Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Chinese postal service is on the
whole fairly reliable, with letters and parcels
taking a couple of weeks to reach Europe or
the US. Overseas postage rates are
becoming expensive; a postcard costs ¥4.2,
while a standard letter is ¥6. As well as at
post offices, you can post letters in green
postboxes, or at tourist hotels, which
usually have a postbox at the front desk.
Envelopes can be frustratingly scarce; try the
stationery sections of department stores.
Stamps can be bought at post offices.
An Express Mail Service (EMS) operates to
most countries and to most destinations
within China and is available from all post
offices. Besides cutting delivery times, the
service ensures the letter or parcel is sent by
registered delivery - though note that the
courier service of DHL (38 Huaxiang Lu,
T
China and is still the main form of exchange,
available in ¥100, ¥50, ¥20, ¥10, ¥5 and ¥1
notes. Unlike in the rest of China, you'll
receive a lot of ¥1 coins in Shanghai - this is
because China's mint is here. The yuan is
kept pegged to the dollar at just over ¥8 to
$1, which works out at ¥15 to £1, ¥10 to
e
1; it's an artificially low rate designed to
keep Chinese exports competitive and is
good news for visitors as it means every-
thing's cheap.
China is suffering from a rash of counter
feiting. Check your change carefully, as the
locals do - hold ¥50 and ¥100 notes up to
the light and rub them; fakes have no water-
marks and the paper feels different.
Banks and ATMs
Banks are usually open seven days a week
(9am-noon & 2-5pm), though foreign
exchange (there's generally a particular
counter for this, marked in English) is
sometimes only available Monday to Friday.
All banks are closed on New Year's Day,
National Day, and for the first three days of
the Chinese New Year, with reduced hours
for the following eleven days.
Cirrus, Visa and Plus cards can be used to
make cash withdrawals from ATMs operated
by the Bank of China, the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China, China Construc-
tion Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.
Note that most ATMs are located inside
banks or shopping centres, so close when
they do; there are 24-hour ATMs in the Hong
Kong Plaza on Huaihai Zhong Lu and next to
Citibank on the Bund. Your bank back home
will in all likelihood charge a fee on each
withdrawal, with a minimum of around US$3,
so it's best to get large amounts out; the
maximum for each withdrawal is ¥2500.
Keep your exchange receipts and when you
leave you can change your renminbi into
dollars or sterling at any branch of the Bank
of China.
52277770) is rather faster, and costs
about the same.
To send parcels, turn up at any post office
with the goods you want to send and the
staff will sell you a box to pack them in for
¥15 or so. Once packed, but before the
parcel is sealed, it must be checked at the
customs window in the post office. A 1kg
parcel should cost upwards of ¥70 to send
surface mail, or ¥120 by airmail to Europe. If
you are sending valuable goods bought in
China, put the receipt or a photocopy of it in
with the parcel, as it may be opened for
customs inspection farther down the line.
Maps
A large foldout map of the city can be handy.
In general, the free tourist maps - available
in large hotels and printed inside tourist
magazines - don't show enough detail. A
wide variety of city maps are available at all
transport hubs and from street vendors,
hotels and bookshops, with the best
selection available from the Foreign
Language Bookstore on Fuzhou Lu (see
p.146). With the city changing so fast, it's
important to check that your map is up to
date.
Traveller's cheques and foreign
currency
Money
Chinese currency is formally called the yuan
(¥), more colloquially known as renminbi
(RMB) or kuai; a yuan breaks down into units
of ten jiao. Paper money was invented in
Traveller's cheques are a convenient way to
carry your funds around, as they can be
replaced if lost or stolen - for which contin-
gency it's worth keeping a list of the serial
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