Th ebest thing to do is call your own consulate or embassy and ask them. Get somebody besides a secretary or the receptionist. If you live in the same city as your consulate, go in with your paperwork in hand and ask them directly. (You may need to make an appointment.)

Generally, the local police look at your residence permit as allowing you to live in a certain place for a certain reason for a certain amount of time (usually the same length of time as your visa.) As long as your visa is valid, thats all they really care about. (They really don't want the headaches of chasing down every foreigner that comes their way just to validate the existence of a proper visa.) But the immigration people at ports of entry do care about your visa details. Trying to convince a immi officer that "really, it's okay," because you have a residence permit, just isn't going to fly. They just can't let somebody in without a valid visa. Be careful with this; its a much bigger headache than what you can imagine. Its far easier to go get all the stickers and red stamps and pay the price than to be standing around the airport thinking nasty thoughts!

Monique, any time you step out of Mainland China- even if it's just down the road into Hong Kong- you must either have re-entry privileges or come in on a new visa.

If your residence permit doesn't have re-entry already included in it, it's easy, quick and relatively cheap to get a re-entry permit from your local visa office.