144 hours transit exemption in china

I and my husband will fly from hongkong to Shanghai on 10-23-2018 then stay in shanghai until 10-27-2018
(5 days) then boarding the cruise from shanghai cruise port to Seoul , then to Beijing docked in Tianjin for 3 days (fr0m oct 31 thru November 2 2018) then cruise to Jeju korea , Japan and disembark in Japan.Can I use the 144 hours in Shanghai then another 144 hours in Beijing free transit exemption without needing to apply for a China entry permit. We are US citizen, We fly from Usa to Seoul then Seoul to Hongkong and Hongkong to Shanghai as indicated above, connecting with a cruise to Beijing as indicated above then disembark in Japan and flying back to usa.