Quote Originally Posted by ZMC888 View Post
I've heard this rumour too. Must be BS, as I've never heard of it happening. It may even be technically possible, for example one liberal department of government may allow this, but I reckon that other more traditional government departments will absolutely hate this idea, especially if there is no money in it for them, and you can bet bringing a bike in will involve at least 5 government departments! There is a lot whining about foreigners seeming to have preferential treatment these days from many local Chinese, although in reality this was a case over 5 years ago but isn't really the case today.

I've heard it's actually possible to buy a 'Z' visa through the backdoor for 5000 RMB, but turning into a resident permit later could be tricky though.
It is definitely . There is, or probably was, the opportunity for representatives to buy a car every once in a while free of duties an charges. It is (was ) true that, as a foreigner with a permanent, un-interrupted, 5 years or longer stay on a residence permit, you can import one vehicle without involving an agent. However, all taxes and duties still fully apply.

A Z visa is usually only issued outside China and it's purpose is that the holder of it enters China for employment or permanent residence. On rare occasions it will be issued inland. There are backdoor opportunities for sure, but these are rather unsafe.
Sidenote regarding backdoors:
A buddy just applied for a green card (10 years working and residence permit). He's happily married to a Chinese woman for 15 years, they have two kids, run their own successful company and own an apartment. All seemed to be good, when during the application process authorities found that his wife's name and credentials were false. The marriage and all benefits with it have been pronounced invalid. The guy is pretty f....d now. [/sidenote, although it wasn't really backdoor]