On Tour around China for 8 days at end of May - query over Tourist VISA's

I have a UK passport, my partner has a NZ passport. We do not have the detailed itinerary yet, hotels etc but expected later this week. Could you tell us which forms we have to fill in, I understand that I will have to fill in supplementary forms. We live in the Waikato and may be able to make a personal application, perhaps with an express service to get it done the same day, otherwise we will have to get the documents couriered/posted back to us. Will we be able to pay by VISA or will it have to be by Bank Cheque too?