This is getting beyond stupid. A friend in Australia called the Chinese embassy in Canberra to ask them what needs to be done for degree verification. This is what he was told....
1. Take your original degree to a Notary Public.
2. They will photocopy it and sign/stamp it to say it's a genuine copy.
3. The copy must then be taken to the Department of Foreign Trade who will then authenticate the signature of the notary public.
4. Then you take it to the Chinese embassy for their stamp after they verify the signature from the DFT.

So this begs 2 immediate questions.
1. Why not just show the PSB / FEB your original degree and let them copy it?
2. How is the Notary Public going to know whether the degree they are looking at is genuine or fake in the first place?

This is nothing more than a revenue raising exercise.