I usually drive inside the second ring road and while I haven’t been stopped by the police (yet) I have definitely noticed a heavier traffic police presence over the last week or so. I asked one or two of my Chinese friends who all own large displacement bikes and they told me it’s the same every year in the build up to spring festival, they seem to think that more police on the streets here in Chengdu isn’t directly related to the foreigner in Beijing. They told me the reason is because Traffic cops have a quota of tickets they need to issue and as we get closer to the end of the year it’s somewhat of a mad scramble for the cops to hit their quota.
Having said that a (foreign) friend of mine was stopped by the traffic police a few days ago. He drives a pretty old 250cc bobber style thing. The bike is unregistered and he does not have a Chinese driving license. The police officer asked my friend for his documents, my friend politely told him (in broken Chinese, even though he speaks great Chinese) that he had left all his documents at home. The police officer then proceded to give my friend a 20 minute lecture on how to drive safely in China and then simply let him go! No ticket, no confiscated bike (although the police officer did remove my friends keys from his bike when he was initially stopped, which scared the shit out of him).
I think, until spring festival has passed, try and avoid riding inside the city unless you really have to. Or unless you ride a 49cc toy(not my words, haha) My friends seem to believe once spring festival has passed things will die down again.
But if you must ride stay safe and stay warm. It’s getting colder by the day. Oh, and remember, it’s just the traffic police (white hats and yellow bibs) you need to watch out for, the regular cops don’t seem to give two shits. 🙂