Police officer friend of mine in Beihai said we did not need to register to keep track of us. Said main two reasons was people would sometimes complain of foreigners living in their building and police could say yes we know so what, and 2. In an emergency they wanted to be able to especially take care of foreigners. Make sure we were safe and provided for.

Generally the local police are really nice just trying to do their jobs.Knowing who lives where. A few people have been fined for violations. There are other authorities, PSB, Public Security Bureau who have more responsibility and Chinese law to strictly follow in regulating foreigners and foreign residents. As a run up to the international expo, June 12 to 16, you will see already, more security personal and perhaps more enforcement.

PSB always gives me reminders when passports in the family are coming up on expiring. Helps me avoid penalties (usually).

10 year visas and no penalties for not reporting for a year. What else..

Maybe free beer parties and maybe some jolly officer dressed as Santa Claus handing out residence permits from a sack.

Theres this saying trying to "grab facts in Asia" is like grabbing fine sand while is pouring out between the fingers.

Whats the policy behind this, are the statistics saying laowais are leaving or what.

@Peter: Sounds like a saying of people who are not from Asia. Yeah, I guess I've felt that way.

Orwell came up with the most accurate while serving in Burma:

"Theres always a plot behind a plot".

I've never been to Burma.