Does anybody know if this will work, and if so at what banks and for what service fees? My bank charges $5 + exchange premium + local bank fees for atm withdraws so I wanted to see if this was more advantageous to use than a debit card.

(Mods: you may want to move this to the destination forum for China)

Foreign cards work in many (but not all) Chinese ATMs.

As far as I can remember, the ATMs didn't charge me anything extra (I'm sure Cirrus/Plus will give them something for their trouble)...therefore it all depends on the T&Cs of your credit card.

Make sure to withdraw lots of cash, as foreign credit cards are not widely accepted in shops etc.

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As graraps notes, the general answer is at many but not all. Considering China as a whole the answer is really at well less than half - but assuming that you'll be in reasonably developed places then you'll have no problems finding a cash machine to accept your card. I've always found the best bet to be China Merchants Bank on the basic that all their machines seem to accept international cards. The rest of the big banks (Bank of China, China Construction Bank, ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China) have plenty of machines that do accept International cards, but also plenty that don't.

Whilst I don't know the terms of your debit card - usually a debit card is the better option anyway for getting cash out of an ATM.

What bank do you use? (Most mid to large-sized banks include information about fee free ATMs abroad on their web sites.)

If your credit card is from a US bank, nearly all of them treat this sort of transaction as a cash advance, which starts accruing interest from the day of the transaction with no grace period. You can do the math according to your own situation, but for most people it is likely to be more than just using the ATM/debit card and paying the home bank fee. Chinese banks normally do not put any additional fee on top of that for international ATM cards, and the exchange rate is likely to be as good as you'll find anywhere for any other type of currency transaction. If cc is not from a US bank, check your cc regulations for this.

On the technology side, I've seen some machines in China that initiate with a question on whether you are using an ATM/debit card OR a credit card, but not all of them do this. If you see no specific prompt on this, and you proceed with a withdrawal, and the machine refuses to process the transaction, then it's probably because it's rejecting the credit card. It is possible to get cash advances on credit cards the old-fashioned way, by going inside a bank for teller service. If you need to do this, do it on a Monday-Friday when the more skilled managerial help is likely to be around, and choose a major bank branch that is showing currency exchange boards. And allow waiting time. If Bank of China, allow lots of waiting time.

Personally, I'd use the ATM/debit card. But don't fool around with tiny amounts of money here and there--get a limit of at least $400-600 dollars from your home bank, and pull out the maximum for each transaction if you will be in China long enough to use most of the RMB you'll receive. Get a hidden money belt to wear and put the excess of daily needs there.

Thanks for the replies. I have a chase visa card. Does anybody know if the balance from using it at an atm machine will begin accumulating interest immediately? And if so, can you pay the balance off right away online?

I believe you can get a cash advance from your CC at a local branch of Bank of China with your passport. Not sure about ATMs. As noted there will be plenty of fees/interest charges mostly imposed but your CC.

If you need a reliable source of cash open an account with Bank of America. China construction bank partners with BoA and you can withdraw RMB with no fees at current exchange rate. They have ATMs everywhere. Very convenient.

Besides BoA ATM card, try to use HSBC/Citi ATM/Debit Card in China. There are lots of HSBC and Citi ATMs.

Should you be staying in an international or bigger national brand hotel, in most cases you will find ATM machines in the lobby. Some even have English interface.
Personally, I preferred to use a certain brand of debit card. The one I use, it is free of ANY charges, period.

If it's a CREDIT card, yes it will begin accruing interest immediately upon use. Yes, you can pay the balance off online. Keeping in mind the time difference, allow a day for the transaction to post in the USA, maybe two days. For security reasons, be careful about going into your accounts online on a computer not your own. And don't do banking over a wireless network.

If your card is a DEBIT/ATM card, no interest, just the exchange rate and whatever fee Chase levies (I have one of these though haven't used it here in China for a while, I think it was a flat $2.00 per withdrawal).