I am looking for information on legally transferring currency funds
from mainland China to the US.  This is for a Chinese citizen and a
U.S. permanent resident, who has capital gains from a real estate sale
and wishes to transfer the money to the U.S. for reinvestment.

China customs law is ambiguous on the subject, (exporting "unratified"
foreign currency, foreign notes or drafts is prohibited).  Casual
google searches have returned limited results, that is, that a person
seeking to transfer currency must convert the currency to foreign
funds, obtain a permit from the PBC (People's Bank of China), and show
this permit to Chinese customs officials at port.  I am already aware
of U.S. customs requirements regarding transferring of currency.  My
experience has been, sending money by wire from a US bank to a Chinese
bank account has been easy and hassle-free.  Can it be done the other
way?

Here's what I need to know:

Please show how it is possible for a private individual (not a
business entity) to legally perform currency transfers from the
mainland.  Please report specific steps required to complete a 
transaction using two methods, first, to send money by wire from the
Chinese bank to a U.S. bank, second, by bank draft or check, to be
deposited at a U.S. bank.

Please provide links to English or Chinese websites, if possible,
and/or links to a financial advisor with this specific experience.

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Request for Question Clarification by fons-ga on 29 Aug 2004 21:57 PDT

Hi,
I assume that a negative answer would be what you want as an answer, am I correct?

Fons

while you did not mention living yourself in china
i assume so

you may have a look at western union
http://www.westernunion.com/
on the right side of their homepage you see the "Find Agent Location" link
most western union agents in china are at post offices - a few at banks.
western union has usually a limit of 2000 US$ per transfer - but of
course you could make multiple transfers simultaneously if needed.

however western union does usually send money that needs to be human picked up
and no transfer to banks. but you may have to check yourself. IF the
recipient agent is IN a bank - then the money could eventually be
deposited in an account instead of human picked up.
western union - while charging for their service to the sender - after
calculating all other fees bank to bank - you see that their fees are
approximately in the range of ALL fees that sum up when using banks.

western union advantage is that trasnfers are done worldwide in
minutes. instantly available as soon as sender receives his receipt
for payment.
while banks may taked up to weeks to make the money avaiable for global transfers.

another source is a really large BUT international chinese bank
HSBC ( the world local  bank - as they claim ) 
http://www.hsbc.com/
check one of their local branches nearest you and explain your needs.
large banks usually have all the needed connection to do any legal
transfer around the globe in a reliable fashion.

your deposit can be made by paypal (www.paypal.com)

There are various ways of doing this legally though they may not suit
your needs. For one, you did not mention if you have other resources
at your disposal (i.e. a company) and whether you paid all the
relevant local taxes (there is no capital gains tax per se but your
profits are added onto your personal income taxes). Contact me if you
want the rates you have to pay.

China only allows funds to be transferred out of the country (by
individuals) if you meet certain very specific criteria (i.e. you have
an invoice from an academic institution, visa application amounts etc
etc). It definitely does not include profits from a real estate sale.
Other methods people use are:

1) Credit card (usually cannot exceed $2,000)
2) Paypal - as stated by another esteemed Google commenter (but this
is again based on a credit card payment)
3) Companies that may want to do a private currency exchange deal with
you (although this may be illegal (too many factors to explain) if
this is a Chinese company)
4) Western Union is doable but may be expensive fee wise

However, all the above may not suit your needs due to legality and the
large amounts involved in a real estate sale.

For clarification, I do not think that any foreign banks like HSBC can
wire the money for you especially if you are receiving the money in
Renminbi. Last I checked, you may only wire money out of China through
the foreign banks if you wired foreign currency in, did not change it
into Renminbi, and want to remit it out again. It will probably not
work if you put your deposit into the bank (physically) and want the
banks to wire it out again.