Tourist visa to China - anyone put my mind to rest?

[OverAndAbove]

We are travelling to China in 18 days. For various reasons - well mainly because we needed our passports for other travel - we've only now been able to turn them in to get visas. We have an appointment at the visa centre tomorrow; they say four working days turnaround but all the Internet reviews say allow two weeks (it's not covered by emergency measures either, they are very strictly applied)

Does anyone have a good news story for me please? I am not normally a worrier but I'm worried now! Thanks

Eek, me too! Mine's going in next week for the beginning of April.

Yes, I do this a lot for work and have never had a problem but you do have to make sure that your forms have been completed absolutely perfectly as that's usually what holds things up.

Thought I would update on this while I remember.

We went to the visa centre in Manchester and they were really helpful - one application turned down on a technicality, but we were able to send in the relevant paper the next day and they acknowledged receipt and gave us a four working day turn-around. The London centre had a much longer wait for appointments but Manchester was very flexible - 48 hour wait only. Hope this might help someone!