<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">For one, when you check into a hotel the front desk will undoubtedly ask for your passport.</font>
Why would an ordinary front desk clerk at a hotel check if you had the correct visa? Do they actually do that per their country's regulations? Never paid much attention if the clerk actually did that on my limited international travels. I know they need info from your passport such as nationality, passport #, & etc.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">China is not the place for rule bending of this kind - just to save a few bucks. You could end up in a whole lot more hot soup.</font>
Yeah, I personally wouldn't take that chance myself just to save $40 or so. Being of Chinese descent, they just might treat me as an American traitor dog and give me an extra bullet to the back of my head.
But there are always cheapskates who would bend the rules to save some money.