Tourist visas changed to Student X1 and Spouse S1 visas inland

Hi,
We are travelling to China for the summer in July before applying for my student X1 and my wife's spouse S1 types. The school cannot grant me my student X that early, since classes do not begin until September. Can we change our tourist Ls to X1 and S1s from inside China? If that is not possible, would travelling to Hong Kong be an option? Or would we have to go back to our home country? Also, what documents will we need?