Originally Posted by jiejie

Second paragraph: Correct, sort of. Normally, people on residence permits do not have to re-register with the PSB upon return from outside China, as long as nothing else (passport, residence, etc.) has changed. However, certain subdistricts do insist on re-registering, even for those on RP's. Again, mostly I've heard of this happening in Haidian Qu. When tried in most areas of Chaoyang, the police just look at you and your RP like you're nuts and say "go away." Only for those L's and F's are they willing to do the paperwork shuffle for each re-entry. Much of Haidian is different though.