How to get a Chinese Driver’s License

[Paul Todd]

China is one of the few countries that does not allow foreigners to drive a car/motorbike using a foreign or even an international driving license. You wil have to apply for a chinese driving license, but only have to do the theoretical exam.
Got to the responsible office for driving licenses in your city. You can ask you local PSB where it is,if they manage to stop laughing!

Requirements:
passport photos – a lot of, sometimes 7! are required
temporary residence registration from the local PSB
your foreign driving license
your passport
money: 290 RMB
The fee consists of 10 RMB for the actual license which is valid 6 years. 280 RMB allows you to do the written test. One repetition is included in case you fail the first time.
Balls of steel or at least a good medical insurance

Procedure for Registration:
Fill the registration form (sometimes the application form is only available in chinese and must be filled in chinese, so you might want to take a chinese "friend" with you)
Do a “medical examination”, which in fact only consists of an eye-check.
Pay the fee and get a receipt.

Procedure for doing the Test:
Wait until someone guides you to the test room and give them your receipt.
A computer will be appointed to you
Select one of the possible test languages
Do the multiple choice test which consists of 100 questions within the time constrains of 45 minutes.
After you have finished the test, you will immediately see the result. You have passed it if it is equal or over 90%.

Notes:
In many bigger chinese cities there are companies targeting expats that help you to prepare for the test. They usually point out some “hard questions” that might differ from common sense.:icon_cheesygrin:
It seems that some cities do not have the international system installed yet and only offer chinese questions. In that case you can bring a “translator” with you to help you translate the test questions. It seems that some of those translators know a bit more though …
 
 
Then hit the streets.........?:s

[Willy The Londoner]

Well this is one loco Brit that will be hitting the streets as soon as I get back from the UK next week.   I will give it a go as I have my eye on a nice car.

It was previously used for attacking armoured security vans and ram raiding to steal the atm machines - could possibly be able to cope with Chinese traffic but not too sure about that!!:icon_cheesygrin:

First to get Chinese licence gets a point!  

That is a point and not a pint - the point is free and I am really getting into a Chinese way of thinking!!!:icon_cool:

Willy

[Paul Todd]

Mad dogs and Englishmen Willy, mad dogs and Englishmen!:s

[RobertBfrom aust]

Whoever is first should get a medal , not a point , but Willy if you are looking at vehicles , drop a few prices past here , as I looked in the ChongQing paper that I brought back , many lovely adds but no prices that I could understand , we know have The Great Wall range of suv's and utes out here now , looking very much like Nissans , maybe an armoured vehicle would be okay for you , you could carry your loot with you from town to town , and sell your massive supply of Viagra out of the back he he , regards Ying and Robert .

[ttwjr32]

i was wondering about the questions on the test?? 100 seems
 like a lot to me as in california i think it was 30 or 32 and you
 could only miss 3 or 4. what could they possibly be asking?
 just seems like 100 is a lot to me

[rockycoon]

100 is nothing, try getting a CDL class A in Arizona or anywhere else for that matter of fact.  I had to take a driving test from a driving school and have it signed, next was a full medical check, then another test from the company safety man, then a 100 question test from DMV and possably more if you pick the extras, like driving with a tanker, airbrakes, has-mat, etc, etc.
so the chinese test is just a matter of walking around and paying up front.  By the way willy, take the amored tank test, then buy a used one with low milage, some of them will get out of your way...remember tinuim square and there wernt even any lights...lol    one old man made a huge traffic jam of tanks, guess the guy in the cross-walk always has the right-of-way.....hahaha

[David E]

There is a strong rumour here in Aus about how the Chinese migrants get their Driving License....they buy a packet of corn-flakes...and would you believe, the driving license is in the packet.....

Yes, it is easy to spot Chinese drivers here....we all keep well clear

David

[Willy The Londoner]

i was wondering about the questions on the test?? 100 seems
 like a lot to me as in california i think it was 30 or 32 and you
 could only miss 3 or 4. what could they possibly be asking?
 just seems like 100 is a lot to me

well there is 100 ways to cross a road here and not one of them entails taking a straight line across a road!!!

Willy

[Paul Todd]

Better watch out for this one Willy!
[attachment=1229]
Chinese traffic officers on Jinggang’ao Highway in Henan province spotted a DIY disaster recently when they came across a truck sporting a cardboard windshield complete with the blue-faced driver poking his head out of the side window. When questioned by the officers, the driver revealed that he had been using this tactic on busy roads for around 400 miles. This despite the fact that the weather was freezing cold outside. The driver did point out that he got a chance to rest his cold face and neck, usually on streets with less traffic:-/. In such cases, he used the two eye-holes cut-outs on the cardboard to double check the road.He told the officers that the windshield had been broken in an accident from a few days back. However, he was too busy with his deliveries to fix this particular glitch. His homemade solution did not impress the authorities. In fact, the police dropped him off at the nearest repair shop and made him fix his truck.

[Willy The Londoner]

Many places advertise on expats pages that they can get you drivers licence with just a copy of your passport, entry stamp and visa page and a copy of your drivers licence.  No tests no personal visit.  Mind you the cost is 2000 rmb.  That is quite a high price to pay to risk killing yourself!!!!

Willy

[David5o]

Willy,

That's exactly all i had to hand over to the company fixer to get my Chinese licence. But i have no idea how much the company paid. I tried to drive as little as humanly possible, and always tried to avoid high traffic volume times of day. It still scares the life out of me driving there, and it's no-where near as bad as when i first went to China, just a hell of a lot more traffic around now......

David....

[Vince G]

Paul he should have gone just a little more inventive and cut a hole in the cardboard and duct taped a piece of Plexiglass to it. :icon_biggrin:

[Voiceroveip]

There's a little quiz here
And you can buy the software for training here

A full list of questions can be found here