Opening a bank account in China

Hi Julien，

It is easy to open a bank acount for expat in China, just take your passport with you go to the bank and feel free to open account. It take 5-10 minutes.
I recommend you bank of China, it is convenience for you to exchange your currency to RMB, and it's also easy to transfer money with your families or friends each other online through web bank.
Wish I helped:D
Should you have any other quetion, just feel free to talk with me.

Cheers,
Fred

Thanks for your contribution Fred!

Harmonie.

As Allen said. It is very easy to open an Account. But take care that everything is written in a right way. Your name, your passportnumber and everything else. Some chinese workers in the bank don't care so much about your foreign name, but it cost you a lot trouble later on if you want to change to an other city or get an Credit Card. For this reason I can not close my old ICBC Account in Shandong and open a new one in Shanghai.

Good news for those who have a chinese bank Card. In most european countries you can use it now also on the ATM. No need to change RMB back into what ever. It works well in germany and Italy. Check your country with you home bank.

This is really useful!
are banks open every day?

Yes, bank open every day on working hours, and there ATM 24 hours for customer withdrawal money.

Nothing is ever easy in China, however, insure you have all the correct documentation, insure your name is spot on with your passport, sometimes your name will be too long for their computers and that causes a problem as it dd for me.  If you are teaching I would suggest you take someone from the foreign department of your school to go with you.   DON'T TRY THIS ALONE unless you are experienced and speak a little Mandarin.  Finally when you close your account, bring a secure large bag with you if you have a healthy account.  When I closed mine, I had recently sold a piece of property with my wife.  Ever seen a 190,000 rmb in one lump.  remember, in China, the highest denomination is 100 rmb and the banks do not issue cashiers checks.  Good luck ...Laurence