Guilty Until Proven Innocent

We came to China about two weeks ago, spending the first week in Beijing, presenting a paper on e-bikes at the TDIBP conference (www.jtzx.net.cn/tdibp/). That was interesting, seeing how Beijing has and has not changed in anticipation of the Olympics. A week later we came down to Kunming. One of the first things we did was searched for transportation for the family. Cabs are expensive and buses not convenient enough for those 1-2km trips that we take a lot (seeing friends in the neighborhood going to restaurants etc). Bicycles are ideal, but the kids make that a little tough. After a little search we found her, Bluey Louey is her name. Well, we bought this beauty from an expat family of 6 who was moving to Guangxi province and had driven it for 3 years incident free. Sadly for them, they couldn't take her with. A cool 1675 RMB and she was ours. Not exactly classified as a vehicle, no registration required, my chinese motorcycle/car drivers license would probably do, and with a top speed of about 20 mph, well what else could this thing need. Well, about three days after we bought her, I was heading off to my first day of work, when a cop pulled me over at the corner...now I've been pulled over in China before for no apparent reason (like riding with a headlight on in the daytime), and after producing a drivers license and playing a little stupid, I've always gotten a pass. Not this time. I produced my drivers license, but the cop wanted the original receipt to prove it was legitimately mine. Doh! I forgot to get the receipt from the sellers and now, in the cop's eyes, I was a thief with no way to prove I hadn't stolen this thing. Well, without that proof, I was had. The cop asked for the key and that was it. Bluey Louey was lined up for the impound yard with the three or four other bikes whose owners could not prove ownership. Well, I went the the cop-shop to line up with the other poor souls attempting to prove their innocence. I called the guy who sold me the bike and he explained to the cop that the receipt was on the slow train to Guangxi. In the end, I have to wait for the receipt to get mailed and buy insurance (surely the only three wheeler in China to have insurance). That should get her out of jail...maybe. I also have to convince them that I really don't need a three wheel motorcycle driver license, since I have a three wheel car license and a two-wheel motorcycle license...we'll see how that goes. Welcome to Kunming.