How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License

[prince666]

Hi
I was 60 years old back in March and I was passing Yantia and decided to pop into the local traffic police office to confirm I needed to take a medical this year or next year ? and it was then the police office's inforumed me that the age had been incressed to 71 years old .
But I still need to find out to what age can one still ride a motorbike because it was my understanding that at the age of 70 years old one could not ride a motorbike in China

[Doogle]

Hi
police office's inforumed me that the age had been incressed to 71 years old .
But I still need to find out to what age can one still ride a motorbike because it was my understanding that at the age of 70 years old one could not ride a motorbike in China

Every place I have read about 70 years old says you can't drive anymore.

[Martino]

Well I am nearly finished with the entire process of getting a D license in Beijing. If anybody wants a detailed rundown of EXACTLY what a foreigner needs to do these days just let me know and I can spill it all here. I am doing it all by the book and completed the theory test and everything in Chinese. Actually all I have left is the last (2nd) computer test, which will be no problem. I just finished the ridiculous driving classes and riding test as Laoshan last week. I have to wait another week until I am allowed to schedule my last computer test. All the other classmates already got their licenses yesterday. :( I have to say the entire process has been pretty irritating and the method for scheduling everything wastes a lot of time but I guess as foreigners all we can do is be patient.........

[bikerdoc]

Well I am nearly finished with the entire process of getting a D license in Beijing. If anybody wants a detailed rundown of EXACTLY what a foreigner needs to do these days just let me know and I can spill it all here. I am doing it all by the book and completed the theory test and everything in Chinese. Actually all I have left is the last (2nd) computer test, which will be no problem. I just finished the ridiculous driving classes and riding test as Laoshan last week. I have to wait another week until I am allowed to schedule my last computer test. All the other classmates already got their licenses yesterday. :( I have to say the entire process has been pretty irritating and the method for scheduling everything wastes a lot of time but I guess as foreigners all we can do is be patient.........

^ as it applies in Beijing at this moment in time. Because change is a constant in China. Also China is made up of multiple mini kingdo0ms complete with a differing set of rules or interpretation of the rules. What applies in one jurisdiction may or may not apply in another jurisdiction.

Congratulations ...

[prince666]

Hi Martino
Good job and well done in the end it's all worth it.

[Martino]

Yes China regulations are always changing, thus why I said "these days" in my post. I don't know if it's easier or harder in other areas. Geez I hope not harder. In Beijing it's a pain in the arse, but not too bad if your Chinese level is decent. Just a lot of wasting time waiting for test scheduling mainly. Never understood why they still allow foreigners to take the theory test for cars in foreign languages but motorcycle tests are Chinese only.

[billeuze]

Yes China regulations are always changing, thus why I said "these days" in my post. I don't know if it's easier or harder in other areas. Geez I hope not harder. In Beijing it's a pain in the arse, but not too bad if your Chinese level is decent. Just a lot of wasting time waiting for test scheduling mainly. Never understood why they still allow foreigners to take the theory test for cars in foreign languages but motorcycle tests are Chinese only.

Hmm, interesting that you can't take the motorcycle theory test in other languages. Probably its for the same reason that motorcycles regulations are generally designed to prohibit or discourage motorcycle use. They just see no reason to make something easier if they are really trying to discourage it.

Of course you are talking about taking the MC training and licence from scratch. As for most of us foreign motorcyclists who come here with a valid MC driver license from our home country, Beijing is probably one of the easiest places to do it and of course we can write the test in our choice of a dozen or so foreign languages. In fact it is because of the Beijing process being so well documented here, and the fact that Beijing has a whole wing of their motor vehicle office dedicated to foreigners that I went though the "trouble" of getting my license in Beijing (which required paying for a hotel room for 10 days to "prove" residency in Beijing).

I actually live just across the Beijing border in Hebei province but I didn't know where to turn to get information on the process in Hebei province and I imagined repeatedly getting the run-around, and obstacles to writing the test in English. For example, After I did get my license, and when I was back in the local village police station to re-register after renewing my visa, I asked them where I would go to get my driver license registered to my address in this jurisdiction. Their answer was that there is no need to change the address as my drivers license is perfectly valid as it is - I can drive any where in China with that license. Well, I tried. I could have tried harder but clearly it wasn't going to be a straightforward process to legally change my address on the drivers license. I can't even get the temporary residence permit from them that I would need to bring in to the Motor vehicle office. We tried that twice already and the village police station where I am actually registered says I have to go into the county seat police office for the temporary residence permit. But the county seat police office says we can only do it at the village office where we are registered.

Just another example of the LFZ. Although I don't believe China is really "logic free". It seems to many of us to be devoid of logic but I am sure it is very logical - but based on assumptions that we are not familiar with.

[Martino]

Ya I started from scratch. I considered getting my license in my home country and bringing that over but I figured I'd have to take the computer test in Chinese anyway and that would be the hardest part so I just started from scratch here.

[shiggins9]

Someone mentioned an English motorcycle test at the Shanghai licensing bureau. Can anyone confirm they have English and also the address of this place? I can speak Chinese well but never studied reading or writing the characters,so the Chinese test is out of the question for me.

[gt7599a]

Does anyone have a link to a downloadable version of the motorcycle questions? Chinese would be fine, I'm looking for something I can ideally throw at Google translate or print and throw at some ocr software.