I believe officially it is the same both ways as regards carrying cash, but there's no reason you can't carry in as much traveler's cheques, credit/debit cards, etc. depends on your situation and how long you plan on staying. Personally if I need to bring in funds from outside, I just organise a transfer of funds from my bank account in Australia to my account with Bank of China via internet, this offers the best legal strategy as far as getting the most renmimbi for your dollar. On one occasion I transfered a very large sum just prior to buying 2 properties here in China and I had to show a copy of my last tax return as proof that the funds had been earned legitimately, but any thing under say $50,000.00 should be o.k. Keep in mind that the renmimbi isn't a fully convertible currency, so you don't want to be ending up with large amounts of the currency when it's time to leave. I hope this helps.

The total amount of currencies each person permitted to take out should not exceed RMB 6000 Yuan.

I have enrolled my 4 year old son in an inline roller skating class. The kids range in age from about 3 - 10 years old, but I'm sure they'll take any age. The way it works is you purchase the roller skates, helmet and protective padding for elbows, knees and hands from them (at no doubt highly inflated prices) and they'll give you free lessons for as long as you want them. The classes are run on the paved park area underneath the bridge just East of the zoo. The classes are in mandarin, but you don't need to understand the language to follow the instructions. The hours are Mon - Fri, 5pm till 9pm and all day Sat and Sun. It's all fairly informal and you can start and finish when you like. I generally take my son after pre-school during the week and maybe one afternoon on the weekends. This is the closest thing to organised sport here that I have been able to find for my 4 year old, it's great exercise for him and has dramatically reduced his T.V. time. Anyone out there who wants further information or help locating the class, need only contact me via my email address edm.mark@gmail.com

Can anyone out there recommend a dependable builder/plumber. I need to make a small change to the kitchen/bathroom area that will involve cutting into a tiled area, putting in a new sink, repositioning the washing machine,moving some pipes around to accommodate the new arrangement and relaying/ repairing the tiled area. Willing to pay above the going rate for high quality work, with more work in future if I'm happy with the outcome.

I found the chinese brand PEAK to be an o.k. relatively inexpensive sports shoe. I can only suggest try on a few pair at one of their retailers here.