Majority of travelers would prefer using plastic rather than cash. With China’s ATM locations that are growing in more cities, this mode has been widely practice all throughout the region. Additionally, the used of credit cards are now gaining popularity in the country, with major cards like MasterCard, Diners Club, Visa, JCB and American Express are the most commonly used. It is now accepted in most of the middle to top – range hotels, department stores, Friendship except for the transportation costs. If you don’t have those flashy cards then the next obvious option is the used of cash payment. It has never fail in paying your purchases and exchanging currency is always easy. Counterfeit notes can be a problem so make sure that you examined any denomination more particularly those large notes when given as a change from street vendors. When traveling in the west and the countryside, for convenience sake, you should bring some cash as well as travelers’ checks.

Currency

The prestigious Bank of China regularly issues RMB bills in different denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10, five, two and one Yuan. Counterfeiting has been a problem with the country. There are very few Chinese that would accept Y100 or Y50.00 note without checking first whether or not the note is a fake. Those notes that are torn, old or tattered can be so hard to spend. You can only exchange your old notes for a new one at the Bank of China; however, those counterfeits will be confiscated. The locals have a lot of ways in order to check for those counterfeit notes, these includes checking the watermark, the color as the counterfeit notes are more pronounced, the drawn lines which is more distinct in those fake notes, the texture of counterfeit notes tend to be smoother than those authentic notes.

Coins also come in different denominations of five fen, one mao, five mao and one yuan. There are paper versions of these coins that are still in circulation within the country.

Changing your money

Travelers’ checks and foreign currency can be exchanged at the Bank of China main branches, Friendship Stores, some tourist hotels, and department stores. Those top hotels would usually give the official rate. Just keep your exchange receipts if you plan to exchange the remaining of your currency at RMB for the rest of your trip. As a tip, travelers’ checks are the best option since they are a lot safer and its exchange rate is far more favorable than cash. Credit cards like Visa, Thomas Cook and American Express are widely used.

Money Tips

Those top 4 and 5 stars hotels and also those top – end restaurants would already add tax or the ‘service charge’ about 10% -15% which only extends to the food and the room; those all other consumer taxes are already included in the item price tag.

Eastern China in general is way more expensive than any of the western part of the region. The tourists in the eastern part could get on spending about US$ 50 a day but that would be a real challenge. Western China travelers can go easy on a tight budget as they can only spend about US$ 25 a day. The long trips by train are the one that always cut the savings. Food all throughout the country is extremely cheap; you won’t even have to spend US$7 a day on your meals if you are careful with your expenditures. But you will still be charged the ‘tourist rate’ most of the time.

Sample Price Guide

Average Room Prices

Average Meal Prices

Tipping

Mainland China doesn’t really have a tipping culture the way the western countries practice.