I will be travelling from New Zealand to Korea.

You need a visa when your time in China is more than 24 hours (from scheduled arrival in Chongqing to scheduled departure from Tianjin), and therefore there's no problem to book a hotel in Tianjin.

But Tianjin is under 144 hour transit visa free?

You have a stop in Chongqing. Two stops in China immediately limits you to 24 hours. You can only transit in one city under the 144 hours exemption.

But on my ticket my stop in Chongqing is considered a 'Technical stop' and stop duration says 00:00 and then Tianjin is the transit location and duration stop is 20:15. So would I still need a visa? Thanks

Well, you are free to attempt your trip without a visa if you want to. But if you are staying more than 24 hours in China and you don't have a visa, you can expect to be denied boarding in New Zealand.

Maria, per international norms, the stop in Chongqing is the one you will be going through immigration and customs. Immigration in Chongqing does not have the authority to issue you a 144-hour permit for Tianjin. Instead, the best they can do is to give you a 24-hour stay permit valid for all Mainland China. So it is imperative to calculate your total time spent in China to avoid problems at the airport because you will be refused boarding if it's a minute over 24 hours.

Technical stop counts as a stop. Even if you don't leave the plane it counts so this is a 2 stop itin. That limits you to 24 hour direct transit. The way Tianjin Airlines has their flight made up, arrival is scheduled for 555am thus you must leave china by 555am the next morning, However the flight departing Tianjin is not scheduled until 820am thus you would be over the 24 hour max.

But my ticket route only says AKL-TSN, TSN-ICN. Technical stop is not included. Therefore, it should not affect my visa free TRANSIT right? so technically we are not transmitting in Chongqing and should not affect the TWOV. Also, the total stop duration in Tianjin is only 20 hours and 15 mins.

Maria, if you don't want to accept the advice given above, then of course you can attempt your journey without a visa. But it could prove to be inconvenient and expensive, or worse. Perhaps you can search for what happened to New Zealand travellers Jennie de Jong and Sinead Watson when they had a "technical stop" in Urumqi on their way to Beijing.

Maria, let me reiterate my point. You HAVE TO clear immigration and customs in Chongqing and the 24-hour period starts from your scheduled arrival time at Chongqing to your scheduled departure time at Tianjin. You CANNOT CHOOSE to clear immigration at Tianjin because the plane will be filled with domestic passengers in Chongqing who are either not subject to immigration control or have already passed immigration and customs in Chongqing. Your time in China clearly exceeds 24 hours, so you must get a visa. Doesn't matter what your ticket says, that's the rule. Getting caught at immigration will result in your immediate deportation from Chinese territory and a 5-year ban from using visa-free transit.

It says that we are not getting off the plane in Chongqing so how can we go through costumes and immigration? and ticket also clearly says that the aircraft to Tianjin is completely the same. In Tianjin is where we are transitting and changing planes. Im just really confused. I really do appreciate all your advices though.
They came from the middle east so that alone can be a different story?

Doesn't matter what your ticket says, that's the rule. You get off at Chongqing, pass immigration and customs, then reboard as a domestic passenger. You do not have a choice in this matter. If you refuse to leave the plane, you will most likely be arrested by local police and the consequences will be dire. But regardless, you being refused boarding is the most likely scenario, which will result in the cancellation of your ticket.

Okay! Thank you so much for all the information!!! You have been helpful. I just cancelled my booking and buying another ticket with no transit to anywhere in China to choose the safe side.