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You can exchange traveler's chechs or cash at most banks, and hotels always have a money exchange counter.you can also get a cash advance on your American Express card, but for this you need to go to the Bank of China headquarters at Fuchengmen or the one at the Asia-Pacific Building (Ya Tai Da Sha)on Yabao Lu. To change money, you have to have your passport at hand. If you want to change money in a hotel, you usually have to be a guest there. Sometimes if you are not a guest in a hotel but need to change money there, you can just say a random room number, but this doesn't always work.
At present ,the RMBis not exchangeable on the internaitional market, so it is only usable within the country. So when you are changing money, don't change too much, because it is difficult to change back into other currencies. To change RMB back into your home currency, you must retain the exchange slips that are given to you at the bank or money exchange counter. Then when you want to go home, you have to bring the slips with you to prove that you are merely changing back money you haven't spent instead of taking out needed foreign exchange.if you lose the slips, you can change on the black market (locations vary , ask a Chinese friend for details),but the exchange rate is not so good.and of course it is illegal.
Credit cards
Major credit cards such as Master Card, Visa, JCB and American Express can be used to purchase goods in large department stores. Credit cards cannot be used in small restaurants or small convenience stores. They are mostly useful for paying for really ecpensive things. They can be used to pay for hotel rooms and for meals in some of the fancier restaurants. You can also buy plane tickets with them. As mentioned above. AmEx can be used to get a cash advanec in the main offices of the Bank of China. It is also possible to cash a check against the AmEx card ,but again , only in the main offices.