In China’s biggest modern cities, the pace of change over the past twenty years has been so rapid that it’s sometimes hard to even imagine what China was like before it opened its doors to the West. The cities are forests of glass buildings. Shops are everywhere, selling everything you could possibly want to buy and plenty more that you don’t. You can practically smell the entrepreneurial spirit. Foreigners are everywhere too in the cities. Some are here for business, but some have simply chosen to make China their home. China’s major cities are quickly becoming international and cosmopolitan, though they aren’t there yet.

But old China isn’t so hard to find; all you need to do is leave the major cities. Rural China is anything but international. Foreigners are so uncommon that you may find yourself positively goggled at by small children and adults alike. And here, foreigners may find themselves restricted in ways they wouldn’t in large cities. Though you might never realize it living in Beijing or Shanghai, laws restricting foreigners’ movements and where foreigners can stay the night are still very much enforced in China, and those laws include the requirement that hotels must purchase a license before they may house foreigners.

If you can read Chinese, places that don’t have a license should have a sign to that effect. Foreigners will be turned away from these places. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find a place to stay though. Generally speaking, any three-star hotel or better will have a license. Though price varies by city (and according to your own personal bargaining skills) these places start at around 30 or 40 Yuan. So if you’re not traveling on a shoestring budget, finding accommodation may never become an issue. But if you are traveling on a very tight budget and you’d like to make a point of staying at the cheapest place in town, as a foreigner you may not have that option.

The justification sometimes offered for the restriction is that hotels that don’t have licenses aren’t safe for foreigners. There may be some truth to this; very cheap hotels are often shady and patronized by shadier characters. As a seasoned backpacker with very little money in your pocket, you’re unlikely to care if a hotel is shady, and you may not be able to afford the three star hotels across town. You might be tempted to argue with the hotel manager and try to convince him to rent him a room anyway, license or no. Keep in mind, though, that if you win that argument you and the manager might very well be arrested if you’re caught.

Reference:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/LivinginChina/192067.htm

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