Currency restrictions (import)

[Momind]

I am having trouble pinning down the amount of CNY allowed to import into China. Some places say 6000 and some say 20000. Can anyone help?

[flameproof]

RMB20,000 and/or US$5000 or its value in other currencies.

Link was posted before and I am too lazy to search it,

[hidden12345]

Bring IN to China, or take out of? Why would the Chinese govt. put restrictions on how much you can bring in? They always seemed to have a 多多益善 domestic economic policy.

[roddy]

There's no limit on how much you can bring in - but anything over a certain amount (see here) should be declared - ie you go through the red channel and say 'Hi, I've got a chunk of cash'. The chances of getting picked up if you don't declare are slim, and I suspect if you do they'll just ask you what you're planning to do with it and let you carry on.

[Momind]

Thanks

I'm attending BNU for a summer session and my instructions say I need cash to pay the dorm on arrival, so I was hoping to be able to bring in enough to pay that.

[peekay]

Unless you have a big pile of CNYs already, just bring your home currency (or USD/GBP/EUR) to China and exchange it to CNY once you arrive. That way you can use a safer instrument (such as Traveler's Cheques) instead of carrying a lot of cash. Or, withdraw money with your ATM card in Beijing (but mind the daily limits & possibly high ATM fees.)

[flameproof]

say I need cash to pay the dorm on arrival

Just to make it a bit clearer. You can bring in to China without declaring RMB20,000 and/or US$5,000 (or that value in other currencies).

If you want to bring in more just declare it! It's perfectly legal to bring in more - as long as you declare! When you declare, you might be ask for a reason. That reason can be, i.e. cash to pay the dorm on arrival, or hotel, or travel,

BTW, I would not bring in any Traveler Cheques, they might be difficult to exchange.

ATM cards are good. However, ATMs in China often have no cash. You also need to check the fees of your local bank, they can be stiff, and you will know that only weeks later.

[peekay]

It's easy to exchange travelers cheques, at least here in Beijing. Pretty much all exchange desks take travelers cheques as well as cash. You can find exchange desks at the airport, larger (foreign-oriented) hotels, larger bank branches, etc.

Remember we just had 450,000 Olympic tourists here last year and a significant portion of them probably brought travelers cheques.

[roddy]

However, ATMs in China often have no cash.

Are you sure you haven't been trying to get money out of a public telephone or something. Even on the rare occasion one's out of cash, there's likely to be another one over the road. If you're heading into the sticks it's maybe a concern, but surely not in anything worthy of being called a city.

I suspect if you do some searching you'll find that dorms can be paid for in installments.

[liuzhou]

I've never had a problem exchanging travellers' cheques - even in small cities.

[flameproof]

My no-cash ATM experiences account for about 70%. That is in Shenzhen and Dongguan area. I usually try ICBC only, sometimes CMB. Recently in Shanghai I went into one 24h ICBC (unmanned) branch - none of the 5 Machines had cash. Another bank then had ATMs with cash.

dorms can be paid for in installments.

Does custom knows that? If not then it's a good reason to bring in more cash then the RMB20,000 limit.