Can I get a cheap visa for China?

[DharmaBum]

Im leaving for Hong Kong in a week and then to China for 21 days. I am a US citizen and my (non-US) girlfriend (who has a free visa) did all the planning. She wanted to take control of the trip and since I ALWAYS plan our trips, I let her do it. I work part-time without a visa so after airfare and accomodation taken care of we have 400 GBP to spend. Problem is she didnt tell me that my Visa costs almost 100GBP until today! Thats a quarter of our budget! Had I known I could have saved a bit more but now we are screwed. Is there any way to get a cheaper visa or sneak in or anything? I am freaking out that we wont be able to do much at all. Thanks guys!