My current plan is to go from Melbourne, Australia to Almaty, Kazakhstan. I am an Australian citizen. The flight itinerary is shown below, but it transits through Guangzhou and I noted that Wikipedia (not the best source) says that:
both flights must have no stopovers of any kind within Mainland China prior to arrival or after departure at the port of entry, and the outbound flight's first stop or destination must be in a different country than the inbound flight's
However, I am assuming that since I don't officially pass Chinese Immigration until Beijing, this doesn't count. But can someone confirm this?
Also do the times match up for the 144-hour visa?
In Kazakhstan I can get a visa on arrival.