Before you start

Passport and valid residence permit
A Chinese mobile number in your own name
Work permit or employer letter
Proof of address and the temporary residence registration slip

Step-by-step

1
Get the SIM first
Account opening requires SMS verification to a Chinese number, and the number requires real-name registration against your passport. The ordering cannot be reversed.
In personWho: YouDay 1–2
2
Choose a branch used to foreign customers
Branches around Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe and the Canton Fair complex handle foreign customers constantly. Bank of China, ICBC, China Merchants Bank and the mainland arms of HSBC and Standard Chartered are all workable. Ask a colleague which specific branch they used.
In personWho: YouWeek 1–2
3
Bring more documents than the list requires
Passport, residence permit, work permit, employer letter, lease, registration slip, phone number. One missing item costs a whole appointment.
In personWho: You
4
Link the card to Alipay and WeChat Pay the same day
This converts the account into daily usability. The metro, shared bikes, market stalls, your electricity bill and hospital appointments all expect the phone rather than a card.
Mobile appWho: YouSame day
5
Keep personal and business flows completely separate
If you are involved in trading, do not route business receipts through a personal account. Chinese banks monitor personal accounts for patterns that look like undeclared business activity, and an account frozen for review is extremely difficult to unfreeze quickly.
In personWho: You
6
Learn the outbound rules before you have money to move
China operates capital controls with an annual individual conversion quota, and remitting salary abroad requires evidence of the income and the tax paid on it. Keep contracts, payslips and tax filings from day one.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence permit
Chinese mobile number in your name
Work permit or employer letter
Lease and temporary residence registration slip

Things most newcomers don’t know

In a trading city, a personal account that looks like a business account gets frozen.

Guangzhou's banks see enormous volumes of cross-border trade money, and their compliance systems are calibrated accordingly. Frequent inbound payments from multiple counterparties, round-number foreign receipts, or rapid in-and-out flows through a personal account will trigger review. An account frozen pending review can take weeks to release and there is no fast appeal. If you trade, get a company account; if you do not, avoid patterns that resemble one.

Source: People's Bank of China

Real-name registration binds SIM, bank and wallet, and a passport renewal breaks all three.

Your Chinese number, bank account and payment wallets are all registered against your passport number and cross-referenced. Renewing the passport changes that number, and each needs updating separately. People find out weeks later when a payment fails or the account is frozen. Do all three in the week you collect the new document.

Source: People's Bank of China

Foreign cards in Alipay cover daily life and stop exactly where it matters.

The payment-convenience reforms allow international cards up to USD 5,000 per transaction and USD 50,000 cumulatively per year after verification. Coffee, taxis and market shopping are solved. A rental deposit plus three months' rent can approach the single-transaction cap in one payment. Treat the foreign card as a bridge for your first fortnight.

Source: People's Bank of China payment guidance

Getting money out is documentary, not technical.

Individuals face an annual foreign exchange conversion quota, and remitting salary abroad requires proof of income and of tax paid on it — which means your employment contract, payslips and annual tax reconciliation are the enabling documents, and they need to exist as you go. People who wait until departure to move several years of savings find the process slow and sometimes blocked.

Source: State Administration of Foreign Exchange