Bringing Money With You

If you are bringing money with you, there are several options, but note that if you bring US$5000 or more with you, you are required to declare this on your customs card when you arrive.

The first option is American Express travelers’ cheques. These need to be converted into RMB (Chinese currency) after you arrive, which is easy to do if you are in a big city, but if you are in a small city you should try to find the biggest Bank of China branch in the city. Not all banks can cash travelers’ cheques, since in a small city they employees may not speak any English and don’t know the procedure for cashing the cheques into RMB.

If you want to bring cash with you, this is of course the most unsafe method, but also the most convenient. Although you can convert many currencies at most large Bank of China branches, USD is the most widely-accepted foreign currency in China, so that is the most safe bet.

Another way of brining money with you is in the form of a cheque, whether it is a personal cheque or an official bank draft, it is treated the same, and this method is NOT recommended. If you try to deposit a foreign cheque into your Chinese bank account, it will take 50-60 days to process.