Rumours - confirmed & unconfirmed

[euphonius]

It will be interesting to see how the Chinese overcome the Mumbai ghetto type problems of even more country dwellers moving into cities, the ghetto suburbs of Washington USA, and the unrest of the muddle eyast.

Jape, though I hate such terminology, I'm about as "liberal" as they come. I believe society (though not necessarily government) should do its utmost to provide a safety net that provides services and care for all, while protecting our freedoms to pursue the life and work of our choosing. I don't believe in Darwinian solutions to socioeconomic inequality. But ensuring health care and education and maybe even minimal nutrition to all, even/especially the the most unfortunate, is a far cry from enshrining a right for every citizen to own and operate a car without society's agreement that this is indeed a reasonable and rational thing to do.

Furthermore, I'm very leery of the idea that Beijing's licensing system is intended to prevent some kind of automotive disenfranchisement of the poor. More likely it's about automotive disenfranchisement of the middle class and rich, who in just a very few short years have become accustomed to measuring their social status by what kind of car they drive. These are the people who work in the ministries and who could be expected to revolt if suddenly a license plate cost the equivalent of several months' salary.

As for how China is dealing with rapid urbanization, well, that's an act in progress, and very hard to fully grasp. There are 300 or 400 million migrant workers sloshing around urban China, and it's largely they who build the flash skyscrapers and bullet trains, yet they have almost no legal status in the cities where they work. They cannot bring their families, or enroll their children in schools, or participate in the urban workers' health insurance schemes, etc. They live mainly at their worksites, crammed 6 or 8 to a room in modular housing, or if they've lost their job they indeed gravitate into what anywhere else would be called slums or ghettos.

And it's not only blue collar workers in this situation. Over the past decade, the number of university places and graduates has climbed five-fold or more, so that now there are more than 7 million fresh graduates pouring into the job market every year -- only to find that there are maybe only 1 million new jobs. They too are gathering in slums and ghettos. And when a slum gets slummy enough, causing the authorities to lose sleep over possible unrest, orders are issued and the slummy slum disappears overnight, and untold tens of thousands of disenfranchised workers and graduates scramble to find new dwellings -- like so many ants when their ant hill is kicked asunder.

Here are a couple of interesting and well-written newspaper stories from recent months, one covering the "ant tribe" and another on migrant labor.

[chinabiker]

Beijing now has a contingent of 20,000 new car regos every month, 17,400 thereof for private vehicles.
These are distributed through a lottery system. After 12 consecutive unlucky attempts, one has the right to get a plate.
To be able to join the lottery, locals must have a Beijing Hukou, foreigners a Beijing issued residence permit.


There were over 200,000 lottery players in January.

Apparently organized by some clever business men , many elderly people (who have a Beijing Hukou) now start to join the monthly lottery. If one of these people wins a plate, she/he suddenly has a lot of money and buys a car. "Someone" then "rents" this car from these people. [sarcasm]As a next step it may become a requirement to have a driving license. So we will see a lot of old people in driving schools until the government will set a contingent or age limit for this also.[/sarcasm]

Many register cars in their home provinces or with friends from other provinces. Non Beijing plated cars are allowed only outside but not on the 5th ring road (those with a permit can go everywhere), and many just don't care as they say that they don't believe BJ traffic police is networked with other provinces.

I guess the folks issuing permits for non Beijing plated cars are getting wealthy

Observations I made, seemingly as a result of this, not very well thought of, system:

- I never saw that many cars without plates ever before
- The CD industry must profit from this
- I was asked three times in two months if I wanted to buy fake plates (at suburban gas stations, even though they saw I have plates)
- the number of outside plates is increasing


It is not sure if bike plates will be part of the lottery, maybe they'll start a own bike plate lottery. It should only be applied to B plates as these are forbidden inside the 4th ring already, with the red zone for these being extended to ring 5. I hear that BMW, HD, Benelli, Honda and Yamaha obviously teamed up to lobby for a "large bike class" with different plate type / color.

April 1st seems to be the deadline for motorbike related issues regarding new rules coming into force - EUR3, the lottery, ... We will see.

[chinabiker]

(We need a new emoticon that expresses the TIC sentiment)

A Miniature of a China map

[bigdamo]

When are they going to start a lottery to breath air in Beijing?

Buying real estate in Beijing is real interesting now too.

That place is out of control.

[chinabiker]

When are they going to start a lottery to breath air in Beijing?

If there was air, ....

Buying real estate in Beijing is real interesting now too.

Selling even more

That place is out of control.

come on

[bikerdoc]

It all makes perfect sense to the bureaucracy - TIC.

(We need a new emoticon that expresses the TIC sentiment)

^ditto... WE NEED THAT EMOTICON LIKE YESTERDAY, ok, yelling over... oh no, I meant to talking through the internet loudly... what, what, what was that? oh, the internet - what you mean one doesn't yell at the computer screen like a mobile phone... oh, com'n I was just trying to fit in like a yokal TIC! oh yeah right, no yelling... tic

[chinabiker]

In China, the registration includes a color photo of the bike. Then, two years after initial new bike purchase, and annually thereafter, the bike must be inspected and tested. ANY modifications, including change of color, application of stickers, addition of racks, etc, will result in the bike NOT passing its inspection and not being able to be registered. Prior to the annual testing, therefore, the bike must be returned to its original condition.

And it is not just bikes:

I had an aftermarket roof rack on my Jeep 4WD ... fail ... roo-bar on the front ... fail ... Jeep stickers in the window ... fail, and so on. So, there is a large industry of returning your car/bike to original ... pass the test ... and then put the farkle back on. These helpful shops can be found next door to the testing stations.

Unless there was significant changes in rules, it was two times two years and then annually for the inspection. My bike was for the annual test three days ago, with panniers, top case, cameras , additional stickers, ... and it passed. The only remark they had - the horn is too loud. Yep that is what a Nautilus should be

[Lao Jia Hou]

Unless there was significant changes in rules, it was two times two years and then annually for the inspection. My bike was for the annual test three days ago, with panniers, top case, cameras , additional stickers, ... and it passed. The only remark they had - the horn is too loud. Yep that is what a Nautilus should be

Ah, thanks for the correction - I've never owned any particular bike in Beijing for more than a year (in fact, my JH600 may be sold this coming week!). I was just going on what I've been told ... hence, rumours ... fact versus fiction.

Hmmmm - if I ever need a bike tested, I'm hiring you Andy ... with your handsome European stature, you just wait until a woman is running the testing equipment.

[euphonius]

...in fact, my JH600 may be sold this coming week!...

Trading up (or is that down) to a Harley, I surmise?

[Lao Jia Hou]

Trading up (or is that down) to a Harley, I surmise?

Worse ... much worse ... a dual-sport BMW ... but, hey, a friend (with zero riding experience) bought a legal one & doesn't know how to ride it - his wife is going to divorce him - so it is possibly being offered to me at less than half his purchase price. Hence, my social responsibility for the harmonious society.

And my beautiful, wonderful, loving sweety who is so kind, reasonable & smart (and who sometimes reads this forum) has told me that 8 bikes is my limit, else I'll risk being in the same situation as my friend.

IMHO, the JH600 is a fantastic bike for China - the nay-sayers don't know what they're talking about. I've been very happy with it, aside with a couple of minor quirks. I'll probably get another next year (ooops, did I say that out loud? - just joking sweety).

A big concern of mine, however, is how I am going to face all the Germans I know in Beijing who've had me tease them about their over-priced, status-conscious BMWs! I'll have to keep my full-face helmet on 24/7. Or wear a burka.

The Harley Ultra will replace my no-name 100 cc farmer's pig-hauler ... hey sweety, a bike's a bike, right?