Money Business

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You can't use Chinese money outside of China. Try to do your transactions at the Bureau de Change at the airport or at the ATM. Anyway, it's not as easy to get as you might think once you are here. Listen to my story. I had some US currency left and wanted to shop around and bargain--that thing they do so well here. So I needed Renminbi--RMB, The People's Money--from the bank. Oh, you would like to get Yuans, please take a number and have a seat. Well, this is a waiting room, and there are at least 15 "attendants" on the floor darting to and fro and answering your questions and making sure the 30+ customers in the bank are being attended to. Behind the glass security windows and desks is another army, maybe 15 more making sure the transactions are correct. After about 20 minutes, number Q00140 appears on the screen and, before I can get up, the attendant, who tried to help me a few days before, is at my side pointing the way. He had not been able to help me before because I had not brought my passport with me to the bank to change my foreign money. Now we need a translator, because they can't believe I want to change Y100 bills to Y50 bills. Of course, I am going to the market, and it does not make sense to argue about a price if you have way too much money to begin with. So, how about changing my US currency since I brought my passport along. Slowly, they examine the passport and try a reassuring smile. After turning each bill over for the fifth time, they call a conference and a translator. I begin to eye the security guard, hoping for the best that this money I brought is real money. After several more minutes, they call my "friend attendant" and speak several lines to him. I know enough and sense more that something is wrong, but I am not sure what. Finally, the man behind the glass explains to me that the dollar bills are old and that I need to go to a different bank (I did not say lesser bank, did I?) to have them change it. They only accept new bills. I almost laughed. If I had not just wasted 30 precious minutes, I could have managed a big one. Several of them tried to decide where such a bank was, but they were not really sure. Wink, wink and have a laugh; they have more banks than Wall Street on each block in Xian. Resolution: I used the ATM to withdraw RMB and will use the bureau at the airport on my way to Beijing.

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