Best currency for trip to china.

borichnuke said:
American dollars are near worthless, they prefer british pounds for exchange rate, but take chinese currency or credit cards :)

Borich
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How are they worthless? They are one of the only currencies accepted by any tourist destination anywhere. I didn't have enough RNB in china to buy some souvenirs and the shop owner was quite happy to accept US dollars. He actually suggested it, and gave me an exchange rate consistent with the hotel I was staying at.

The new 20 pound note on the other hand, which my friend had, was refused by most banks. A slight tear in the old one which would be no problem here was refused by multiple exchange places as well. I on the other hand did not have a single problem with dollars.
 
my girlfriend in china was not happy when i sent her us dollars for some goods, they loose a lot more on the exchange rate than sterling. companies there atm seem to be preferring uk, over us.

Borich
 
Go out and get a nationwide debit card.

Take a few hundered pounds cash with you jsut in case. I spent 4 weeks in China on this system.
 
scorza said:
I'm told that there's one particular RMB bank note that is basically worthless, and that shops/restaurants etc always try and fob theirs off onto foreigners and then won't accept it themselves. Unfortunately I don't know which one it is - anyone know?
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I lived there for a year and never experienced such. They also have coins that, if transferred to GBP would be absolutely worthless but, still, I never had a problem using them at any point.

Actually, it was sometimes a problem to spend their highest valued note of 100RMB at the smaller street-side shops who don't have change early in the day and it was always met with an annoyed 'sigh' from a cab driver, for a low fare. So I always tried to make sure I had at least a 50 with me for the cab.

As for taking foreign currencies over there, you can, but I don't see much point in doing so. You can use Hong Kong Dollars in some shops in the south of China (where I lived) but a lot of places simply refused to accept them from my experience. The supermarket chain 'Ren Ren Le' will happily accept them, and even sometimes the McDonalds would be happy to take them.

If you go to Macau though (who have their own currency too), it wasn't a problem using HKD or RMB.

One thing I would advise you tell your mother, is not to allow anyone to take advantage of her money and tell her to bargain like crazy as they really do raise the prices for foreigners. Speaking a little Chinese can help in these cases, as they think you may simply 'know the score' and give up a lot more easily.

Always make sure the cab driver starts the meter before he takes off, or he'll try to rip you off, and if she's not going to Beijing or Shanghai, don't expect the drivers to know any English.

And never assume he'll accept HKD. Ask first. Most won't, but they'll give you change in HKD but you can refuse it and ask for RMB. If he says he hasn't got RMB, tell him to go get some.
 
Surely the whole point of converting money over there rather than over here is because you would be able to get a better exchange rate over there, as all banks in all countries like buying foreign currency more than they like selling it! This being the case, whyever would you want to take USD with you? Converting your money to USD over here and then to RMB over there will just make you lose on the exchange rate not once but TWICE! Since people on here have reported their GBP being accepted happily enough by Chinese banks, just take that! (Always good to take a couple of hundred £ worth in RMB though in case you need money before you get a chance to go to the bank)

frosty03 said:
will that be 7.62 or 5.56?... Or do they have their own versions?
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Eh? Those sound like rifle calibers!:confused:Please tell me you have the wrong thread!
 
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