What is the longest (days per stay) tourist visa possible for a British Citizen?

Hi, it is 90 days. Actually L can be issued with 30, 60 or 90 days as duration of each stay. The consular officers make the final decision according to documents provided.

Hi and thank you for your reply. I know in many other Chinese consulates, the 90-days-per stay limit was reduced to 30-days-per-stay after July 2013. Are you sure this is not also the case with the consulate in Colombo?

That is true, at least in Thailand. The embassy there only issues L with 30 days as the duration of each stay. But you can have a try in Colombo anyway. If you have previous visas, you can also try to apply for a multientry one.

I tried calling the consulate but its always either busy or just rings out. I'm based in Kandy and was hoping to avoid going to Colombo unless I could be reasonably sure the 90-days-per-stay one was likely.

Finally got through to a very friendly and helpful person at the consulate. 30 days per stay double entry is the longest tourist visa they can do. You can send someone else to go instead of you. Cannot do it by post. You need hotel booking and flights etc. I didn't ask, but I guess an invitation letter will do instead.

It is a good news anyway if they issue double entry. I believe that we can extend it either while in China.
Thanks very much for sharing this useful information here.

If the extend on the first entry then you lose the second entry. So most people will prefer to extend on the second entry.

Oh, and I forgot to say that it seems you can only get a Chinese tourist L if you have a residence permit in Sri Lanka or you can show you have already visited China before (show old ones in your passport, for example)