I am currently in Kunming on a visitor visa. I will be here a few days and I will be staying with a friend.

Anyway, when I entered Kunming, I had to fill out a arrival and departure card. The immigration officer left the departure card in my passport. Anyway, today I look at the back side of the card and it says something about if you are not staying in a hotel or guesthouse, you need to register where you are staying with the local police office.

I'm not trying to do anything illegal, but if I will only be here a few days, do I really need to register? Does anyone know if they are enforcing it?

depends if you have nosey neighbors

Assuming you are a foreigner and entered on a tourist visa, yes you do need to register with the local PSB.

Do it, just in case they want to make further checks when you exit. If it's been more than 24hrs, just be honest and tell them that you just saw the note (even though you should have gotten informed before your trip).

I'm 99.9% sure you won't get into any trouble registering now, because I registered more than 4 months late and didn't get into trouble. Police are not as lax as they used to be but registering a couple days late should not be a problem.

meh they are laxed about it. a few times i didnt register my new visa until the day i had to renew. never got introuble.

So what happens if they find out you didn't register?

In 2002, the university I was teaching at failed to register some teachers. The police found me in my room and told me I was going to be deported. In 24 hours the school solved the problem.

In 2003, the young guy responsible for doing the registration "forgot." I had to sign a confession and in writing promise never to fail to register again.

Visas, residence registration and all the legal stuff is your responsibility. If the school doesn't do it, you pay the consequences.

Registering your domicile is easy and painless. Do it yourself. You can resister late and nothing is said. If they come looking for you, the penalty will depend on the mood of the PSB.

I'm not at a school or studying. I'm just visiting for a few days.

I know this might be a tad hard to get your head around but the law applies to foreigners.

Foreigners must register.

The registration is intended to control foreigners.

What visa you have is not important.

I'd bet that telling the PSB, "I am just a visiting foreigner and will leave in a few days," could get you administrative detention while they figure out how punish or make an example of an arrogant scofflaw foreigner.