Thanks once again for your input. The latest from here is that the PSB have been instructed to check the accommodation of all foreigners visiting Chinese relatives. They will do so only once, and once thereafter every time such foreigners change their abodes. This is new, and has been introduced by Beijing. It could well be evidence of a new era, one of tightening-up!

I have my new travel visa, a six-month one, but I have been advised to apply for the five-year Residence Permit next time. Another office will deal with that, and my wife was told it should be automatic in my case as I've been wed to her for more than a decade, and am over sixty. To get that five-year one before was much more difficult - I believe one had to prove continuity of income over a longish period! But at my age I shouldn't be working, so the PSB said to my wife, so that condition wouldn't apply!