Already have residence permit - still need hotel registration if in different city?

[mr.stinky]

i found that there is a database for this, at least by province.

last month staying with friends in kunming, went to register at

a tiny hole-in-the-wall substation. they entered my passport

number into their computer system, and asked why i didn't

notify the local station when i left xxx.

i was in xxx (tiny town in southern yunnan) last year for two

nights staying at a hotel.

[dumdumdum]

Except they don't. When were you last on a Chinese train?

they do. especially in terminal stations in big cities like beijing and shanghai. however, if you get up halfway, then there's no choice, first come first serve and you take whatever is available. i take trains to HK every 1/2 yr to renew visa.

of course, if foreigners cant fill a cabin, then its mixed up with chinese. there are other 'rules' depending on which rail operating offices we are talking about. some would put foreigners near the two ends of a cabin, so they can have easy access to toilets and hot water, or near the cabin captain's bunk if they need assistance, etc.

[roddy]

That must be some kind of parallel train network which nobody else has ever been on.

[889]

" . . . if foreigners cant fill a cabin, then its mixed up with chinese. there are other 'rules' depending on which rail operating offices we are talking about."

Yes, this is what happens when you buy your ticket with FEC. Or imperial yuan.

[xiaoxiaocao]

of course, if foreigners cant fill a cabin, then its mixed up with chinese. there are other 'rules' depending on which rail operating offices we are talking about. some would put foreigners near the two ends of a cabin, so they can have easy access to toilets and hot water, or near the cabin captain's bunk if they need assistance, etc.

I can't imagine them bothering to do this these days. Sounds like something that may have happened 20 years ago when China was just opening up.

[dumdumdum]

20 yrs ago it was even 'better'. foreigners get the 处长待遇 wherever they go. for train tickets thats the lowest standard to get a soft bed. most chinese cant get a softbed without a 'recommendation letter from working unit' at that time. meaning the peasants and self-employed businessmen cant get softbeds.

and if you lodge a somplaint at a police office, a guy roughly parellel to your 处长 status will handle your case. so much for a 'society without class'.

[gougou]

You could argue that things get a bit fuzzy if you arrive at 8pm and leave at 8am

Technically, they don't. The law states very clearly that you have to register within 24 hours of arrival - regardless of length of stay. Practically, it's of course a whole other issue, as registration generally is...

they do. especially in terminal stations in big cities like beijing and shanghai.

I've also never heard of that. When I go to the station to buy a ticket, they've certainly never entered foreigner into their system at any point in time. They just gave me the first available bunk, as they would have for Chinese, I suppose. Also, I can only remember very few instances where there were other foreigners in my compartment - although that wasn't too surprising as they were the friends I was traveling with...

I don't know how important the computer system is. When I was in Guizhou last month, after being turned away at an official 招待所 (with one person saying there were no rooms and the other saying "but he speaks Chinese" - so I take it because of being a foreigner), I found a tiny 招待所 in a back alley and was welcomed very warmly. It took them 20 minutes to take my data down on a blank sheet of paper, using one of those registration forms as a guide, a few calls to the PSB to find out that you were actually meant to fill out the form, another 10 minutes to go copy the form, 3 tries to fill in the form, and then an unspecified amount of time to carry the form over to the PSB (I didn't need to wait for that last bit). So it was quite 麻烦 (but there was the world cup running on TV so who cares...), but worked without being linked up into the computer system.