I have no moral high ground here, a very chequered past (and present) with incidents that were not always legal and other 'government sanctioned' incidents I since learnt to regret. I also believe in the right of the individual to act as they see fit, including their own understanding or interpretation of laws and regulations concerning their own life and path through it. That is because i believe in personal responsibility and the consequence of actions also.

When there is a local industry, indigenous and thriving, in making plates for the purpose of getting petrol then you are simply participating in and being allowed into the variant of the culture you live amongst that also accepts that legality can be interpreted for the good of the individual as weighed up against the whole (as would be demonstrated by blind obedience). A common dynamic and theme, often used to justify what is the beginning of anarchic revolution and usually a position taken without much justification purely for personal reward and ease.

To my mind the sole just and acceptable reasoning for purchasing illegal plates, which is fraud against a regime that has accepted and tolerates you as a foreign body within it, is the measure by which you feel a genuine part of that society. Outside of that it is just selfishness. It is also anarchistic and revolutionary on a global scale, the consequences of which are weighed on your soul, not your wallet. That does not make it just or acceptable, you are then consciously starting to live outside of social constraints and regimen. That is perhaps seen by you as the path to freedom and enlightenment, it may be so - but at the risk of being branded terrorist or revolutionary. These are NOT small matters however they may seem from your personal, small, perspective.

Freedom to move around, travel, do as you will? Won by the blood of many over all the generations of man, including the blood of innocents. It is a constant pattern in human behaviour, an equation. The blue plate is a statement that will cost you more than a few yuan. It is also deliberate, subversive and foolish for a foreigner not intelligent enough to think it through.