Legal issues, clarifying the law in China

[ZMC888]

I imagine it is probably very illegal for tourists to ride motorcycles in China, but when I was there I found that the cops either didn't want to mess with it, or that the law left some wiggle room for wily foreigners.

There was talk about China accepting international driver permits in preparation for the olympics. I think that maybe Beijing said to all the local police stations "If you catch a foreigner and he has a permit let it slide."

The problem with China is that the rules are officially the same nationwide, but applied differently in different areas, also in bigger cities the less cops care about the fact that someone is a foreigner, whereas in some rural area a foreigner is a source of fascination.

Also in China they could be upset with American policy or someone has sold some Chinese artifact at auction, then the reception the next guy gets could be different from the previous guy.

Also in China there are too many people and too many laws, and too much corruption. This means what tends to happen is some rules are enforced on a purge basis. For example on a street near me there are loads of street vendors all over the sidewalks. Usually in the morning the cops come round to accept their daily charge of 10RMB (backhander ). Once every few years though, they come and fine all the street vendors, close down the stalls and take some stalls away. This carries on for about a month or two and you can then walk down the sidewalk, but buying food at lunchtime then becomes a headache, then everything goes back to normal. The same thing happens with traffic cops too. Also central government has peoples congress meeting every year where the change some laws and increase the seriousness of other laws and make new laws.

The problem is that there are lots of people who have ridden around China semi-legally telling everyone else there is no problem. However, an accident or being in the wrong place at the wrong time could be serious. It all just depends, and is highly unpredictable! What is predictable is that the more legal you are the better.

[Nick in PRC.]

The problem is that there are lots of people who have ridden around China semi-legally telling everyone else there is no problem.

Exactly how long have you had your licence ?

[ZMC888]

European license............12 years

Seriously there are/have been people riding around on small capacity bikes with no registration. Which isn't really even trying!

The other day I saw a fellow laowei on an R1, the license plate said "Made in Hong Kong", should we say "stolen in Hong Kong"?

In my province, I know that the cops after an accident have overlooked the fact that one of my friends had no Chinese license or any other kind of license, except an expired home license which was... back in his home country, without even motorcycle entitlement! He was told that the bike being registered and insured was enough...that was here, I'm sure in Shanghai that is absolutely not the case! Which was my point, there is no static state of how much bending of the law there is which is acceptable...it depends on when, where, what, who etc etc.....

[culcune]

On advrider, there was a guy nicknamed 'beemer boy' who has a long thread about a ride he took in China. He bought a used Zongshen which was registered in China, rode it into China, had alot of breakdowns, sold the bike, and bought a new Qingqi. He was involved in a fairly serious accident with a car, which was determined by the police to be the car driver's fault, and the guy had to pay him compensation. However, it was in a more rural part of China, and was on a country road--in other words, it was not Shanghai. Not sure his license status, as he is an American living and working in Thailand, but I am fairly sure he did not possess a Chinese license!