I wonder if it is possible to find an ATM to withdraw USD (HSBC in HK has some, but it seems they can not be used with foreign issued cards) ?

Never seen them, only seen USD at hotels and money exchange places...

No. Why would you want so, anyway? USD is not an accepted currency in China, only RMB is accepted. If you want to change money in China to USD for whatever reason, then you can go to a Bank to exchange.

The same applies for Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. They still do have foreign currency ATMS.

They have them at PVG and I've seen them in Shenzhen (in metro stations of all places).

Are you talking about actual ATMs or forex machines? I've seen the latter in many random places, but never the former.

I guess I don't really differentiate between the 2. If I can stick an ATM card into it and I can get cash out, I call it an ATM. The machine I saw at PVG, looked to be an ATM and advertised that you could get currency in USD, CAD, and Euros. I didn't look at it too closely but it could have been a forex machine. It was near gate 77.

At Shenzhen, it was definitely an ATM.

The forex machines require you to insert foreign currency in order to receive RMB. Perhaps it's possible to do the reverse and/or insert an ATM card, but I'm only aware of the aforementioned functionality... kind of nice to be able to change money without providing a passport, room number, etc.

OP: I received your PM and am replying here because: 1) I don't have any good advice to offer; and 2) my PM box is almost full again. If you need USD in China, we might be able to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement because my current problem is that I constantly have a stash of greenbacks over there and I've yet to find a bank that is interested in helping me park them (Chinese banks will take them, but as far as I can tell, they charge hefty fees for serving a purpose that is only marginally safer than me hiding them in a clever place). If I could figure out a reliable way to get them into the US banking system, I'd be thrilled.

Pretty simple if you can afford a premier account with HSBC. You can deposit cash up to 5k USD per day free of charge and can transfer the same amount to a HSBC account in the US free of charge if done online. The requirement for a premier account in China is the equivalent of 500k RMB balance or 300 RMB charges per month.

I can't (without lying).

Wouldn't the 300 RMB per month option help? The premier status is valid with all HSBC banks worldwide that provide premier accounts (not Macau for example).

Don't know about other countries, but banks in Hong Kong have always offer USD saving accounts. I am talking about at least since the 70's. For example, the saving "booklet" for HKD from HSBC are red in color, while USD ones are green.

So, it makes sense for HSBC or other banks in Hong Kong to provide ATMs for those customers who have USD-based saving accounts.

Why not just wire it? 300RMB/month might be more than your wire costs depending on how much you're wiring and how many times you need to do it.

And on that topic, banks on the mainland offer US$ savings accounts too, but do you see any US$-issuing ATMs here? Apparently not. Though one bank I go with happily offers US$ cash deposit/withdrawal fee-free at pretty much any branch.

I think any of the big four banks will let you deposit/withdraw USD (or any other major currency + AUD/CAD) without a fee. If you're withdrawing you should make an appointment the day before as they may not have enough stock on site.

True. Though I have accounts at smaller and foreign banks (Dah Sing, for example; when I go there there's never a line- in, done, out) so it seems like a bigger deal to me, I guess (though thus far, only Standard Chartered charges for US$ cash withdrawal- why?).