How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License

I've got some very bilingual and friendly friends in Wuhan who could probably help, if you'd like an introduction.

You might also PM MCM member Bob S, who's been in and out of China for years, now lives in Wuhan and knows the ropes pretty well.

Wuhan, as I recall, is a city that bans motorbikes from downtown, but that does not mean you cannot get a drivers/motorcyclists license there.

Surely there is also some kind of local expat website that would have guidance on licensing.

Do let us know how you get on!

cheers

I 'lost' my wallet last week. Already gave up on finding it. Already got a replacement insurance card and I know where the registration papers are issued, but for the license ??

Anyone knows where the traffic police issue driver's licenses in Kunming? I went there myself two years ago but I just can't remember where it was or how I got there, or for that matter, how I found it.

I got mine at JingKai Lu crossing XiTao Lu. Thats near the Industrial Zone (KETDZ) administration center, Southeast along the KunShi Highway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=24.993...446&num=1&z=15

thanks, map above for reference.

well for anyone who want to get a license without all the trouble, stating the obvious, this is china, you could just buy a motorbike license.

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Originally Posted by lightend

well for anyone who want to get a license without all the trouble, stating the obvious, this is china, you could just buy a motorbike license.

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Dear lightend, at risk of sounding glib, I think you've gone off the deepend.

A fake license might help you through a routine traffic stop (or not) but when some car whacks you and you're in critical condition and the police determine your license is fake, the law will automatically find you 100% at fault. Similarly, if a girl climbs over a barrier and into your path and you whack her and break her arm (in this forum we call this being slaboed), and you are found to be using a fake license, you'll be found 100% at fault. That's the law, right there in the test booklet and in the 1500 practice questions and probably on your test if you take the test for a legal license.

Yes this is China and anything goes and everybody's doing it.

But please rethink whether you want to be on the record giving that kind of advice in a responsible public forum. It's not your fault if someone stupidly follows your advice and buys a fake license, but your karma banking account will go into deep deficit.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lightend

well for anyone who want to get a license without all the trouble, stating the obvious, this is china, you could just buy a motorbike license.

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Euphonius just wrote very politely what I was thinking.
Lightend, can I ask you a couple of simple questions : because it's China, do you spit everywhere ?
Because it's China, do you try to always cheat the queue ?

What would you say if in your home country, all the foreigners coming were disregarding the laws and regulations, and had a traffic accident with you, with a fake license, maybe fake plates and while we're at it, fake insurance card ?

You may think I'm having a bad day (which is true BTW), but I'm fed up of the attitude of some foreigners here regarding the law, especially when considering how they would be enraged if some foreigners in their home country would do it. Double standard, heh ?

I certainly am the 1st one to criticize the lak of "civility" of Chinese people, and the down right crooked logic applying here, but to get a fake license because "this is China" is for me the same as spitting or farting loudly because "hey, everyone does it, heh ?"...

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Originally Posted by budda

OK Guy's I need some help, New here in Wuhan, what exactly do I need to do to get C1D licence here, My current home DL is unrestricted for motorcycles. Unfortunately there are no locals who can offer me assistance.

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Im coming to this thread a bit late but if you still help getting a licence here in Wuhan, give me a shout. I know the location of the police station (che guan sua) you need to go to. I also have the questions in English should you need them, though im pretty sure there is a link in the forum.

Euphonius is right, bikes are banned in Wuhan, as is registering them, but its still possible to get a licence.

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Originally Posted by Fred

Euphonius just wrote very politely what I was thinking.
Lightend, can I ask you a couple of simple questions : because it's China, do you spit everywhere ?
Because it's China, do you try to always cheat the queue ?

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no, i also dont stand in front of military plated cars and get them to go back up the road.

life is how you take it, if you want to go with the flow, then the best of luck to you, if you want to go against it, then try to look after your self.

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Originally Posted by Fred

What would you say if in your home country, all the foreigners coming were disregarding the laws and regulations, and had a traffic accident with you, with a fake license, maybe fake plates and while we're at it, fake insurance card ?

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im from the uk, the weakest law system in the western world, slap on the wrist for major offenses, multiple petty crime (like theft and vandalism) have multiple warnings before you are even taken to a judge, and even then an 'asbo' is the main result. there are many 'foreigners' committing crime, a few are in the prison system. people realize what they can get away with and use that lea way, some go beyond the leniency of the law and some of them are made to pay,.... ie 4 years for attempted murder (consisting of 16 stab wounds in the back) good behavior means you will be out in 2 years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

You may think I'm having a bad day (which is true BTW), but I'm fed up of the attitude of some foreigners here regarding the law, especially when considering how they would be enraged if some foreigners in their home country would do it. Double standard, heh ?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

I certainly am the 1st one to criticize the lak of "civility" of Chinese people, and the down right crooked logic applying here, but to get a fake license because "this is China" is for me the same as spitting or farting loudly because "hey, everyone does it, heh ?"...

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fact is there are so many rules to everything you could want to do in china. there are people who specialise in bending these rules and even breaking some of them. every thing from the law system to the land distribution and business licenses. mind you, our home countrys arnt exactly free of this type of bureaucracy and corruption, its just better hidden.

hell, if you want a job in the government, you pay 2-3k and bang, you have yourself a job working for the government. where does the money go, thats right, into someones pocket.

you might be having a bad day, which happens from time to time, but dont try and make me feel like a fool. Money talks, if you didnt know that or dont know how to use it to talk in your favor i suggest you ask some friends.

THIS IS CHINA, corruption goes with any job of power. fact. if you want anything done, you pay and it will be done. I am not saying go and pay 200 rmb for a fake driving license and insurance card and drive with fake plates on (if you do its up to you, i wont criticizes) but if you are willing to seperate from enough money, you can buy a fully legal license that checks out. if you had enough cash you could do it in the UK as well, hell you could do it in any country in the world, not just china.
aghh to hell with it. TIC so rather than fighting the flow, swim with it. when this current situation starts to change, then change with it. you will go mad if you come here and keep the same mentality as you would in your home country.

edit: dont mean it to sound insulting to you, but if you cant enjoy the perks of a different country........ dont think i need to say more.

umm, does sound a bit bad,
lets put it another way

if the lift is working and you live on the 30th floor, why take the stairs

"But please rethink whether you want to be on the record giving that kind of advice in a responsible public forum. It's not your fault if someone stupidly follows your advice and buys a fake license, but your karma banking account will go into deep deficit."


hahaha, yeah if you buy into that sort of thing.
luckily im a free spirit, not bound by karma, the rules of 3 x 3, any book or any god.
i would probably fall into the group that is bound by : live life, enjoy it as when you depart this world, you cant take anything with you, not even your memory's.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lightend

"But please rethink whether you want to be on the record giving that kind of advice in a responsible public forum. It's not your fault if someone stupidly follows your advice and buys a fake license, but your karma banking account will go into deep deficit."


hahaha, yeah if you buy into that sort of thing.
luckily im a free spirit, not bound by karma, the rules of 3 x 3, any book or any god.
i would probably fall into the group that is bound by : live life, enjoy it as when you depart this world, you cant take anything with you, not even your memory's.

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go on, please tell about your early childhood, what was that like?

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Originally Posted by slabo

go on, please tell about your early childhood, what was that like?

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Do we really need this? I think he's just trolling.

Just ignore the stupid advice he gave, buying a fake driving licence is NOT a good idea, no matter what. Especially because it's easy to get it in a legitimate way.

Having said this, there is a lot of people (Chineses or Laowais) with fake driving licences, saying that you can get one is just stating the obvious, but why would you pay premium quais for something that is very easy to get? how to be sure your fake licence is a "good" one?

trolling. my original comment was informing not trolling,
there after, meh.

how to be sure your fake licence is a "good" one?
if this is a serious question then i will give you a serious answer,
you go online to the chinese driving license people and type in your number, make sure all details are correct that come up, the primary use of this service is to ensure you do not have any out standing penalty points and fines.

THREAD HIGHJACKED opps

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lightend

trolling. my original comment was informing not trolling,
there after, meh.

how to be sure your fake licence is a "good" one?
if this is a serious question then i will give you a serious answer,
you go online to the chinese driving license people and type in your number, make sure all details are correct that come up, the primary use of this service is to ensure you do not have any out standing penalty points and fines.

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Of course to do that you must get the licence first, so pay first, check later. Never a good idea from my experience in China.
I didn't know this website anyway, I know there is one to check car licences, but not for driving licence, what's the URL?

Seriously, i can understand (not justify) Chineses buying licences, as for them is a real pain in the ass getting one. But for us? How hard is to follow the procedure? Everybody does what he wants, but for me it just doesn't make sense to buy one, I'm not even sure it make you save some time

Lightend, you say go with the flow, "you're in a different country so anything goes in PRC".

Right, what about values ? Oooh yeah, I'll sound like a 60 years old. I guess this is a topic for another forum, another place...
Accepting to deny your values just because it is possible in another country is ... weak to say the least. You'll never do it in the UK and you know it too.

Imagine that in China spitting on another man's shoes was not a big deal, most of the people don't do it, but some do. Would you do it ? Imagine that slapping a waitress' butt was quite common in China, would you do it too, contrary to what you were taught in the UK ?

It's so easy for some foreigners to play big guns and kings of the world in China because it's another country and Asian people are usually not the ones to slap you in the face, and you're just amongst those.

:lol8::lol8::lol8:

This is funny!

A. Fake licenses, fake plates/registration/insurance are just stupid, as they will not help you in an accident, just help you pass by the police when everything is going well. When the 'shit hits the fan' they are worse than nothing (read the law, oh sorry you didn't, because you haven't done the test questions?)

B. Using a Gong An friend to help you acquire all the real documentation for you in a 'convenient manner' could be expensive or free depending on your relationship, and that is just understanding how China works and exploiting your 'guanxi'.

There is a difference here.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

:lol8::lol8::lol8:

This is funny!

A. Fake licenses, fake plates/registration/insurance are just stupid, as they will not help you in an accident, just help you pass by the police when everything is going well. When the 'shit hits the fan' they are worse than nothing (read the law, oh sorry you didn't, because you haven't done the test questions?)

B. Using a Gong An friend to help you acquire all the real documentation for you in a 'convenient manner' could be expensive or free depending on your relationship, and that is just understanding how China works and exploiting your 'guanxi'.

There is a difference here.

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Agreed.
As I wrote in this forum before, I used some "guanxi" to help me to sort all the procedures to register for the driving license exams and give me the times where I should come for the theory exam and trainings/exams on the bike, simply because it's a mess in China to go through all this. But of course the rest of the work (passing both tests successfully) is up to us to do.

China actually makes it pretty easy to get your license these days. The test is in English if you want, and the processes are straightforward, albeit with "chinese characteristics". As I've noted earlier in this thread (or elsewhere) the prices is no more than what you'd pay in the US, where driving is practically a birthright, and a lot cheaper than many, many countries.

Why would anyone go for some creepy backdoor "guanxi" process just to get a bleeding driver's license??

anyway, i think this thread is losing steam...

cheers!

lightend has got a point. Why don't you take the lift? We all know the bureaucracy. You wouldn't be wrong because something had been wrong for long.
I guess lightend meant a real licence. Not a fake one, ppl!

Ok, my 5 cents here :).

Some disclaimer first:
I had moto & car license originally. I also have working visa. I do not know what is the situation with any other case (no license, no visa, no chinese name etc)

This is a copy of tutorial written for our friends by me & Konrad (who is not present here), so part of the credit goes to him. Ok, here we go:

All information here is valid as of date of creation - March 2011

Converting your foreigners' drivers license in Beijing

Main steps in short:

1. Get a medical check.
2. Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to register for the theory test.
3. Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to pass the test.
That's all.

Requirements:

- 4x 1 inch (smaller than those for visa) pictures with a white background
- Copy of your passport
- Copy of your residence permit (the one in your passport). You MUST have a residence permit, a visa will not be accepted.
- Copy of your temporary registration with the local police station
- Copy of BOTH sides of your drivers license
- Chinese name :) - I'm not sure it's necessary, but it definitely helps filling the forms

Notes

- All forms were available at designated places
- The total process will take about 2-3 weeks, depending on how fast you can take the theory test.

Step 1: Medical check

If you don't know chinese, that's the place where you could use help of someone who understands what's going on

Official list of hospitals where you can do a medical check: Link

Required:

- 2 small photos (we got them 9 pics for 15RMB)

You need to find the hospital from link above that suits your best. I cannot share here too much, since you'll probably pick different one than I. Basically, go there, pick the form, fill it, use 2 pics. After filling out the forms, pay 10RMB for the test. Next, walk to actual test place. In our case they did not test anything, just filled out the form and stamped it. In out case, tests were only done from Mon to Fri in the morning, if we remember correctly between 7am - 10.40am.

Step 2: Application

Required:

- Medical form from Step 1
- 2 photos as far as we remember. Might be better to bring one or two spares. - These MUST be the same as on the medical certificate.
- Copy of your passport ID page
- Copy of your residence permit (the one in your passport). You MUST have a residence permit, a visa will not be accepted.
- Copy of your temporary registration with the local police station
- Copy of BOTH sides of your drivers license
- All of the above copies' ORIGINALS, they do check

Notes:

- if you don't have copies, you can make them at the DMV (main hall, second floor)
- you will have to fill two forms.
- when we were there, there was chinese guy who spoke english and who was helping people

Take all the documents mentioned above and go to the DMV on the south-east of the 4th ring.

The Foreign Affairs Department of Beijing Motor Vehicle Administration
Address: No.18 Southeast 4th ring, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100023
Tel: 86-10-87625150
东南四环18号的北京市公安局公安交通管理局
The taxi driver will probably (never depend on this) know it as 交通局 [jiao1 tong1 ju2].

Picture of the building (from Blog with more interesting information)

Note that there is also another DMV building in Beijing, make sure you are going to this one!

When you get there, you need to take the entrance on the left side of the building, instead of taking the main entrance. This is the international affairs office. Here you first fill out two forms (all are available there):

- Application form: all your details together with the categories you apply for.
- Translation form: use this to translate all the details on you drivers license. In theory, translation should be done by sworn translator. In practice, officials there tell you to translate and sign it by yourself

For the translation and application form you need to know the Chinese categories to apply for:

- C1 - normal car with manual transmission (includes C2 and C3 privileges)
- C2 - normal car with automatic transmission
- D - three-wheel motorcycles (includes E privileges)
- E - two-wheel motorcycles

EU categories may differ from country to country, i.e Konrad had separate category for automatic transmission, while I didn't. Generally, A is equal to D, B is equal to C1. In best case, you apply for C1D :)

After your application is approved (immediately), you can schedule your test. Usually you can do it within 1-2 weeks, it costs 50RMB. Test start at 10AM and 11AM, pick one. You will receive receipt with your test code and test date (day / hour) . You need to bring it with you on Step 3.

Notes:

- you can buy English version of book with all the question on second floor (near copy machine) for 90rmb.
- there is app for Iphone/Ipad/Ipod with all the questions, practice test Itunes Link . Full version: 5USD/4EUR. Quite useful since it gives you full randomness.
- it looked like the Chinese version of the book had explanations of the traffic rules. The foreign ones only have test questions.
- You will have to study about 8 hours of study in order to pass the test. Don't save it all for the last day, because the Chinglish is tiresome to read.

Step 3: Test

Required:

- receipt with test code - you will have to enter your code to start the test
- passport - they do check it
- optional - home / office address for shipping license

Notes:

- there are around 1300 questions in total
- you have 100 random questions at test
- you have 45 mins (plenty of time)
- you need to have at least 90% correct (90 questions ;) )
- sometimes order of answers is switched read before you pick :)
- if you fail, you can schedule another test date for free. After second fail, you need to pay again
- unconfirmed by us if you are taking full course for motorbikes (driving lessons, driving test), you might have questions that are not in the test book or iOS app

At the day of test, go back to DMV, to the international affairs section. Wait for you hour, then follow all the people to test room (second floor). Enter your test code, pass the test. After passing, go to the front desk, show your receipt - officer will mark your score. Go back to international affairs section, pay 10RMB for driving license. You can pick your license by yourself or go to the second floor to order the courier (fill the form with your or the office address). The fee is 20RMB. Officially it will arrive 3 days later, we were lucky to get it one day early.

That's all ;). As you can see, the book is most expensive part of the whole process. If you stick with the app (it has the same questions), you don't need it at all.

Ps. Mods, if you think formatting may benefit from a bit of tweaking, please feel free to do it :)

Worr, wow! You've outdone yourself. This is the single most useful post I've seen in MCM in months. On behalf of many others who will be following this path, thanks! Seems an elaborate process, but actually pretty simple, straightforward, and inexpensive -- and really shows the benefits of having a valid foreign license with motorcycle endorsement!

Awesome post!

I got my license in Beijing.

The only place a foregner can do this is at the LaoShan driving school in the west part of Beijing, it is at #10 LaoShan road West.

Take your passport, visa and residence permit with 5, 1 inch pictures to the ShiJingShan Hospital for your eye test. The hospital is on the south side of Shijingshan road opposite the Bajiao subway station. You can get the pictures taken 15 meters from the hospital, the girl at the hospital can show you where.

When you get your eye test the girl will inspect you to make sure you are not missing any body parts, then test your eyes using a book with colored dots to make sure you are not color blind. This costs 10 rmb. Choose a Chinese name if you do not already have one, pay the fee and take the paper to the Laoshan (#10 LaoShan road West)school. You can get a ride on a modi or motorcycle taxi up the hill for about 10 rmb. I paid 2000 rmb for the class, which is not really a class.

The LaoShan driving school will call you in 2 or 3 weeks to have you meet a person from the school at the DMV near Shibalidian Nan Qiao. (Shibalidian South Bridge) where you will book your written test. You will get a reciept with time, date and test instructions written on the back. You can buy the English version of the driving manual on the 2nd floor. 2 weeks later you will write the test. If you fail the first time you get a free re write. You need to bring your passport, resident certificate and the receipt with you to write the test.

The test is 50 questions, you have 45 minutes to write it and you need to get 90% to pass.
When you pass the test, take the receipt you have from the written test back to the school (LaoShan) and then start the class.

The class at LaoShan is to get used to riding their motorbikes, they do not teach you how to ride. They just help you to prepare for the test. The motorbikes are not in good mechanical shape, but do not worry the school knows that. You will have 4 days to practice riding them. You ride over a ramp, 2x around a figure 8 track and then up a hill, stop and start on the hill. Go to the top of the hill and then turn around and come down the hill. This is what you practice and this is the same as the test. Don't worry if you do not speak Chinese well, I don't. Many people there can help you with translation. The instructor doesn't speak English at all, in fact none of the staff there can speak English.

I took the class in the morning, from 8:30 to 11:30 Monday - Thursday, the test was on Friday. Get there early. Even though you pay them money for the class they do not bring the motorbikes out, they will ask you to do this. I always got there at 8:00 am so I could have the bike ready for 8:30. Also if the motorbike runs out of gas they will not refill them for the next day, they will ask you to push the bike to their gas pump and then they will fill it for you. They have a few different models of bikes and they are 90cc I think. Find a bike you like and remember the plate number of the bike you practice with so you can use that one for the test.

(I rode my GJSY R9 to class every day with no license, just parked around the corner and walked in.)

The day of the test I arrived at the school at 8:00 am went to get the bike and practiced a couple of times. The test started at 9:30. After you pass this test, they will ask you to sign your Chinese name on your paper. You do not need your passport on test day.

Return to the school 2 weeks after your test, on Saturday, to get your license. You must go on a Saturday to get your license.

THank you for getting us back on topic Worr and Xiaoqing.

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Originally Posted by Worr

Ok, my 5 cents here :).


- unconfirmed by us if you are taking full course for motorbikes (driving lessons, driving test), you might have questions that are not in the test book or iOS app

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I can confirm that the Test for motorcycles only contains a set of motorcycle-specific questions. The whole set of questions is only around 800 and on test day you have to have 45 out of 50 correct. There is a thread on the Beijinger with a link to a word document with the motorcycle-specific questions. If you can't find it, PM me and I will be happy to mail them.

My motorcycle written test, taken in Shanghai, had at most two questions about motorcycles (although not the one I wanted, about whether it's legal to ride in stiletto heels...). There are two sets of study questions, one ostensibly motorcycle-related, the other not, but there is huge overlap between the two sets. Most of the questions you get will be about driving rules and safety, regardless of wheel count.

Dear Worr,

Just totalled it up. Are you saying your entire license cost just 55 rmb including pix and health check and courier to get it to you, plus another 90 for the study guide? Did I miss something?

So it seems the heavy expense is the "driving" course, which of course doesn't really teach much of anything but does get you on a ratty bike for some practice of skills you'll need to demonstrate in the road test. Sad that China does this stuff so half-baked, and produces gazillions of hapless "drivers" with really little or no driving skill, and little or no knowledge about safety, rules of the road and courtesy. The place is screaming for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation program!

cheers!

Depends which part of China you live dictates how easy it is to get the license and how many hurdles you have to jump over.

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Originally Posted by bigdamo

Depends which part of China you live dictates how easy it is to get the license and how many hurdles you have to jump over.

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Yes, definitely. Beijing is rather painless. I'm only familiar with one other city (Harbin) - a foreign friend who tried it up there had lots of difficulty and finally gave up.

BTW, I've been trying to follow the Chinese forum motorfans.com (Beijing component) ... and over the past couple of months there have been a notable increase in the number of posts about riders saying they've been stopped/checked/fined/bike seized by police. According to many posters, it seems pretty likely that it is up to 15 days detention for no driving license.

euphonius:

It's 105rmb, actually :). I think you skipped 50rmb fee for actual test. After whole experience, I can say that book is unnecessary and iphone app is more than enough ;)