I have the same issue. I heard that China Unicom offers 3G, and works with phones that get 3G out of China. Is that really 3G or just EDGE ?

Got a 3G card for China Unicom, popped in my unlocked iPhone from the States, and it works fine. No set-up or registration required, paid 180 RMB for the card and 2 months of service (96/mo more or less).
Speeds are about the same as AT&T back home.
This is by far the easiest route: no set-up, no problems, no figuring out what works with what...
iPhone + China Unicom 3G card + 100 RMB per month in prepaid service = fast and easy internet on a great phone.
Had all kinds of HTC, Dopod, HP, etc. and I finally got tired of all the settings and compatibility problems.
iPhone works like a charm, Google maps is super useful, as is being able to check my e-mail and sign in to Skype no matter where I am.

Any resident gadget heads have thoughts on what is the best Android phone available now for around 2,000 kuai? Obviously at the price it won't be the latest and greatest, but I'm thinking it should be enough for a previous generation Galaxy or something along those lines.

Oh, also, I'm not against Chinese brands, but I do need something that can be flashed with Cyanogenmod or similar.

Yeah man, a Galaxy Note 2 or Galaxy S3 should be right around your price bracket. Heaps of ROMS for them out there as well, very well supported and very good phones. I have a Note 2 which I have flashed with Omega ROM and Cyanogenmod in the past, all working perfectly well.

I can play GTA Vice City and other intensive (and the latest) games on my phone no problem so it is certainly not underpowered yet.

Nice, thanks, Blobbles. I'm thinking of going S3 because it's smaller and cheaper. Just a bit concerned about the fact that it has only 1GB ram compared to 2GB for the Note 2. Anybody using an S3? Is it still pretty snappy with heavy multitasking on everyday apps? (My indicative mix is Weixin, Google Maps, Evernote, Gmail, The Economist and a few Chinese dictionary apps).

I'm looking using my unlocked, Canadian Galaxy S4 (i337M) when I get to China, but not sure how that'll work out... I imagine it should be fine once I get a sim card, but can you still access the google play store for apps? Should I get alternative apps/more accurate to some of the other ones I use in Canada, like google maps?

Ended up getting an S3 for 2600 and flashing with Cyanogenmod. It seems fine, plenty of power for the stuff I want to do so far.

Jopasny. You phone will work fine here, but if you want 3G internet you should go with China Unicom. You can get internet with an intl phone through China Mobile, but it's the slow older standard called EDGE. Access to some Google products can be spotty, but generally the mobile versions of maps, gmail and play store work pretty well. Goggle Maps is generally still much, much better than Baidu Maps, though Baidu Maps can be better for a given location depending on what you're looking for.

@DanTheMan - thanks for the tips. China Unicom it is! It looks like there are mobile VPN's which might help, but I haven't tested them yet. All I know is that I'll miss my LTE service, but oh well, just another small sacrifice.

Speaking of LTE does anyone know when this standard will be available in China? I read that China Mobile is testing a 4G network, does Unicom have similar plans?

I do like my 3G access but like Jopasny miss the high speed LTE offers.