German Family of 4 visting Shanghai, flying with Emirates and stopping in Dubai after for holiday

Hi, we're a family of 4 from Germany, flying to SH in October to visit a friend. We're taking Emirates from Frankfurt to SH Pudong landing on 10/10/18, then return from SH to Dubai on 10/15/18 for another week of Beach holiday, before taking the final flight back home to Frankfurt.
Our outbound flight is with Emirates already, which therefore is unfortunately not non-stop from Frankfurt to SH, but with stop in Dubai - therefore i'm not sure we could qualify for the 144hour TWOV ??? it's a significant cost factor to get a set of 4 tourit visas, so would be really great to qualify! Please advise! Many thanks!