I am planning to fly from qatar to beijing to continue my flight to the philipines,

I know I should have this latter flight in place before I can apply for the 72 hour visa for Beijing. But does it matter whether this flight has a short lay over in any other Chinese city? the cheapest flights from Beijing are via Xiamen to Manila.
additional information;
I'm only planning to visit Beijing for 72 hours (not Xiamen)
I'm a Dutch citizen (Netherlands)

Best regards,
Jesper