If there are still one year L visas

No 'if', but they can only be issued on the mainland at the discretion of the PSB office serving the huko area of the Chinese relative, and then usually only to foreigners with Chinese relatives. One would have expected their issuance to be automatic to all foreigners on the mainland with Chinese spouses there too. Clearly that's not the case. The OP is quite right in being annoyed imo. The playing field is not level here in this respect. And the PSB aren't obliged to explain their actions to visa applicants. Another thing that's bad here is you cough up your visa fee before beng informed if you'll get what you asked for.