The BEST way IMO, is to first speak some of the language. If not well, then decent enough so that you can be understood and the rest can be filled in with English. This pretty much applies everywhere else in the world too.

Then do whatever you would normally do. Girls are everywhere (as Seinfeld says!). Walk around with an open heart and a smile, say "Hi!" to girls that catch your eye and you have a chance to talk to casually. Being at least an elementary speaker (2-3 months of study) will help you immensely do this. Weed out the wheat from the chaff through finding out about them and their family, their interests (usually quite narrow with Chinese gals) and their life. Find out fairly early if they are attached and only go after ones that are not! Do NOT hang out in only expat places and bars, get out into normal China.

I am married already to a lovely Chinese girl who I met in a book store where she was working, we struck up a conversation and agreed to hang out to improve each others language and things went from there. I have had numerous other oppourtunities since being here as I always am friendly to others and have an open and amenable attitude, but obviously haven't gone past friends or acquaintances because I am a loyal husband and love my wife dearly. I aren't good looking or tall, but really I could get a nice girlfriend in a few days if I wanted! They are everywhere, like foreign men (the exotic factor) and enjoy the attention you give them while judging you for future husband material. If you fail the last one, they will run away fast in China, which is to be expected. Be open, honest, friendly, inquisitive, engaging and if you are intelligent, of reasonable health, have a decent outlook on life and will be a good father, Chinese women will be banging down your door.

Geez, just last weekend while hiking Xi Shan alone I met one group of very interesting girls one who was clearly very interested in me who I chatted to for a few minutes. I struck up a conversation with another girl waiting at the bus stop 2 days ago who seemed like excellent girlfriend material and was displaying normal Chinese innocent yet flirty attitude. This isn't limited to me, an Aussie friend (quite tall and good looking) has to beat them off with a stick and tells me all the time of "another one" he talked to and was clearly interested. He has a similar open and friendly attitude, but his Chinese is basic to poor!

So my question to others that have asked me this is "How can you NOT find a Chinese girlfriend???" if you want one!

Masters in? Chinese literature? If so, buy that man a beer. Or brew that man a beer.

Dali/Lijiang and Kunming (to a lesser extent) can get cold all year round, particularly at night or when the sun isn't out. They are at a high altitude, so when the sun ain't shining, the altitude takes over temperature wise. Banna is pretty much full on tropical so no worries there.

Wicker Basket south has it I believe, I assume the others do too...

Likely the people just don't have a clue how to do international money transfers, rather than you can't, they just don't know that you can. They aren't well trained. I have tried it at CCB, CGB and Bank of China... with nobody knowing how to do it until my local wife talks to them (she is in banking!). Then magically they call someone that knows on their end, who talks them through the process, then it happens eventually.... quite annoying, but I guess that is what happens when you are in the arse end of nowhere (in China terms).

Most likely place where they know how to do it would be the Bank of China... I think the bank on Renmin Dong Lu/Beijing Lu is the big one in the city? They probably know how to do it... probably.

Having it done "quickly" though is something else entirely. Its taken me from 3 days to 3 weeks, although more recently its been closer to 3 days (using CGB). Its not the fastest, but it does happen...