Shanghai Transit Visa Upgrades?

Hey all,

I have a brief business trip to Shanghai coming up and wanted to double check some details with those who have first-hand experience getting a transit visa.

From what I can tell, it appears the transit visa has been upgraded from 72 hours to 144 hours if flying through PVG. Questions are as follows:

• Has anyone utilized this in 2016? I can't find any official Chinese gov sources online indicating its really 144 hours.
• Does the following itinerary qualify for the transit visa? It'd be JFK---> PVG ---> HKG ----> TPE ----> JFK.
• Do I notify the airline ahead of time? Or is it the usual fill out an arrival card and go to the right queue?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.