Anyone out there know of any streamlined and legal ways to transfer money from Kunming to an international bank account? I need to get money into my US account somehow. Cheers

Some Chinese banks have partnerships with American banks...Like Bank of america and Construction bank of china.. they can do transfers. if its under 10 grand US...you can just send western union to a family member or a friend and have them deposit in your account for a small fee.

I normally send it Western Union. This is a bit of a pain because you have to change your RMB to whichever denomination you need. You can send it to family or friends who then deposit it in your account. The fees are quite cheap, $10 US for under $1000 and $20 US for above that amount. Not the most streamlined process, but it works.

Don't trust Western Union, plus their exchange rates can be *cough* ridiculous. $10 for transfer is just a faux fee compared to what it really costs you. Try going via one of the partnership banks as mentioned above. Or try getting an international Visa card account which allows you to put money on your card anywhere as long as your bank account is linked to your Visa card. Not sure if it works in China though.

If you have your income tax receipts then you can go to a larger branch of where your RMB is and send the money out with the receipts and a copy of your labor contract plus passport. Money is normally in your overseas account the same day.

Basically if you have a tax receipt ie for income tax or sale of your apartment then getting money out is easy.

The way i do it.....go to my local BOC or China Merchants, or any other of the main banks with a good local friend. Put the money in their account. Then have them transfer the money (in USD) to my nominated account which can accept USD, which happens to be in New Zealand. I have only ever needed to provide standard bank account details, plus of course name, country and SAFE code of receiving bank. Ive had the money show up in my NZ bank account in less than 24 hours. From memory a Chinese national can transfer up to USD$50k in a calendar year without having to provide any proof of source.
Obviously, if you need to xfer more than $50k at one time then find more friends, and make them aware that it affects their ability to send more money overseas during the same year.

Things have cum a long way in the last ten years thats for sure

If you are going back to the USA in person, you can use your CCB atm card at any Bank of America ATM for free, less the 1% CCB charge for being out of area. The fx rate is an interbank rate, so very good.

Downside is you have a daily withdrawal limit and possibly other limits. Also, you end up withdrawing lots of cash (security risk) and depositing lots of cash into a US account (might raise IRS flags). I didn't ask, but I would think the limit is somewhere between 500 and 1000usd per day.

Do most Chinese banks offer online banking? If so can you send money to a Canadian/overseas account some how? I'm guessing probably not or someone would have suggested that. Just trying to figure that out for when I move...

If you need to transfer on an ongoing basis, I have worked for universities who offer the option of paying a percentage of your pay into an overseas bank account. Perhaps private sector employers can also do this.

PAYPAL! Paypal is the business. It's free. No charge to transfer straight into any account in the US(and i believe other countries' banks). Just make an account and link it to your chinese bank account. Send a couple bucks first if you don't believe me. I use it to send money to my pops for those damned college loans that I'll never finish paying... ever.