Once again, it's China, and different provinces will act in different ways.

There is the inherent problem, at least in my book. What may be ok in say Jiangsu, is not in Guangdong. I met a young american in HK who was stressed because he would either have to make a visa run to Thailand to renew his L visa, or go back to the USA and get his criminal check to get his Z visa from the guangdong authorities. There really needs to be a cohesive policy for all the provinces, regarding L and Z visas.