i had some euros in my acct. tried to transfer it to someone, euro to euro. the teller told me i cant do this unless the person is a family member, which requires proof of said relationship. i dont know if they meant the person can only be part of your nuclear family or extended family. since the person wasnt a family member, i had 2 options:

1. withdraw the euros, and give the cash to my friend.
2. convert the foreign currency into RMB, and then transfer it to the recipient.

i chose the latter.

I read with interest in this forum the many possibilities that banking within China offers but personally, I have faced so MANY obstacles and different rules from one branch (same bank!) to the other and banks to banks....finally I decided to just stick with my foreign bank accounts and use my foriegn ATM cards. It works great and especially for someone who is uncertain how long they are going to be here, its just not worth the hassle.

That's right, the ever changing rules and conditions are a nightmare.
Just an example:
2 weeks ago CMB (China Merchants Bank) and 2 other banks implemented a restriction on payments trough https://online2.shfft.com/fftweb/welcome.jsp
100 RMB is the maximum from now on.
Their "famous" help line 95555 "in English !" even didn't knew their own new rules... So they first straightly denied it. Finally after 5 telecons with the online2.shfft.com helpdesk, they had to admit it.

How do i pay may electricity bill now ?
"you can use our own on-line system" eeeuuuh, so crappy and in Chinese?
"you can use the terminal in the bank" eeeuuuh, should i go to the bank each time for that ?

So i dropped CMB and opened an account at ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China).
All statements are in Chinese+English, and they have an automatic transfer system.

But for sure, next week the rules will change again...

^ They have changed.

The government has mandated that all payments for electricity must be made through automatic debit to your bank account. Real soon you will see the electric company setting up that system and and informing all subscribers to provide a bank account they can debit. If you don't, they simply cut your power. Banks will no longer be able to accept payments either at the teller or online.