay in China during this trip？Whatplacesdoyouwanttovisit？\"askedCaoErwei，who hadbeenworkingatthecheckpointsince9am.Heremained organizedandpatientwhileperforminghisdutyinabrisk manner. \"I came to Chinaand visited Chongqingand Haikou lastyear.Thetripfeltverynice.That'swhyI'vetaken my familytoChinaagaintovisitBeijing.Wearegoingtostayfor aweek，\"theoldJapanesetravelerreplied.

\"Pleaseregisterthe fingerprintsoffour fingersof yourleft hand，\"the Japaneseaudio prompt guided the traveler.Ittook lessthantwominutesforthemtocompleteentryformalities.

Inaslittleasdozensofseconds，thepoliceofficers ofBeijingGeneral StationofExitandEntryImmigration Inspectionneedtoverifyavisitor'sID，checktheirpassports， andconfirm the legality of their documents.Meanwhile，they needtotalkbrieflywithinbound passengerstolearnabout their situations to ensure as quick immigration clearance as possiblewhileshoulderingthekeytaskofsafeguardingthe national gateway.

Showcasing Opening-up with Multilingual Services

ZhangYanmei，aSpanishlanguagegraduatefromTianjin ForeignStudiesUniversity，joinedthe police forcein2000. Shewaspartoftheeffortstoprovidesecurityservicesforthe Beijing2008Summer OlympicsandtheBeijing2022Winter Olympics，witnessingthedramatic changesto Beijing Capital International Airport and the immigration inspection program over the past two decades.

\"Thanks to advances in technology， we set up fast lanes attheborder inspection hall to speedupclearance.In2008， Terminal3ofBeijingCapitalInternationalAirportwasupand runningto further boosttheairport'spositionasan international airtransporthub.This，however，posedhigherrequirementsfor ourskills.I can sense that the number of inbound passengers hasincreasedconsiderablyovertheyears，whetherfortrade ortourism purposes. I'm glad that my language competence canbeofsomehelptotravelersandensurethemofChina's opening-upand inclusiveness，\"she said proudly.

One day inJanuary 2025，a Spanish family was reaching anxiouslytothepoliceforhelpaftertheirentry.Astheydo notspeak English，ZhangYanmeicameto help.Itturned out thatthefamily'schildhadlefttheirsmartphoneinanairside washroom. Sincethe familyhad finished entry formalities， theycouldnotreturntothesecurity-restrictedarea.After communicatingwiththe familypatiently，Zhang invitedacivil policeofficertoguidethechildtosearchforthelostphone， whiletherestofthe familymembersstayedwheretheywere. Withthe help ofthepoliceofficer，thechild quickly found the phoneinthewashroom.Surprisedattherapid recoveryofthe phone，the familyrepeatedlyutteredtheir gratitudeto Zhang.

Experiences like Zhang's are the epitome of the multilingual services offered by Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Immigration Inspection， which boasts a dedicated team of police oficers adept in English， Japanese， French，oruguee，anish，erman，talian，ric otherlanguages to providemultilingual services. The team are always active to answer travelers' inquiries and provide guidance.

At the ports， there are often passengers who must go through exit or entry formalities immediately due to sudden health issues. When such a case occurs，Beijing General StationofExitand EntryImmigration Inspectionspeedsupits servicesasmuchas possible and provide the sick passengers withmedicaltreatmentattheearliestpossibletime.Onthe afternoonofFebruary14，thesecondsquadofthesecond enforcementdivisionunderBeijing General StationofExit andEntryImmigration Inspectionreceivedamessagefrom anairlinethatanEgyptianchildwithcerebral palsyonboard flightMS955wasinurgentneedofmedicaltreatment.The squaddashedontotheflighttohandleentryformalitiesforthe childandassistedhiminhospitalization

FacilitatingCross-borderTravelatAllPorts

SinceDecember17，2024，a240-hourvisa-freetransit stayhasbeenimplementedatBeijingports.

Tomaketheentrymoreconvenientforinternational visitorsarrivingin Beijing，BeijingGeneral StationofExitand EntryImmigration Inspectionhaslaunched severalmeasuresto ensure the safe and smooth flow of passengersatall ports.At theimmigration inspection hallswith large flows ofinbound passengers，more inspectionlanesandwaitingareashave been setup.Furthermore，theStationincorporatedborderinspection and transit permit processing to streamline clearance.At Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport， the procedure for issuing temporary entrypermitswasoptimizedviaa pilot program.Apart from the existing counters for temporary entry permit applications， threeextra dedicated lanes have beenadded for this purpose， witheach one for both the temporary entry permitapplication and entry formalities， improving passengers'border inspection experience.

French national Raphael， a sales rep for Airbus， has been livingin China since1996and hastraveledwidelyacross China. Asheoften travels fromChina toothercountries for business， hispassport entitles him to use fastlanesat immigration.With onlyfingerprintverificationrequired，ittakesjustacoupleof seconds for him to complete the clearance procedure. \"Beijing hasbeenmysecondhometown.Now，thankstoChina's unilateralvisa-freepolicyforFrance，itisagreatconvenience totravel between China and France.This year， I'mgoing toinvitemyparentstovisitBeijing，\"Raphaelsmiledashe introduced hisplan.

Fastlanesaredesignedtofacilitatecross-bordertravel for Chinese nationals and foreign nationals with a Foreign PermanentResidentIDCardorwhoholdaresidencepermit withavalidityperiodofnolessthansixmonthsandhave registeredforfast-laneservices.

AsofMay15，thenumberofinboundandoutboundtrips madeby foreignnationalsthroughBeijingportshasreached 2.075million thisyear.Thenumber ofarrivals by foreigners viathevisa-freepolicyandthe24o-hourvisa-freetransit policyhasapproached55o，ooo，doublethefigureinthesame period lastyear.

BeijingCapital InternationalAirport，China'sNo.1 Gatewayfor international touriststosetfoot onitsterritoryis an air bridge between China and the rest of the world. Offering efficient，edicated，warmrvicetoravelersromChinad abroad，BeijingGeneralStationofExitandEntryImmigration Inspectionisto help eachvisitortoexploreChina.

（TranslatedbyZhangYanzhou）