Originally Posted by
threeoh
Unless something has changed recently, you do not need the homeowner to go with you -- I stayed in an Airbnb and just needed to get a piece of paper from my host (I believe it was a photocopy of her ID and a photocopy of her registration at that address) and then went to register at the police station by myself. I did this in Shanghai and it took about 15-20 minutes. They also needed a photocopy of my passport ID page and visa page, and proof that I had arrived in Shanghai within the past 24 hours (I showed them a train itinerary on ctrip on my phone, but cancelled tickets would be a safer bet).
I was expecting to have to do it in Chinese but the officer assigned to the registration window spoke very good English and the form was bilingual -- YMMV outside of major cities of course. Overall the process was easier than I was expecting.
We have registered in Shanghai with nothing but our passports. It doesn't appear there was any English it's possible there was an English speaker about that there simply was no reason to locate (my wife is China-born and speaks/reads/writes at native level.) Passports of course have arrival stamps, it seems they were looked at.
One thing I'd like more clarity about is if there is any registration requirement on overnight trains.
How would one register? And trains aren't urban which would mean 72 hours--and what train goes 72 hours without leaving China? Since your tickets are linked to your passport they would know you were on the train.