If you spend some two thousand yuan, or nearly 300 US dollars, you can get an international driver's license in Shanghai, but it can be only a useless piece of paper.
The license has been widely popular among those who are eager to go abroad, and thousands of people in the city have applied for it.
However, recently it has been found out that the organizations issuing the license are illegal, and the licenses are invalid.
An international driver's license is actually an official translation of a domestic one. It must be used together with the original.
The license is effective only in member countries of the UN Convention on Road Traffic.
China is not a member, so theoretically, all the licenses issued by any Chinese organizations will not be recognized, although some people do use them abroad.
(People's Daily November 26, 2002)
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