Thanks for your reply.

The phrase was not directed at you!

Thanks for clarifying that point.

Of course some drivers cheat on taxi fares or take a circuitous route and that is wrong but it happens in many places across the world. Expect to pay more, off the meter, especially if it is during a national holiday and for the driver to take on other passengers along the way. A good thing for the extra passengers when taxis are scarce, but not so good if the passenger's destination is not on your route.

Yes, a common tactic in China.

i usually tell the driver that I would appreciate if he didn't take on extra passengers if I am in a hurry. Sometimes it is the taxi driver that knows the best route to your destination to avoid heavy traffic, traffic lights or road works so I will not accept that they are all crooks.

Fair Enough. Incidentally, I recall in Shanghai they had a english speaking hotline, if the driver did not understand something he could call them from in the cab and put them on loudspeaker, or you could call them if you felt you were being cheated, likewise in Guangzhou the taxi driver would issue a receipt which you could keep. In the smaller cities, they will always try and pull I'll take you there for X amount of rmb, or round the metered fare UP but NEVER down!!!

This fitting is not standard and usually the result of the driver being threatened with a knife to hand over the takings I have been told many times. Many taxis now have small digital cameras on top of the dashboard.

Have seen it before, and much like the grills over windows and iron reinforced prison style doors, it only made me realize the illusion of safety in China. I used to tell my students that in some parts of the UK people are able to leave their doors unlocked, and in other parts of the world. They began to see my point when I mentioned that the bars are needed to keep the bad people out, but they also are a hazard in case of fire. But thats what you get in a country where the populace are unarmed, in China they use knifes and cans of kerosene (petrol?) to vent their grievances, or swords in case of the Xinjiang muslims. People kill people, guns DON'T kill people.

There seems to be some confusion about visas.

Not on my part, as I have been through the visa ringer in China many times, and had pretty much every type of visa, but I still appreciate your input.

The visa, of whatever category, is really just for entry/exit and purpose of visit and is cancelled by a line drawn in pen across the visa when the residence permit is issued.

Agreed, have seen that before.

It is the residence permit that permits the stay, subject to time limits before renewal.

This is where I take a bit of disagreement. To GET the RP, you must have a job, so if you are married to a chinese woman and want to work you need the Z visa and subsequent RP. I remember hearing about the five year D visa but the pisser is you can't teach on it. A guy I know is on 1 year L visas, although I haven't spoken to him in a few years, and even he get told he would need to return home to get criminal check and apply from the UK, despite owning apartment and being married to Chinese wife.

We've debated all of this and Chinese wives at length before so I really don't want to go there again.

Fair enough and I will respect that. I still think it's wrong that unqualified foreigners with chinese wives get preferential treatment over single qualified foreigners however.

China does not offer retirement residence permits. It is not a country of immigration for foreign nationals. I'm sure you know this but I'll repeat it anyway, it is my status as a foreign spouse that permits my renewable residence.

And that will be their downfall imho, but they don't give a shit. No I didn't know THAT, but why should your status permit you have to something that others who are qualified and are able to bring to the table cannot, just because of their spousal status?

Anyway, thanks for answering, have a good week.