(double post)

You might check with Citibank, they have branches in SHA, BJS, CTU and some other places. They have a Citi/Citigold office in the Peace Hotel. Their CN accts accept deposits in 10 currencies incl. USD and you might be able to make USD deposits there to a US based account. They allow linkage between their US accts and Citi accts in other countries for fee-free transfers.

I did check with them, but those guys pretty much told me to pound sand when it became apparent that I wasn't planning on parking a 6 figure (US) balance there.... I later learned that starting off with $5-10k and telling them you'll cover the rest "next week" is supposedly an effective strategy.

Anyway, I appreciate all of the advice. I'm optimistic that I'll figure out a slightly better arrangement (than the sock drawer strategy) when I get back there.

Check this thread out:

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbfo...e-t118211.html

The demand draft + scan & deposit idea appears to be cheap and fast. Though it does require your US bank to accept deposits through uploads.

Ah never mind, this won't work for you since you're starting with physical USD notes, not RMB.

HSBC is definitely the way to go for this kind of stuff....the world's local bank is also the best bank in my opinion...

But I used to be with BOA, and I know they partner with China Construction Bank...meaning you get no ATM fees and get USD/EUR from them at no cost...I once remember exchanging 100,000TWD with them in SH because no one would do it elsewhere so I imagine they could get you USD at a reasonable rate...

My local BoC branch is now accepting TWD transactions.

What is TWD? Do you possibly mean NTD?

Right, thanks for nit-picking :p

As if anyone would still be walking around with a wad of TWDs

Actually no, TWD is still the currency code:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWD

And you can't convert in google if you use ntd, you have to use twd. Google after all is the final word on everything... :D

No. Why do you need USD in China anyway?