Even though we got a birth certificate with both Chinese and English, my embassy still wants it 'verified' because they don't trust any Chinese official papers unless they've been signed by comrade Xi himself (experience I guess, can't say I blame them).

Finding an official who actually knows how this is done has of course been an absolute nightmare but we've ended up with this: First, translate the certificate at an official translator. Then get a public notary to stamp it. Then we have to find the ministry of foreign affairs to stamp it as well. Since I'm assuming this is going to take about a month or longer in this extremely streamlined and efficient country, I feel like asking other expats here who've been through this: Is this the correct way to go around it?

Oh btw. We've spent days calling the offices of that particular ministry in Kunming and still haven't found anyone who knows anything about this. Is it time to be kicking in doors and calling for superiors?

For my country, my embassy has stipulated what the acceptable procedure is. It might be an idea to start with them, and ask them what/who/etc. is acceptable/compliant. Otherwise you may get all the work done, and have it bounced as noncompliant.

If you are American, I think the Chegdu Am consulate visit Kunming on a regular basis. US citizens could ask the question directly.

I talked to them but they just said it need to be verified by the ministry of foreign affairs (the Chinese one), but it seems like a tedious and overly complicated affair to bring it around town 4-5 times and wait weeks. The foreign affairs office didn't even seem to know about this, so I'm wondering what other people have done here, where they went and such. I know nothing is ever simple here but ideally I would think that a birth certificate in Chinese and English ought to be enough.

Is this a birth certificate for a newborn? My child's birth certificate was only in Chinese but the British Consulate registered the birth on that basis, no problem. I'm guessing you're American though?

Different countries have singed different agreements with the Chinese government about accepting each others documents. Ozzies don't need to get the Chinese Birth Cert verified, but EU countries embassies need it.

The process takes about a month to get it verified.

1. goto the Baoshan Jie Notary who does foreign affairs stuff, they will translate the birth certificate and notarize a copy of the English/Chinese translation. This takes a few days.

2. Take that to the Yunnan Foreign affairs office and they will send it to Beijing for a chop (from Xi), then you pick it up at their Kunming office (Sorry I don't know where it is thesedays,,,)

It's quite simple and costs a few hundred RMB.

Yeah, yet not so simple when you live 800 kilometers from Kunming and they probably are gonna shaft your request to mail it back to you since that would be extra work. Much easier to ask someone to drive for 2 days back and forth. Thanks, it collaborates some of what I've been told at least.

We just presented the birth certificate given to us by the hospital that was both in English and Chinese. We also did a translation of it by ourselves just in case, but this wasn't needed. If you are American, the information is on the consulate website for Chengdu.