That should not be a problem.

First of all, you may honestly explain in the Chinese consulate/embassy your plans, supplying them with written travel itinerary and some additional proofs like accommodation bookings on a way or train tickets/airline tickets, that you’re able to obtain in advance. They should not make any problems giving you visa with that, but of course it depends on people working there. There is always a little risk, that you will face some stubborn official.

Another way is to prepare flight ticket booking confirmation, that does not require payment for actual ticket. You can do it in many ways. Either you can find websites, that allow to book a flight without making payment for a few hours or even download some kind of template for ticket booking and modify data on your own. Consulate is happy and they issue you visa. And you simply “change your plans” and do not take the flight, opting for cheaper and more adventurous solutions ;) Nobody on the border knows your original itinerary anyways. And nobody in consulate is really going to check if you bought a ticket or not (they may however check if your flight exists).

Also in 2012 it was possible to get Chinese visa in UB in just a few days. Not sure that’s still possible. You could check on their website or better call them and ask. I could recommend this option if available, because requirements in UB are lower and service is faster than in Europe.

Hope that helps a bit with your dilemma. Good luck! :)

first of all, I love the way of saving money here and it sounds really fun! There is only one major obstacle for me and my girlfriend now, the Chinese Visa! In order to get one, we have to provide train/bus/flight tickets in advance and cannot state that we’re planning to take a cap! Therefore, I would like to know how exactly you managed to handle this situation! Thanks in advance and regards,
Yannick