Hi I'm getting ready to go out to china in two weeks. I'm not sure what to do about money. I'll get paid into a chinese account but I don't know if they have cards to use in shops and ATM machines or internet purchases. Also, I have some savings but am not sure if I should transfer to chinese account or leave in uk account but have to pay charges each time I make a withdrawal. Anyone got any tips, suggestions?

Oh don't suggest I just transfer it all to your account :-)

Hi Robert,

Cashless payment options depends very much on which city you are going to in China. I don't see difficulty in using cards if you are going to be based in big citites like Beijing or Shanghai.

I am currently in Fuzhou, Fujian province in China. Every big supermarkets here for e.g. Walmart do accept cards payment, though most systems here supports China UnionPay rather than VISA or Masters. If you are spending directly from your China bank account, there are tonnes of ATMs you can have access to, as all China banks' ATMs are linked via the UnionPay network. Crossed-bank ATM withdrawal does incur a fee though.

Transferring of funds between countries are more tricky as you need to consider the exchange rate risk.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Leroy