"I have a Bank of America account in the US and heard that wires to CCB are free. Is that still true?"

Wires are not free between the two banks, but as someone mentioned you won't be charged a fee when you use your Bank of America card at CCB atm or crs machine. However, I noticed it's dropped to 1000rmb per withdrawal now, but you can just keep requesting 1000rmb till you hit some other kind of limit.

CCB is almost everywhere in China, except very rural one road towns.

Thanks for all the info. Do you guys know which of these banks can do international transfers?

@tigertiger, what do you mean about exchanging dollars? Do you mean withdrawing in USD or depositing in USD?

Thanks,
Matt

BoC does international transfers, ICBC too. Not too sure about the rates (my last international transfer was in 2006 ^^).

My old BoC account (passbook + withdrawal card, very basic) could handle international transfer and exchanges between different currencies, which is quite helpful. I could withdraw from any ATM and also from Postal savings (due to some agreement between BoC and the Postal savings bank). Of course, the office has to be opened and you need the passbook and your passport. Don't know if this is still the case. In some BoC offices, you can also withdraw USD and EUR...

Being able to withdraw cash from the Postal savings offices can be useful if you plan on staying a very long time in remote villages, and if you travel expensively. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. You'll probably be in a city at least once a week, if only to change buses, and you can find an ATM there.

If you get free transfers to CCB from the US, it could be a good choice. Your card will allow you to withdraw from any ATM (check if there is a fee). Just make sure you get a Chinese bank account and a Chinese card. Maybe I was unlucky but the five ABC ATM I tried refused my international card (no problem at ICBC or BoC)...

ja, the non connection between provinces is odd

i had china bank account but could not withdraw from guangxi. now i am here in kunming but i dont have the leaflet and they cannot find my name, they need my old passport number

it seems a lie they dont keep names of their customers

From what I gather from the BoC Paris, most banks in China are provinced based. Each province has its own "branch". My BoC account (Beijing branch) cannot be managed from Kunming. I can withdraw money with the passbook (my card expired long ago) without fee and it is easy to transfer my account, but if I want to renew my card, I have to inquire at the Beijing branch... They also cannot find my account using my name, not sure about passeport number...

@splenkus
sorry for delay in reply.
I meant change USD to CNY and change CNY to USD.

Ref Passport Number.
They need this. They have no way of telling if Tom Smith passport no. 1234567 is the same person as Tom Smith passport no. 24681012. That is why you need to keep old passports.

I don't think that the banks keep records of their customers with names only. I think even Chinese accounts are linked to name and national ID number. The latter being the key document.

it seems bank keepers have a right to lie and steal urmoney

Yes Gompo, I think the Banks in Europe and America have already proved your point.

I also think it is good that banks do not give people access to funds unless they can show, to the bank's satisfaction, that they are who they say they are.
I really don't have a philosophical or procedural problem with the bank asking for the same documentation I used to open the account. Especially as the alternative would leave me open to the risk of identity theft.