stopover visa (optional)

My wife and I will be travelling from toronto, stopping over in shanghai, then onwards to manila and vice versa. There is a 5 hour/s period to our connecting flights to manila/toronto. I assumed we need not concern ourselves with a visa just for a stopover since we are not physically leaving the airport. I asked of this because I am not familiair with travel into china. This is our first time taking this airline. Just want to make sure our travel goes without any hitch. Thanks.