Mr.Frank, Some Chinese visa offices are refusing to issue visas to persons who are not resident in the country concerned. In some cases having a visa for that country is considered OK, but this might be of no help if you are in a country where you do not require a visa.

There is no simple answer to this issue, nor is it clear exactly why this rule exists. The first option is to try at every Chinese Consulate that you pass in the hope that one will grant a visa. Therefore, you'd better have a try to apply for Chinese visa in Hanoi or Bangkok, it generally takes 4 working days, 7 working days at most, the fee for single entry visa is 1,100 Bahts in Thailand.