You have chosen to be in China. Things are different here. You should accept this. You have no right to complain about the BOC rules and regulations.

Stop moaning and adjust to your chosen environment!

I was expecting a Citibank wire transfer to be instigated on March 30 as March 31 was Easter Friday. I waited until April 4 before visiting the BOC. They told me there had been no transfer to my account. That was a lie. The previous day they had rejected the transfer due to the abbreviations in my name. But they had acted the daft laddie on Tuesday 4 April, on which date they told me nothing except that there were no transfers to my account. Unhelpful and sneaky.

As for SPPA. they were sneaky when they replied to my e-mail enquiring as to why no transfer had been made. At that time they must have known that the BOC had returned the transfer to Citibank.

Yes, the BOC has its unique regulations for foreigners. For example. if your spouse is Chinese and you wish to transfer foreign currency from your account to your spouse's account, you'd better have retained the passport whose number appears on your marriage certificate, and your spouse must have retained his/her Chinese ID card whose number appears on the marriage certificate. Without them, the BOC will refuse to process any such currency transfers!

My advice is not to open a bank account for foreign currency with the BOC. They will likely give you grief at one time or another.