Weekend Trip From Shanghai -- QianDaoHu

[Nuhaus]

I had to do an emergency braking where the EMERGENCY was in big bold letters, screeching both my tires to an halt from 80 km/h.

Emergency braking test passed with flying colours.

[milton]

Obviously you both knew exactly what you were doing in dealing with the police. Were it me I would not have had a clue about the "stay on your bike" thing. I do know that staying calm and remaining firm in your resolve is always a good way to communicate with them, and from the description, you did this beautifully. Thanks for posting this. Many points for keeping in mind as we plan our trips through the remaining nice weather.

Regardless how exciting it was in confronting the traffic police on expressway, confrontation is never fun. I had 2 separate encounters with the police on the expressway so far: the first time was not much of a choice for me, as the alternative was a 12-hour long trip all by myself vs. 6 hours via the expressway. The expressway simply presented the safest way home from SuiChang遂昌，Zhejiang then. For the second time, as reported here, I was curious about how I’d be treated when traveling with a laowai-looking laowai. Both times their attitude completely turned around after discovering we are laowai, from laud yelling, neck pinching, and key grabbing, to polite explanation on how dangerous it is for the motorcycle to be on the expressway.
So if you must, use only English, unless you have a genuine laowai face with laowai accent.

[Steve_R]

I never like dealing with the police in China and would prefer to avoid them at all costs. But if faced with a checkpoint, or getting stopped when it can't be avoided, then I agree the best thing is to remain calm and be polite. Not speaking Chinese is always a good tactic, and so is having at least some documentation.

Some of us laowai may have good encounters with the cops, but I don't like the principle that they can rough-house and bully our Chinese riding brothers on two-wheels and otherwise go on nasty power trips. For this reason, I'm not really keen on joking around with police, smiling at them, or giving them face. Most of the Chinese riding public feels the same way from reading internet posts in their own language.

Actually, I've said kind words about the police in comparison to the really nasty comments from the majority of Chinese riders on internet forums --- especially after the fuel ban in Shanghai and the May 1st crackdown.

How they deal with their own people was made clearly yesterday when some pig, er, cop in Xin Tian Di tackled down a bicycle rider to the ground and cursed him right in the middle of the busy interseciton near a subway stop. Another foreigner filmed the whole thing on video.