@sweninchina
Have you considered renting? If you're sleeping out in the "country" - you can just tell the (probably never happen) cops you were tired and needed to take a nap.

I actually did this once (only once) in the USA - dead tired from a long-haul drive - parked in a MacDonalds' parking lot - damned cop told me I had to move along anyway - totally unsafe, but never argue with the burly guy with the gun.

I camped wild all over Europe but that was 25-35 years ago. Only a few times had a problem like when I camped on an empty spot near the forest. Next morning at daybreak are confronted by a mob of angry hunters who instead of finding a nice herd of deer at the spot, saw a small car and tent popping up from the mist at the place they had been feeding the deer for a week. Then I found out that my command of Check was not good enough to argue with pissed off guys with hunting rifles.
Did the "car broke down" act myself as well. Didn't have to pretend because it actually usually did break down and I was covered in motor oil anyway.

Here in China it might be an other thing. Tramping around is simply not expected from foreigners and you will be looked at with unusual suspicion. I would definably stay away from the border area and any military grounds. Having a mattress at the back of the van would make things suspicious as well.
You probably will get away with it but if you happen to get found at the wrong spot you can be asked to list all the places (Hotels) where you stayed before and there should be records of them and then it shows up empty because you don't have any.

Car registration in China requires an address. They will have to send the fines somewhere ;-)
The good thing is that with an out of province licence plate you don't get fines because there is simply no system for that in China and that is why you see drivers with out of province plates always misbehaving.
This address has to be real and proven thus requires your official address in China. You can thus not just register a car anywhere.

I surprised #TigerTiger recommends a private arrangement. The ownership of a car in China contains enormous risks. Not only does the owner get all the fines he can lose his driving licence because of the points system here. Getting a new driving license requires you to attend 5 days of watching video's about car accidents and passing the test again so is really disruptive. The other big risk is that the insurance (Third party liability) does cover only a small sum and is often not enough to pay all the cost. Therefore NEVER, NEVER!!! borrow your car out to anyone.

Contrary to stated above the Jinbei is hardly used outside Kunming. There are Changan and Wuling service stations all over the place. The theft problem with a Changan or Wuling are minimal because the parts are so cheap and there are plenty of third party suppliers for the parts as well. They main problem with theft for parts is connected to expensive imported cars because the parts for these are very expensive. (Recent story in the news is a lady suing her compound management because the mirrors were stolen from her car while parked at the building. She claims 20,000 RMB for a replacement set.)

Every time you add or remove seats the car has to be reregistered. So when you buy a new car you can take the seats out before registration.

I bow to those who have provided all the above info and am not competent to provide more. However, foreign travelers do get away with things in China, such as riding a motorcycle from Shanghai to Kunming without registration or licence, and without being able to speak Chinese ( a feat accomplished some time ago by a well-known local foreign guitarist).
So in other words, it would be a gamble, but I don't know the odds.

They do have camper-vans in China. Although very limited.

Borrowing someone elses van is normal and easy. You need to carry your licence, the vehicle's id (photo id for the veh), and the vehicles insurance certificate (it is the vehicle that is insured in China) when driving any vehicle. These are all the docs you need.

I really don't see that removing a seat is an issue. Some cars/vans have removable seats. But you must put them back for annual inspection. A couple of us have been caught with a roof rack that needed to be removed for annual inspections.
I have leant and borrowed vehicles in China. And I know others who have borrowed. Just be careful who you lend them to.

Indeed a lot of information but remember that things are changing.
I have a van and at the last annual inspection was confronted with a much more strict approach. They are now inspecting the van and registering if it is in accordance with the registration. Stricter laws came in affect in August 2012. Vans from after that date need three point seat belts on all seats apart from the middle ones (Middle as left to right and not front to back). It was not a normal inspection but a, what they called, corruption proof system. Pictures are made of all the seats and not the inspector but an automated process will judge if the van is in accordance with the rules. These pictures are kept on file and can be used in any later possible court case after an accident. If at the time of the accident the van is not in accordance with the pictures you are in problems.
This whole system was put in place when it was realised that these vans are often involved in accidents with numeral wounded and killed. The other thing added is a phone number on both sides of the van which is the reporting contact anybody can call when they notice more people in the van than the number stated on the side of the van.
To me removing seats from a van is no problem as well but I agree that no more people should be in any vehicle then there are seats and that this should be enforced. But this is China and things work differently.
Some weeks ago vans coming from the 2nd ring road were all inspected on seat numbers and because they were trapped on the second ring road there was no escape.

I think the trigger for this was a number of vans being used as illegal school buses and being severely overloaded, and a number of high profile fatalities a few years back. I think there was a crash when 11 kids were killed, in a 7 seat van. There were other fatal similar crashes too.
There was another case where a 9 seat (i think) van had its seats taken out and three rows (front to rear) of narrow wooden benches put in and the van had over 60 kindergarten kids in it.

There is something else about the registration of vans that is not clear to me.
I have seen new vans with and without the number of people (ren) allowed. I also saw an SUV type soccer mom's minivan with the stencilled marking on it.

These were not commercial vehicles (yellow vehicle plate), I am not sure what the rule is. Perhaps if the vehicle is registered to a company and not a domestic address. Dunno, anyone know?

Just today made another trip to the vehicle management station. This because you only can get your "passed" papers after paying your fines. (In Kunming it is nearly impossible not to get a fine). You used to be able to pay on the spot but this is no longer the case. Anyway now we have to get a third time in order to get our papers back. This because the original registration of all vans are taken in and are replaced with a new one which actually states that it is a mianbaoshi and no longer a passenger vehicle as before.
I wander where all this is going to; next is that mianbaoshi will be banned from certain roads or entering the city centre ???
The visit gave a nice insight into Chinese thinking. All mianbaoshi drivers now have to sign a paper that states that they should not break the rules. That is: no speeding, no overtaking at the wrong place etc. This signed document has to be stamped by your local police station and should be carried at all time.
Just made me wander; are all other drivers allowed to break all the rules because they don't have to sign and carry this statement? If I kill a person, can I say "Well I never signed that I would not do it so what's the problem?".

ha! 50 people in a van video in guiyang www.theguardian.com/[...]

# Dazzer
Well that settles it; the bigger van is clearly better if you can fits 50 people. Shows as well how strong these things are, if everyone is 50 Kg then it is 2.5 tons. A Wuling will never carry that.
When you watch the video notice that they are all wearing hard hats so safety first ;-)