I understand one cannot get an appointment without booking online. Is that the case?

Andrew, actually you don't have to make the appointment. You can just walk in and submit your application.

Thanks Emily. However, my wife went to the embassy yesterday (27 July) to drop the application and was turned away because she hadn't booked an online appointment. Problem is that we had already booked the hotel and airline online and may lose out on the money

Sorry, I read on the website of the embassy that the appointment is not mandatory. You can try to explain and persuade the officer to accept your application.

On July 1st, the Chinese Embassy in Kenya will be launching an online appointment system for the applicants. An applicant is required to log onto the official website of the Chinese Embassy and make an appointment before submitting the application documents to the Embassy.

Starting from the first day of each month, online appointments will be available for next month. The Appointments for July will be available from June 15th.

This is an extract from the Chinese embassy website