(I assume I originally wrote this to be posted somewhere else, other than my own website… I originally intended it to be a complete review & step-by-step guide to how to get your motorbike license, from scratch, in China….yet it seems like I got ever so slightly distracted)
Hello I’m david, a keen motorcyclist here in Beijing.
In China it’s just such a great way to get around. Especially given that without it, I would go completely insane with the pushing and shoving on the subway, buses that don’t work to your schedule, and the general incivility that exits with anything to do with China when many people are involved. …Which to be honest, is many aspects of life living in China.
So why would driving be any different? And why driving a motorbike? Isn’t that unsafe I hear you asking?
Well, I guess one thing you have to know about Chinese driving is….. yes, yes, yes, they are terrible, that stereotype is indeed true. But at least they drive slowly, maybe because there’s just too many people again. But driving terribly, that’s not to say that they don’t have the right laws in place. There are a few that are retarded (for this time, I’m talking about the road rules) but… all the road rules are actually designed so that people drive safely and fluidly. They actually are. And when you take the test, the majority of the things in there actually DO make sense.
The problem is, and we can easily justify this *…. – there is a lack of empathy and compassion for those that are beyond the scope of familiarity. Translate this into the car/ traffic environment and you realise that as they are inside the car, and quite possibly their family too…they don’t have to care about anyone else. So even though most of them will keep to general road rules because they realise it will screw it up for you later if everyone copies what you do… it also explains why people don’t indicate when they turn, reverse without checking what’s behind them, and edge their way through obviously blocked intersections simply because they’ve got a green light.
Now all of this couldn’t happen of course without the realization that not many traffic laws are enforced in China. Obviously there are camera’s and what not for red lights, and when you go into the country side you’ll realise every 2km or so there are flashes where they are taking pictures of all the cars going on that road , so they can track you if they need to. But, well.. the phrase I often spout here is that “In china almost everything is illegal…but almost nothing is enforced” Which means technically you can be arrested for whatever at whatever stage because you’ve got on the ugly side of the gov, and as you don’t know when that is going to happen or if it’s going to happen…it keeps you on your toes a bit. Plus as many Chinese friends have pointed out, the Chinese government loves to add a bit of chaos into society… so you never quite know what is going to happen.
Plus, it becomes apparent, that traffic police here are only concerned on the Flow of traffic. As long as everything is flowing… even if it’s slowly because there are way too many cars on the road, then they’re not going to do shit.
So anyway, now we know there’s traffic laws which everyone learns, and that they actually make sense, and that you face pretty harsh penalties if you are caught and they are enforced; and for anyone to get a license they have to know all of this. (including bizarlily how much jail time you get for certain actions) But as hardly any of it is enforced, Chinese drivers quickly forget all of this, …or simply don’t care anymore and go about their way of just not giving a shit.
So, we now know all of this, and because a few of us are in the position that we DO give a shit, and we know that if we get caught driving around on a motorbike illegally, then we are in deep shit,
then I guess it’s time to get your motorbike license.
Now you should know that technically (at least from what I’ve heard from lawyers at least), you have 6 months of driving on your foreign drivers license before you have to get your Chinese one. …this may just be a rumour. Yet, and here’s a big point to consider, traffic police (the ones that have the right to ‘interpret the law on the spot’ , often don’t actually know the laws they’re meant to be enforcing… which is probably why they test you on your knowledge on the fines & jail time and what is right or wrong so strictly…so that you can prove your case against a cop in case they don’t know the actual laws. Brilliant! Right?
Anyway, China is one of those places that doesn’t recognize an international driver’s license. And before you go ‘fuck you China, we’re always working to your double standards, just recognize the international laws in place’
China does actually have a very different environment…ie, policeman not knowing the laws that they’re meant to enforce, people driving like crap, the general chaos that is Chinese driving…so on that one it actually makes sense that you learn how to drive according to the ‘Chinese environment’ Touche Chinese government, I think this makes sense, and I agree with you.
So, if you already have your foreign car & motorcycle license then you should click here. You will only have to take a theory test, in English or one of several other available languages, but I think English would be the best choice, because it is the one that is translated the best.
It must be said that this test still isn’t easy, you still have to study your arse off because there are many things that even though they are a lot more logical as compared to the pre-2013 test, still take some getting used to. For example, you see very few speed limit signs on the road- in fact you’re meant to understand the situation and just know that for THIS given road , in THIS given situation the speed limit is THIS. So…yes China’s traffic environment IS indeed very different thus the need for a separate test.
Now if you need to start from scratch, ie. You don’t have your foreign car or motorcycle license, the click here.
I must warn you, if you have your car license but not your motorcycle license and you think ‘hey I’ll do my car license change over now, and then I’ll do my motorcycle license later….you’re in for a unwelcome surprise.
You will do the change-over car theory test in English, but then you have to wait a year to do the motorcycle license. Often they will tell you you can’t do it. But in fact you can, you just have to take it in Chinese. (taking the theory test in formal, very traffic-law specific words in Chinese is the biggest challenge to most foreigners in China, even for those living here 5 years or more & whose Chinese level is pretty decent. Note- before you could have a translator, but the gov. came to realize that the translator would often charge a little extra to fill in the answers for you so that you could pass, thus commanding a higher fee)
If during the year you’ve gone back to your home country and have now got your motorcycle license, and intend to just ‘add it to your car license’ well you can’t do that either. They will make you take the motorcycle license from scratch…. This actually involves taking 2 theory tests ALL in Chinese. There’s no English translation for the motorcycle only test. And then you’ll be ‘taught’ by a guy who doesn’t really know how to ride a motorcycle, nor how to teach for that matter, …’how to ride a motorcycle’, despite the fact that you may already know.
It should be noted here, that the motorcycle test has many questions that are exactly the same as the car test, and you would think it would be easy enough to just bring those questions from the car test over to the motorbike test, and then you could have at least 70% of the motorcycle test in English.
Sure, but that’s not the point of the Chinese government.
The simple truth is, that the gov. doesn’t like motorbikes, they don’t want more people driving them, and they haven’t quite realized yet that foreigners are going to drive them with or without a license.
And then again, there’s a chance that they have realized this, and are keeping it as another excuse to potentially kick out any foreigners, because the fact is the Chinese gov. really doesn’t like foreigners either.
If they make it incredibly difficult to get a motorbike license, yet they know foreigners are going to drive with or without one, then if they catch those foreigners…then they have a justifiable excuse to kick them out of the country, or…make up some bullshit excuses like ‘70% of French drivers don’t have a Chinese driving license…they don’t respect the laws of China, they think they are above the Chinese people….time to cut trade deals with France and start a campaign against the French people within China, because this will take the pressure away from people noticing that our own government is corrupt’ ie. Justifiably direct the anger somewhere else. A commendable strategy by the way. I swear the guys at the top actually really know what’s going on, and how to make a good strategy.
So yep, that’s generally how it works for the whole motorcycle thing here in China with foreigners. See below of how getting caught NOT having your license can impact you.
(By the way, the only way around that whole- having your Chinese car license.. and then later getting your foreign motorbike license, and trying to do the change over , & being told you have to do the motorbike license from scratch, is to CANCEL your original Chinese car drivers license and then apply for a new one, together with both your foreign car & bike license, and in this case you will only have to take the car theory test again, but will be granted the joint C1E which = the Car & Bike license together)
The case of the young foreigner driving his petrol scooter and apparently hitting an Ayi shows just what can happen. He eventually got deported, and investigation into his father’s business took place which subsequently got closed down, and of course they both had to pay a whole bunch of money.
An interesting thing to note is that I hear a few of you saying… yes, but I won’t get caught, and hey in the end …this is China…and even if I do get caught…there’s ways around every situation. …Which …is true.
But the reason why that happens, is because even though there are all those laws, there is a little clause in every government document which states something on the lines of ‘it is up to the administrative organ present at the time to decide how to proceed’ Ok well its not quite that. But for example you read the Chinese Constitution and there are things like freedom of speech in there, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, etc… and of course as you’re reading this, a few of you will be laughing…because we know that’s clearly not true. But the reason is, is because somewhere a little further down, it states the CCP provides these freedoms provided that it does not harm the CCP or other members of the public. (but basically it everything seems to harm the CCP…which means as these things always do, you basically don’t have these rights.
As for driving, it’s the same, the policeman that arrives on site, may decide that you have to pay a cash settlement to the other driver even if you really weren’t the one responsible. And that’s because he technically has the right to decide that… That’s their little clause at the bottom of the traffic laws.
Oh I mentioned that ‘the majority of the road rules make sense’ , why just the majority, and not all? Well like anything Chinese, I get the feeling that they see the Western way of doing things…and although they don’t want to just straight out copy the Western way of doing something…because if you forgot…who has the 5,000 years of continuous history? Who should know best? That’s right, the Chinese.
But it comes to a point when they have to concede that some of the ‘Western ways’ of doing things is based on best practices, and you know, things that are actually based on logic and rationality when it comes to thinking about safety and flow of traffic.
….But… of course they will always want to apply the time tested thing of ‘….with chinese characteristics’… its basically inferring that whatever it is that you have…we apply it to the Chinese context. Which is good. It is the right thing to do in fact, because China is different from other countries, and so it makes sense to apply a slightly different set of rules. But when you look at the rules that have changed…you have to wonder what the actual goal of this change of rules are.
So what are these amazing rules, that are designed for the Chinese road?
1. No front lights on during the day, (to be honest I don’t know what the situation is for raining or mist)
For motorbikes, it has become standard law around the world…I’m going to leave out still developing countries, but standard law that you have to have your headlights on during the day.
The reasoning is, is that as motorbikes create such a small profile, it is already difficult enough to see them as is, and having your lights on makes it that much easier to see. And considering that motorcycling is dangerous…mainly because of other drivers on the road…but then taking this into account…this is the reason that you have to have your lights on.
Many bikes in Australia, England, Canada even some places in SEAsia have the headlight ON as standard… you can’t turn them off, it’s built into the bike and required by law. So manufacturers just built them like that… but not in China.
Not light, turn left legal
Oh yeah, then there is this:
So the diagram on the left is meant to explain the situation if it’s a 4 way crossing with no traffic lights, and who has the right of way.
For those of you that can’t read Chinese,
the character 先= 1st
后= after
Top left-makes sense
Top right –makes sense
Bottom right- makes no sense as the car wanting to take a right turn has ‘the path of least resistance’ and should therefore have right of way.
Bottom left- makes sense. (the car wanting to turn left in front of you has the path of most resistance and so should have to wait until it is safe before making their turn. This is safety conscious because the car going straight ahead may be blocked by another car from the left turning vehicles sight and could be approaching the intersection at speed.)
However this bottom left picture actually changes when traffic lights are added to the equation.
Apparently even though you are going straight ahead and have the path of least resistance, the car turning left and cutting across you will have right of way. Which…is ridiculous. Cars will often bunch up together so as to create a caterpillar of cars or ‘the snake’ as I often refer to it as, by leaving such a little gap between the cars and getting a little further back (partially hiding themselves behind the car in front which means that you can never break through)
By the way, in every other country the car going straight are the ones that have right of way…yet in this situation you can’t cut through. This generally means that main line roads are blocked up due to this very stupid traffic law.
In every other country that I know of, it is the case that when no directions are given, (like in this situation there is no specific ‘turn left’ arrow) then the car with the ‘path of most resistance’ has to make the turn ‘when it is safe to do so’.
I can only guess that in China, there is never a time where its actually ‘safe to do anything’ so this rule can’t be applied.
And don’t forget there are many things that have this special ‘chinese characteristics’ attached to it.
ie. Crisp flavours- we have bbq, tomato, cracked pepper, chicken.. Ah but the Chinese ‘Crisp flavours with Chinese characteristics’… Chicken BBQ, Thai Prawn BBQ, south east asian crab BBQ, Cucumber, Blueberry. They’ve got it all.. ‘that will show those pesky foreigners’.
Interesting though that they don’t have duck fetus flavour, or 1000 year old egg flavour, or little boy pee flavoured egg flavour, or chou doufu flavor.
All the things that us foreigners wouldn’t be able to understand …but also seemingly that they can’t really take either.
And don’t get me started with politics- ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ = Capitalism, but they didn’t want to go back on their word, so it became this after Mr Deng came back from America in early 1979. Similarly ‘Democracy with Chinese characteristics’= not democracy.
“Oh yes, but we understand democracy differently” No you idiot, that’s why words have exact definitions. Democracy = this. If you have something that is not this, then you can’t call it democracy. You will have to make up a new word. And adding ‘…with Chinese characteristics’ to the end of the word, just isn’t good enough.
*Justification- Mao’s revolutions, the long (& modern) history of the government screwing over its people, forced labour, deaths, hunts for ‘counter revolutionaries’ hunt for people that participated in the government led ‘hundred schools of thought’ “let a hundred flowers bloom” etc…which meant that people became to only trust their good friends and immediate family. Ever wonder why it is difficult to make friends with Chinese people, even if you speak the language and know the culture a bit? Well it’s because this has be ingrained into them, not to mention it also been ingrained in them to not trust foreigners, or rather that as an ethnocentric culture they are the centre of the world (中国) and therefore won’t always do what a foreigner suggests, or are untrusting of them, because deep down they know they are better.
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