Question: So I'll be going to Chengdu to renew my passport (aka get a new one). I am flying in and out of Chengdu from KM within a 2day timeframe.

Called the US embassy in Chengdu, and they said that they will return my old passport to me so I can fly home to Kunming...but this seems odd to me as I assumed they had to cancel (and therefore temporarily keep) the old one?

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this.

So you'd rather believe total strangers on the internet than the official representative of your government??

To answer your question, they are correct. Your first trip is to submit your application and to pay the fee. The actual passport is approved by the State department and printed back in the US. Once the passport has been prepared, it is mailed back to the Chendu consulate via diplomatic couriers. When they arrive in Chengdu, they will notify you to come and pickup your passport.

On your second trip to pick up the passport, they will hole punch the front cover of your old passport and return it to you along with your new passport, you present your new passport at the gate to get on your plane back to Kunming.

Or......if you don't like that answer I offer you this alternative: NO! They are incorrect, they will take away your old passport and strip search you while they are at it. In the meantime, you MUST stay in Chengdu until they notify you the new passport is ready for pick up as you have no proper ID. This means you can not board a train or a plane, you can not check into a proper hotel. You will be forced to stay in a seedy unregulated pimp roach motel where you will wake up in the middle of the night in a bathtub full of ice with a missing kidney.

@ASatiricalBloke haha despite the sarcasm, I appreciate the information.

To follow up though, I'm going to be using their mailback service, so the new passport will be couriered to me in KM. In this case, when would the executing of the hole-punch invalidation process take place?

That puts a wrinkle in things. From what I recall (speaking not from experience here as I make two trips a few years back), the passport is still delivered to Chengdu first at which time it becomes a transaction between you and the Chengdu consulate.

I am speculating but perhaps they will notify you that your passport is ready and that you need to Fedex or DHL your old passport to them and they will send the old and the new back to you via the same, or they may simply send you the new passport with instructions on how to deface your passport to render it unusable. Either way, they do not take any responsibilities for the safety of your passports.

You could call them. I called them once and found them pretty helpful about procedures and timeframes for their services.

Thanks all, here's what the consulate said + also confirmed through experience by a friend:

If you choose the mailback service, you hold onto your old passport (and can fly and travel etc) until the consulate receives the new passport from the US. The consulate will notify you that the new one has arrived, and you must mail them your old passport. They will then cancel your old passport and send both passports back to you. (Commence various Chinese procedures to transfer any necessary visas/permits from old to new).

Thanks for all the help!

You probably already know this, but for the benefit of anyone how does not.- Keep your old passport in a safe place. The old passport number may have been used for identity purposes, such as opening a bank account in the past, you cannot alter the old records to show a new passport. If you have a Foreign Expert Certificate it may also be linked to the old passport number. If it is a recent change, PSB might also want to see it when you come to renew your visa.
For some travelling purposes, you need to show your most recent entry to China stamp in your passport, and carrying both passports may be needed to book into hotels, until you get that first entry stamp into the new passport.

Another issue to consider when transferring your residence permit from the old to the new, is that you are suppose to do the transfer within a set number of days upon receiving your new passport. The problem is that they use the date of ISSUE on your passport instead of when you actually received it to determine if you are within that time frame, which means that you are probably already out of that time frame on the day you actually get your hands on the passport (even if you pick it up in person). I think I read somewhere that the consulate will provide a letter stating the date of your pick up to help you explain things.

It is best you contact the Chinese Entry and Exit bureau to find out what paperwork you need to do the transfer.

I did this quite some time ago, except applied directly at the consulate Chengdu. They returned my passport after taking copies - I returned to Kunming. My passports are ALWAYS renewed at least 12 months before they expire, because of the annual visa requirements in China.

The Consulate then notified me via email, when my new passport arrived for pickup. I'd pre-paid for mail delivery - so they merely asked me to mail my original back first (no big deal).

They then cancelled the original - with the famous hole punch - and returned both via EMS. No pain aside from the fact that the Consulate merged the US citizens area with the non-US citizens' area - now treating US citizens with no more respect than foreigners...obviously NOT happy about that.

Don't forget to update your residence permit (local PSB) immediately and then take your NEW passport along with your local PSB Residence Permit (flimsy piece of paper) to PSB Visa Entry Exit, to register and transfer/extend/renew your work or residence visa.

After this - you'll then need to update your bank accounts AND your mobile phone records.

As @ASatiricalBLoke notes - if you're visa is expiring during this process - the Consulate can provide a letter stating the renewal timeframe - but technically - you are responsible for planning ahead to avoid these issues...but it's rather common.

I am a little confused. The “RESIDENCE PERMIT FOR FOREIGNER IN THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA” is a sticker, used since at least 2005, on a page in my passport.

The flimsy piece of paper is the “REGISTRATION VOUCHER OF RESIDENCE FOR VISITORS FROM OVERSEAS” which you get from the local PSB office when you do the household registration.

In June 2005, when I renewed my passport I was not given a new “RESIDENCE PERMIT” but was told to carry both the new and hole punched old passport. I did go to the local PSB office and got a new “REGISTRATION VOUCHER OF RESIDENCE” from the local PBS. I traveled in June 2005 with both passports with no problem.

In July 2005, I got a new “RESIDENCE PERMIT” in July and began to travel again but without my old passport. I had a lot of trouble checking into hotels and in Shanghai the police were called. It turns out the hotels needed to know the date of my last China entry. The police were cordial and advised I carry my old passport.

Instead, I flew to Zhuhai, walked into Macau and back into Zhuhai with the requisite new entry stamp. End of problems.