Transit at NKG

You can definitely make your stay in Nanjing for up to 144 hours visa free transit. Please, just keep in mind that your citizenship has to be among 53 eligible countries and that you have to arrive to Nanjing from a third country that is different from both mainland China and Thailand. So, if you are flying, for example, South Korea - Nanjing - Thailand, you are perfectly fine. Please, just have your necessary documentation (flight tickets and accommodation booking in printed form). One bonus is that you can explore relatively large area while staying in Nanjing because you are allowed to travel to Hangzhou and to Shanghai using the above mentioned convenience.

Thanks for the help!!! I do have one question, since we only have three hours, it won’t be possible to leave the airport. I just need a quicker way to get though that weird transfer at NKG where they take everyone together as one big slow group. So, can I use the 72 hour visa just to get me landslide quicker without a hotel room? Hope that makes sense.

I'm more than certain that your intention to get 72 or in this case 24 hours visa free transit (in reality entry permit) along with other formalities would require more time than the described weird way of transit. Since you have only 3 hours for your flight transfer, I sincerely recommend that you rely on the leader of the heard because it will be more certain option to catch your connecting flight on time than to try to make a faster way on your own.