Hi Freedombiker, this is a post I put on the HUBB, answering some similar questions. My position on riding in China for non-residents after some wrangling with other riders and some deep reflection is that I neither condemn or condone it, and it's an individual decision that needs to be taken with knowledge of a fair deal of information.

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if anybody has bought a bike in China and ridden it within the borders?
Unless you are on a tour you can't get a Chinese temporary motorcycle license, and you can't get a six year license unless you are a resident, so you'd end up riding technically speaking illegally. China does not officially recognize licenses from other countries or International Driving Permits, although they have made exceptions in the past. In most areas that are not big cities or sensitive in terms of their security (western Muslim and Tibetan minority areas) you'd probably be OK. But that is a probably not a certainly. Most likely if you were in a rural area and you had an accident and it was thought to be your fault, not having a Chinese license would mean you'd pay more in compensation, but some other kind of license would be better than nothing in most situations.

-In short you can be on a legal bike, registered and insured (but not in your name, but the bike would still be legal) but there could be questions about your legality...

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Is this a good way of getting around the usual expense and hassle of trying to motorcycle there?
It is a good way to avoid the expense, but you still really need to consider the legal/safety/and other hassle risks. If you were an experienced rider who had researched fully into what they were doing, and had even studied a little Chinese and was happy to visit beautiful mountainous and rural non-politically sensitive areas, probably on a modest sized bike 125-250cc, then you would have a very high chance of a successful trip. Inexperienced riders and poorly prepared/researched folks could get into difficulties though.