Tourist L type and email to embassy

Hello, is it possible to apply for a tourist L type directly in the embassy or do I have to go to CVASC? It seems to be much cheaper in embassy because service fee for the application in Center is more than visa :-/ I tried to contact embassy, but their email doesn't work. Any ideas? Also wondering if is possible to provide train ticket from China instead of flight or if also flight from HongKong can be accepted as a ticket out of China? Thank you very much.
Nina