Well, you live in Shanghai so look out your window and you'll see millions of them. The guy on the phone will say they're bannned, but he probably doesn't really know much about it.

I mean I'm no expert but the majority of bikes I see being taken off people are the E-bikes (电动车） if I was you, I'd just get a crappy 50cc and drive around shanghai with it. I was speaking to my chinese neighbor about this scooter the other day and I asked him about registration etc. He replied "what registration?" I then moved on to say his bike has a plate and he just laughed and said it's fake. He's been riding that scooter for about 6 years now and he's never had any problems.

Anyway, just letting you know of the story and the current situation I know of in shanghai. If anything the most accidents are on ebikes I feel.