Ah, OK. Thanks for the information guys. Sounds like getting a bike to drive around Shanghai will be a nightmare/very expensive.

But what about if I don't want to drive into the city center? I live quite aways outside the 3rd ring road, and police presence is very minimal here. So I probably wouldn't get stopped driving around where I live.

How easy is it to drive to other provinces in China? what sort of documentation will I need to drive back from HK, for example?