Howdy All,

Yep this is correct, if you want to go to China you need to go thru a huge medical as well, kinda nuts overthere, they check everything, age is limited to 55 (to enter) 60 is retirement.

You will have to go thru the Chinese ATPL written exam (very similar to the FAA ATR written), you could fail this exam and rewrite 28 days later, the main thing is the medical, you pass that and your in (if pre selected with all the expat minimums), once you ATPL exam is passed CAAC must validate your licence with your corresponding aviation office ex FAA, Transport Canada, etc, once this is done ok, SIM checkride can be book, the process can take a few months easy.

Most expat candidates will go 2-3 times to China, VISA, letters to be notarized by China Embassy etc is really a pain but you have no choice.

One very important thing to remember is if you apply to a Chinese airlines and they do invite you for the Medical and written exam, your are stuck with them, if you desire to go apply to a different outfit in China you will need a no objection letter from the first airline, they never give to you or very rarely.