Job Discussion Forums

[pauldowa]

Susie,

Can foriegners drive in China? Will China issue a "drivers license" to a foreigner? Is their a driving test involved etc.. similar to what I am accustomed to in the US?

Do you know, will China verify with the US if I am eligible to drive?

Thanks for the information, in particular for the Lok Mau info.

[Roger]

Hello, Paul,

I am a it late in this thread, so there already has been some confusion building up here. I crossed the Hong Kong-Mainland border hundreds of times, so I think I can give you a little help.
Ludwig's reply was well-intentioned but not factually relevant: the trains only run uuntil midnight - or shortly before. They start again at 6:30 or so in the morning. This is a major improvement over the previous situation when HK was locked like a prison cell for the entire night after 11 p.m.
As for the Lok Ma CHau-Huanggang border, it is true it's open 24 hours a day. That too is new - was begun back in February of this year.
This border point is some ten kilometers to the west of Lowu/Luohu. It's in a rural setting (on the HK side, but not on the Shenzhen side). Transport there is by public buses via YUANLONG (for instance, the No. 68X from Kowloon, Jordan Bus depot); from Yuanlong you continue by bus 277 to the SAN TIN Exchange, which is a huge roundabout with a bus station; from there you take a shuttle bus across the border, though you have to pass through two separate immigration halls.
At night, bus No. 277 doesn't run, but I hear some public light buses (16-seaters) connect Santin to urban parts of Hong Kong. Still, it's a logistical challenge. Most people rely one way or the other on some taxi.

On the SHENZHEN side, there are some night buses. On the whole, though, transportation within Shenzhen is less well dev. Taxi drivers are rude and unreliable, in general! If your school is in Luohu or Futian district, then you can afford a taxi ride; otherwise you are taking a gamble.
There are two more land border crossings - one in downtown Shenzhen, called WENJINDU, or Man Kam To in Cantonese (Hong Kong side), and another one in the small townm of SHATOUJIA in the east.
There is no bus going through these border checkpoints (any more). Last time I travelled across these entry points was way back in 1998.
The problem is that there is a two-km restricted zone on the HK side of the border; it's a barbed wire following the south bank of a river. You can't enter this area on foot, and the few buses that enter this area on designated routes have to stop at checkpoints where any chance visitor not issued with a special permit will be hauled off the bus (happened to me once).

Anyway, a round trip to HK will take about 3 to 4 hours, including the border procedures and the 39 minute train rides to Kowloon.

[Roger]

Car driving:
Paul, I recommend you not pursue this avenue! It's way too risky! Legally, yes, you can drive a car, though especially around Shenzhen you must beware of restricted zones along the border that are marked only in Chinese (I once spent a whole night at a PLA barracks, a prisoner waiting to be interrogated by the PSB for straying into restricted military-use land...).
Besides, in HK they drive on the left-hand side, in Shenzhen it's on the right hand side... You would also need two number plates, and have to pay accordingly. I have never seen a mainland-registered car in Hong Kong, though I do see Hong Kong number p in Guangdong; however, the acquisition of number plates was highly controlled, and expensive, not to mention the arbitrariness in granting them.
Driving on the mainland is quite dangerous.