I'm a decently sophisticated world traveler. If I had not had a certain experience in an African country three years ago I would have NEVER thought to ask this question but here goes:

So as I said, a few years ago I visited a country in Africa and went to the bank to exchange money from US dollars to local currency. The bank (and it was the ONLY bank where I could change $) but the bank insisted on only accepting my BRAND NEW American $20 bills. I had never ever encountered that on previous travels anywhere in the world. I was, therefore, only able to exchange about 1/3 of the amount I wanted to, as only about 1/3 of my bills were the very very newest ones at the time.

Does anybody know if there is such a practice or rule in China? I will only be in Shanghai and Beijing if anyone is wondering. I should add, too, that my bills in that African country were NOT tattered or anything. They were perfectly legal tender, they were just printed in an "unacceptable" year. I KNOW how strange that sounds but that's what I was told.

Thanks for any input!

If your bills have any writing on them (pen marks, doodling, etc.), partially ripped or taped, or looks worn out, they will not accept it.

I have actually encountered something quite similar in most countries. Not that it should be new but it should not have wear and tear as described above.
Best is to use your bank card in ATMs.

In Argentina one can get a better blue exchange rate for new bills, preferably in large denominations.

Second this. China can be a pain about bills that don't look pristine. They're worried about counterfeits.

The Chinese aren't so concerned about this issue IME. But, you should plan on getting money from ATMs unless you fancy buying a car or a house during your trip (i.e. for very large sums, you can shave off a few basis points by availing of black market money changing services).

+2 to note condition - any significant wear / fading / tear / pen marks etc and banks nor hotel change will accept them - must be excellent condition.

As moondog stated ATM is the go - they are everywhere and very reliable. Also change rate at hotels set daily by B of C - you will get correct and up to date change rates at all top tier hotels.

IME this is not true. You'll get hammered on exchange rates at top tier hotels but will do fine at a bank. Just use your ATM card and avoid the issue altogether. No need to change money when your atm will do it for you.

trav feel free to check with whatever top tier hotel you next vist in China but couple of points right now:

1. I just sent off SMS to Assistant General Manager at Beijing Renaissance Capital Hotel - they confirm that Bank of China do indeed set currency exchange rates that hotels MUST comply with - but as I say check that yourself.

2. For whatever reason there are still many visitors to China who still do not trust ATM's in foreign countries - they take cash with them and exchange it at the hotel. Hell there still older tourists who take Travellers Cheques.

3. It is not ALWAYS possible due to time of day etc to get to bank to change cash there.

4. OP specifically asked for info on cash - because you and I use ATM's does not necessarily mean all others will want to do same.

I don't find that weird at all, dollars are counterfeited and for someone in Africa (and China) it is a lot easier to simply refuse older bills. Newer bills have more security features on them, which is the same kind of security features most other countries use.

The Bund is littered with banks in Shanghai, and all of them accept foreign CC and most can speak very good english in my experience if you prefer to exhange money. My preference was for Citibank, ICBC, HSBC, ABC and Bank of China were my CC always worked.

In Beijing I never visited any banks but I would seem the same banks exists there and they have ATMs. The ATMs also had pretty decent exchange rates as compared with the hotels (even if I compared RMB->Euro).

Like I suggested in post #6, for any amount south of Y150,000, ATMs are the way to go. For numbers bigger than that, shoot me a PM, and I'll point you in the right direction.

Actually, hotels have pretty good exchange rates in China. different from the rest of the world.

Point of Clarification: I currently have my #1 staff member stumped up in InterContinental in Nanjing - I asked him to go seek out GM and clarify following 3 points - his answers posted below - I think you will all understand:

1. The hotel currency exchange rate is set by the Bank of China. They seemed offended by the suggestion that they would charge anything else and had not considered whether they could alter the rate. It is not InterContinental policy to do so.
2. The Bank of China set the rate each day except on weekend and public holiday. InterContinental carry the rate from previous advised rate until the rate is changed by Bank of China. Generally set all working days.
3. The currency exchange rate offered at various physical banks is the same as set by Bank of China and same as offered at currency exchanges within hotels. The banks will follow Bank of China policy so exchange is the same however there are money exchangers out on street who will offer varying rates.

Basically this system was explained to me by Senior Managers at China World Hotel in Beijing several years ago - at that point in time I had a business that was just flush with cash and I always carried a wad of cash instead of using ATM. Hope this helps guys.

It's been so long since I changed cash at a hotel that I thought maybe my memory was hazy and I was wrong about not getting a good exchange rate. So to check it out I went to two hotels by my office to check their rates at lunch. The Sheraton Hongqiao and Renaissance Yangtze both had the exact same cash exchage rate of $1 USD = 6.07 RMB. So there is consistency in the rates but seeing as the spot rate is $1 USD = 6.21 it's not that great a deal.

I'll try and check out a few more rates on my trip home tonight. It still seems like ATM is the best deal if you have a no fee card and an inside the bank exchange would be second best.

IME, there are usually slight variances in FX rates between different banks. This probably has more to due with the frequency of data updates than any sort of competitive reasons.