Buying my first motorcycle in Danba, Sichuan, China<\/strong><\/h2>\nI got my first motorcycle in China in 2006. I had never before in my life rode, or even tried to ride a motorcycle. It was a 175cc Zhongshen. It was what is now commonly called a \u201cfarmer motorcycle,\u201d a very basic small street bike \u2013 the kind of moto that farmers\/peasants \/poor people drive \u2013 that I had upgraded with some knobby tires.<\/p>\n
Although these regulations are now very much relaxed, at that time bikes with larger than a 250cc motor where illegal in China, and because I was buying in the small and not-to-affluent city of Danba, they mostly had smaller cheaper 150cc models. At 175cc, mine was the biggest in town. The dealer confirmed my place in the history books by saying \u201cYou are the first foreigner that\u2019s ever bought a motorcycle in Danba.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the transaction was complete we hopped on and the dealer drove us first to a gas station for a fill-up, and then continued on to a section of road a little bit outside of town that had very low traffic. we both hopped off, he quickly hitched a ride back into town, and I was left alone with my new shining jewel.<\/p>\n
I came near killing myself in my first few attempts to ride, but after about three hours of daring and diligence, I could finally work the gears well enough to mostly ride without stalling, and made my way back into town to my hotel.<\/p>\n
I had no idea how this endeavor would work out. I had no Chinese driver\u2019s license, the bike had no license plate, and I had no idea how to get either one. I wasn\u2019t altogether sure if it wasn\u2019t flat-out illegal for a foreigner to drive a motorcycle and if the first cop that saw me wasn\u2019t going to stop me and confiscate it.<\/p>\n
After three days of riding the back roads around Danba honing my skills, I felt ready for my first trek. So, on the morning of day four, I packed up my stuff, strapped it all to the luggage racks and was ready to take off.<\/p>\n
I needed to drop by the shop where I bought the moto for a few adjustments. I was parked in front of the shop adjusting a bungee cord. On the main road into town that ran in front of the shop there was some construction, and so, on the other side of the road, a traffic cop managing traffic. He was eyeing me and it made me nervous. While I was adjusting the bungee cord there was a lull in the traffic and he took that opportunity to cross the road and approach me. My stomach sank.<\/p>\n
Without saying anything, He reached out his hand and began helping me adjust the bungee cord. In China, they manage to carry more on their 150cc motorcycles at one time than the average Texan carts in his pick-up truck in a month; he knew what he was doing and saw I did not. It was at this moment that realized everything was going to work out just fine.<\/p>\n
I remember spending a few nights in a hotel in Manigangexiang (Ma-ni-gan-ge-xiang), a remote outpost in the Tibetan region of northwest Sichuan. The hotel had one of the biggest and nicest restaurants for hundreds of miles around and served as a rest stop where a lot of long-distance buses stopped for a meal or for the night.<\/p>\n
On the morning of my departure from Manigangexiang, my moto was packed up while I sat on it letting the engine warm up. Next to me was a passenger van full of tourists, also with its engine running and about to take off. A back-packer leaned out the window and said to me \u201cIt says in the Lonely Planet guide that foreigners are not allowed to drive in China.\u201d I said back to him \u201cLucky for me I don\u2019t have one of those books!\u201d<\/p>\n
The guy in the above paragraph, and the Lonely Planet guide, where wrong. As it is now, so it was then, perfectly legal for a foreigner to drive a motor vehicle in China, providing the driver had a license and the vehicle was properly registered. In these respects at that time I was illegal, but the cops in those remote areas mostly preferred turning a blind eye when came to a foreigner.<\/p>\n
Is it difficult to get your Chinese driver\u2019s license?<\/strong><\/h2>\nGetting your driver\u2019s license in China is actually not that hard. In fact, it\u2019s easier for a foreigner who has a valid license from their home country to get a license in China than it is for a Chinese person to get their first license.<\/p>\n
Chinese people must first enroll in an official driving school that takes two or three months to complete, pass the theoretical test, and then pass a grueling driving test where they must successfully negotiate a difficult obstacle course of safety cones.<\/p>\n
If a foreigner has a valid license from their home country, the authorities accept it as evidence of practical driving experience, and so wave the school and the practical test.<\/p>\n
Not every Chinese DMV is exactly the same.<\/strong><\/h2>\nBefore we continue, I\u2019d like to add a disclaimer. China is a big country and the various vehicle administrations operate with some degree of autonomy. Each one is likely its own idiosyncrasies. As I can\u2019t write a blog post that covers all of them, be aware that for you, some of the details of the process might be a little different from that described below.<\/p>\n
Which Chinese DMV should you go to?<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe first thing everyone must do is determine the correct Vehicle Administration Department to go to. Each administration serves a particular area and you\u2019ll need to go to the one that serves the area that includes the address on your official residence registration certificate.<\/p>\n
But, the administrations that serve smaller outlying areas don\u2019t have the testing and bureaucracy in place to service foreigners, so if that is your case then you\u2019ll have to find the one nearest your address that does. Any city that is third-tier or larger will likely be able.<\/p>\n
What documents will I need to get my Chinese driving license?<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe documents you will need are your passport, your residence registration certificate, an official translation of your driver\u2019s the license from your home country, an eye exam certificate, and four photos with the same size and background as those for your visa.<\/p>\n
Where can I get an official Chinese translation of my driver\u2019s license?<\/strong><\/h2>\nMost major universities have a professor that is certified by the government to provide official translations, you can check in the Foreign Languages Department for someone. I have a friend who got an official translation of his US driver\u2019s license at the local city hall (\u653f\u52a1\u670d\u52a1\u4e2d\u5fc3 zh\u00e8ng w\u00f9 f\u00fa w\u00f9 zh\u014dng x\u012bn), and another friend who recently got a translation of his license from a service he found on the Chinese e-commerce site called Taobao.<\/p>\n