I don't think you can buy an apartment in China solely on your own.It's either you buy it through a Chinese indigene and later regularize the property documents through a lawyer to reflect your name or if it can't be regularize then you don't need to buy.
I'm just giving you insights based on my experience.Few weeks ago,i intend buying a 77.1 sq.m apartment.I asked if my name and my Chinese gf name can be on the property's document but was told point blank thats it's not possible but maybe we can regularize it later by including my name so they said.Of course,i declined and didn't buy the house anymore.
You can take a cue from that.I don't know about big cities,maybe its possible for foreigners to buy apartments.Good luck.