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 before you try the bank
Account opening requires SMS verification to a Chinese number, and the number requires real-name registration against your passport. The order cannot be reversed.
In personWho: YouDay 1–2
2
Use a branch inside the Industrial Park
Park branches see foreign customers constantly because the multinationals and XJTLU are here. Bank of China, ICBC, China Merchants Bank and the mainland arms of HSBC and Standard Chartered all operate here. Ask a colleague for the specific branch.
In personWho: YouWeek 1–2
3
Bring the full document set
Passport, residence permit, work permit, employer letter, lease, registration slip, phone number. One missing item costs a whole appointment.
In personWho: You
4
Ask about the provident fund position
Suzhou Industrial Park introduced a Singapore-derived provident fund scheme in 1997 and the Park's arrangements have their own lineage. Whether a foreign employee participates in the housing provident fund depends on local rules and on any bilateral agreement covering you, and practice differs between the Park and the wider municipality. This is a specific question for HR, not a general one.
Via employerWho: You
5
Link the card to Alipay and WeChat Pay the same day
This is what makes the account usable — the metro, shared bikes, market stalls, utility bills and hospital appointments all expect the phone rather than a card.
Mobile appWho: YouSame day
6
Learn the outbound currency rules early
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 the start.
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

The provident fund question is genuinely city-specific here, and worth asking precisely.

Suzhou Industrial Park imported a provident fund scheme from Singapore in 1997 covering medical, housing and pension — something with no Chinese precedent at the time — and the Park's arrangements retain their own character. Separately, whether foreign employees participate in the housing provident fund at all depends on local rules and on any bilateral social security agreement covering your nationality. The answer differs between the Park and the rest of Suzhou. Ask HR which scheme applies to you rather than assuming the national default.

Source: Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee

In the Park, banking is unusually easy; a few kilometres west it may not be.

National rules leave discretion to branches, and how a branch exercises it depends on how often it has onboarded a foreign resident. The Industrial Park's branches serve multinationals, an English-language university and a large foreign engineering community, and are correspondingly fluent. A branch in the old town or an outer district may genuinely never have done one and will default to refusing. Go where your colleagues went.

Source: community-reported

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

Your Chinese number, bank account and payment wallets are 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

Getting money out of China 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. Your employment contract, payslips and annual tax reconciliation are the enabling documents and they need to exist as you go. Waiting until departure to move several years of savings is how people find the process slow or blocked.

Source: State Administration of Foreign Exchange

Common mistakes to avoid

Attempting the account before you have a Chinese mobile number.
Going to an old-town branch that has never onboarded a foreign customer.
Assuming the national provident fund default applies inside the Industrial Park.
Not updating the bank after a passport renewal.
Leaving all outbound transfers to the month you depart.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.