Hey guys!

I am now in HK. Travelling to China this weekend.

Any tips on where to change AUD/HKD to RMB?

Should I do it here in HK or should I change the money when I go to CHina?

I will be in Guangzhou btw.

Thank you in advance!

Personally I feel safer changing my currency to rmb in Hong Kong.  There is such a high chance of getting counterfeit rmb in exchange in China, unless you go to a Bank of China branch in China.  

There are alot of small rmb foreign exchange booths in Wanchai, Causeway Bay, Tsimshatsui because these are the prime areas for the mainland tourists to stay and shop.

change all the RMB you need (and alittle more just in case) in HK. moneychangers
are everywhere in HK and all will gladly accept your AUD and HKD for exchange
to RMB. in the case of your AUD, they will convert the AUD to HKD at the prevailing
rate before converting it to RMB at the HKD-RMB rate.

not impossible to change money in china especially in a big city like guangzhou however,
this is a really pain-in-the-neck process. on the mainland, only bank of china branches
are allowed to do forex exchange and it is one heck of a tedious process lined with
paperwork. you will need your passport to change even the smallest amount of your
foreign currency to RMB.

note: there are no private moneychanging booths/shops in china. thus, anyone who offers
         to change money for you is most definitely a blackmarketeer who is more than eager
         to push his load of counterfeit RMBs to you at a highly disadvantangeous rate.

change it all in HK!

I prefer changing my money at a bank. That way I know it's 100% safe. I've gotten fake money before from one of those money exchanger stalls in HK.

Usually though, I just get my ATM card and take money out from the ATMs. They have an international service charge but that's about HKD30.00.

you're speaking of the HK ATMs that dispense RMB? i think i have seen the
bank of china (hongkong) offer this service at some of their ATM locations..the one
that i saw was at the shun tak centre where the ferries leave for macau and china.


but whether moneychangers or banks, don't they just run the RMB notes through this
sorting/detector machine before handing it over to you? i'm not sure whether the banks
do any additional security checks that the moneychangers would not do before they
trade in their stash of RMB notes?

yea do it in hk or else "bank of china". they do good rates too. if aussie dollar to rmb, that was the only bank willing to exchange as well

also there will be hagglers outside/inside the bank who will change money at a higher rate than the bank. don't trust them. but the hagglers maybe less wanting aud because its quite strong again. when it was 1:4.2, i got them asking left right and centre

Yup! Some HK ATMs dispense RMB; however, I change what I need and then go to an ATM in China to get any extra cash that I might need. I jsut don't feel safe carrying that much cash around China. I've got two different ATM cards (Jetco/UnionPay and Plus) as well as several credit cards so I've never had any issues. However, my brother was stranded in Shanghai once cause he couldn't take any cash out with his ATM card and his CC refused to work.

I think banks are more careful when inspecting money and the times I've done it, I always get new notes. Also, if you do get a big stash of notes exchanged and they happen to be all fake, you can always trace it back to the bank as they usually keep a more extensive record as opposed to the small money exchangers.

Thank you my friends. Bank of China has such long queues everyday.

The machine at CWB for the exit to Lockhart road up the first escalators gives a choce of US$ , HK$ or RMB

last year i change 1000 usd in bank of china and there 200rmb counterfeit in it.