By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Is it possible to just use a fake ID number when buying train tickets?
When you buy them online, do they run your name through a database to make sure the ID number you submitted matches your name? OR is it just one of those waste-of-time procedures that make no sense whatsoever?
11 years 25 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
The ID number gives a lot of information about a person including sex, home town, age, etc... If the ID number doesn't pass the decoding process, then it could cause you problems.
If you are interested in learning the sequence, there are smart phone apps that will let you decode and encode ID numbers. Just for fun, of course.
Question... Why do you need to travel secretly? Do you think your train travels are being monitored for some reason? And no, the system they have in place now scans the ID's bar code so it would be impossible to buy a ticket with a phony card, although you might be able to board the train with a phony card.
denny18:
I was mainly referring to online ticket purchases. Maybe you're at someone's house and suddenly decide to buy a train ticket but you don't have your ID on you. In such an instance, my first thought would be to just input some made up ID number because in all my travel experience in China, no-one at the train station has ever asked to see my passport in order to verify it with the number on the ticket.
debbie.luo:
denny18:
What about asking your friend if you could borrow his ID or passport to buy a ticket?
You said they usually don't check if the the same person bought the ticket, so borrowing your friends' ID/passport seems easier then coming up with a fake ID/passport no.
What apps are you referring to John? IPhone apps? Got the app names handy - just for fun - of course? Do they have similar apps for passport nos.?
Xpat.John:
I used to have one on my iPhone about 3 years ago. But I just checked the Google & Apple app stores and they don't seem to be there anymore. They might be available on the Chinese version of the app stores, but I don't have access to those here.
Why would anyone want to travel with a phoney ID on a train? Firstly, the posters above are 100% correct. The system is very, very interrelated. We had a first-hand experience in the school where I work.
We had a new teacher who before joining our school travelled all over the country, looking for work. He spent two weeks at a friend's apartment in Wuhan and did not do the temporary registration. When he arrived in our city, and when he was doing his papers for his resident permit, the PSB said to him "why didn't you register with the PSB when you were in Wuhan?" And he said that he hadn't been in Wuhan and what a problem that made! Eventually they told the FAO that because of the train ticket and the registration on the train ticket, which is now interconnected to the PSB, they knew for a fact that he had been in Wuhan.
