I have also heard that these rules are only temporary (although possibly of a long term nature) but that doesn't mean they can't change overnight. Still, don't hold your breath on this one, what I heard was simply a rumor.

While you can try any of these options suggested, it's interesting that internet cafes in touristy parts of SE Asia generally generate more revenue from tourists (and expats) than from locals; this is not hard to see once you realize how many of the patrons are foreigners compared to locals. I would imagine that in Shanghai (and maybe a few other places like Yangshuo, Guilin and Guangzhou/Beijing), which have significant numbers of foreigners in the form of tourists/expats etc. would have more lenient rules and/or different rules, but again I can't confirm this.

Since I'm a private person anyway and I already own a laptop, I wouldn't dream of ever using a Chinese internet cafe anyway, even if it was trouble free. The reasons being 1) the connections are incredibly slow 2) it may be difficult to override blocked sites and everything you do is being monitored, so if you try to download freegate etc. assuming they don't already have it installed they may kick you out 3) they're often loud, noisy, smelly (from sweaty armpits and/or cigarette smoke etc.) given that they're often full of kids and university students, many of whom spend the better part of the day in these places and 4) as mentioned even if my fellow internet patrons can't understand English, I still feel incredibly uncomfortable sitting next to a stranger that could potentially eavesdrop on what I'm doing, which is not something you want when you are using internet banking or writing private emails to work colleagues, friends or family.

Also, my place has relatively fast internet and I can access VPNs, freegate etc. to view blocked websites without prying eyes and at the same time have access to all the comforts and convenience of home, without having to encounter all the negatives mentioned. A comfortable alternative to using the internet at home would be at the expat/tourist cafes as previously mentioned (using your own laptop).

The last time I stooped to using a net cafe I decided i would just do without the net. They are set up for kids to play games and stream Jpop style music videos. I could not open anything including my Yahoo mail account. And I was declined service even though I was with my Chinese wife on a couple of occasions. That is ot as bad as the ten hotel and hostel rooms I have been rejected at because they "cannot take foreigners" but it shows that the bottom line is Chinese is for China. A country that is the number 2 economy in the world but lacks an immigration policy. Xenophobia to the max.

@BilldDan. You are 100% correct. While I have never personally been rejected from any hotel in China, I was with an American friend and his Burmese girlfriend (a student also studying Chinese, both have since left China) and although both of my friend's Chinese is significantly better than mine, they were initially not able to understand the reasons for why they were rejected to stay at a hotel not far from downtown Kunming, in a small street not far from the Camel Bar. My understanding after this rejection was that because it was very late at night, they were unwilling to go to the police station to register these guests, maybe because they were lazy or were unwilling to go through these (for them) unfamiliar procedures. This is inspite of the fact that guests don't need to be registered when checking-in but within 24 hours of arrival (in city areas) therefore, they could have taken a photocopy of their passports and taken them to the police station in the morning.

However, I do find that the cheaper hotels generally reject foreigners and not the better ones. Can you enlighten me more on your situation? Were you rejected from cheap hotels?

Although I am not expecting China to be anything like America (for obvious reasons) since China is not multicultural in any sense of the word...sorry, but the presense of 56 ethnic groups does not make China multicultural, they are essentially forced to adopt the dominant Han culture anyways. A society is multicultural if it looks something like Australia, the USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia or many of the Gulf States including the UAE and perhaps you could even make the argument that India is multicultural (many languages spoken and different ethnic groups in different parts of the country etc.), but none of this is apparent in China.

It is hard enough getting around in China with the little English available in any form and there are already so few foreigners in most parts of the country, yet why do we still hear statements from mostly elderly people like ...waiguoren...something, something when they pass us? These people couldn't have seen more than 10 westerners in their entire lives; we're certainly not ruining anything for them and secondly, we don't try to push out Chinese people from the west anymore...so there is absolutely no reason for this apparent resentment of foreigners in China on the part of some people.

Also, I feel that there may be a lot of resentment in the future as China goes into other countries (such as Laos) and tries to take over these countries economically, by importing all Chinese labor, etc. not giving the locals any chances. Sorry, but the world needs to be fair and while this behavior is certainly not reflective of Chinese people as a whole, those that do practice it need to be aware that firstly, racism is unacceptable and secondly, we certainly won't open our doors to you if you treat us like crap when we go to your country.

Nuff said.

I usually go to a Internet Cafe very close to Think UK, no problems there.

Yuanyangren Yes you are right,I have suffered this situations many times in many places in China .The regulations requires that you stay in a standard hotel like two or three stars and above .not about registrations issues its all about money !You are foreigners you pay more. I even offered to register in the nearest police station by my self but rejected they by them self tell small hotels don't accept foreigners.

For hotel rejections - note the name, date, time of the rejection - take the hotel's card - and casually mention (if able) you'll be reporting the hotel to the police and the Kunming Tourism GOVERNMENT agency - in addition to the Kunming Hotel Licensing Bureau (yes -there's a bureau for licensing local hotels).

Next thing is to find all those agencies and do the paperwork filling out the complaint forms along with copies of your passports - feel free to cast suspicions that the hotel is a sex hotel and you think you saw drugs being sold in front of the lobby...since we're all lying - let's play fair...

@laotou
Good one!

Hmm...some good suggestions there. BTW things may be improving for the better as I'll point out here...first time I came to Kunming in 2009 I stayed at a hotel on Longquan road (rather ordinary, but acceptable), which is part of the "Yunnan Education Center" and at the time foreigners could only stay there if a Chinese ID card was used at check-in (I was able to stay since a Chinese colleague used her ID to check me and my dad in). Fast forward to 2011 and they can now officially register foreigners to stay there, and several family members of mine have stayed there in the recent past.

The tragic part is that there's absolutely nothing happening in these dives that anybody cares about. They're full of 19 year old virgins spunking their time, lives, and possibly other things up the wall. It's a microcosm of China in general come to think of it. I'd wager a bet that if your average Chinese citizen had the same freedom of information as the rest of us, they'd be just as apathetic as the rest of us. There'd just be more assholes boring each other in bars preaching about what's right and wrong and how the world should be run and then... doing nothing.

I had no problem at the wangba in the beichen walking street (near samoan IIRC). I think I showed my passport and they wrote it down, but it was a while ago so I'm not sure.