I had a short vacation in a small city in Hubei last week. At the long distance bus station, I was approached by a Chinese man. He offered to take me to a hotel that charges 50 rmb a night. I went there with him. I was surprised when I was taken to my room without registering. It was a black hotel. There were also Chinese people staying there.

After my short stay I returned to my school. I was chatting with my fellow foreign teacher this morning. He has taught for some years in China. He said that there are two kinds of hotel that I should avoid because there could be a police raid when I was there. The black hotels have no licences. There are also hotels that can only accept Chinese guests. They aren't black hotels, but they are not supposed to accept foreigners. They don't register you either. If a hotel doesn't register you, you shouldn't stay there.