I think they made the changes. I once had such an "over the counter" sim card but later changed to a monthly contract with my passport. But I remember seeing on the expat magazines "last chance to keep your SIM card active". At one point you had to provide ID or they just turned off the service.
Correct. I signed up with China Unicom last week, was required to use my passport, and was only allowed a single SIM card. Anonymity is nearly impossible.
