No longer live there, but did for a couple of years - e-bikes there are dirt cheap, require no tax, no insurance and no licence and in Beijing at least, there i

No longer live there, but did for a couple of years - e-bikes there are dirt cheap, require no tax, no insurance and no licence and in Beijing at least, there is pretty decent cycling infrastructure that the e-bikes share. Car ownership is comparatively expensive and most foreign cars have (I think) a 50% tax markup on purchasing them, there is also (at least in Beijing, and I believe Shanghai) a lottery system for getting a license plate on your car. E-Bikes are basically the new bicycle, and are treated as such. However, I think they are starting to clamp down on them and treat them more like motorbikes, but the enforcement is still very lax (rumoured because it will enrage the residents of the cities who can't afford a car) When I was there, I owned one that cost around $300USD, took six lead acid batteries (could upgrade it to lithium-ion) had about a 100km range and an alleged top speed of 60km/h. Disk brakes, remote ignition and alarm. It wasn't super fast, but fast enough to cause trouble (as it's silent) and would certainly outperform 50-60cc mopeds/scooters. I can't comment on the villages, but I'd expect you would find less of them there, as the rules on vehicle ownership in generally are likely to be more lax as well. It's also absolutely not restricted to the CBDs, in the more suburban areas of the cities there are still plenty of them!