Obtaining (Chinese) bank records

Hey saloon, not been around for a while since I returned to the Land of Oz.  Some may remember that I was forced to leave a school in China earlier this year after a few dramas (mostly concerning my daughter).  It's a long shot, but I'm trying to get a hold of my Chinese bank account information (ie: statements).

My statements (and bills etc) were all delivered to my apartment mail box that the previous FTs had taken the keys for.  Numerous attempts to get the lock changes proved futile - the Principal even took it on as his responsibility but shock horror, still nothing was fixed.

In hindsight, perhaps I should have just paid someone to do it, or even used a screwdriver to bust in...but in the chaos of those last few days I didn't really have anyone I could ask (ie: Chinese speaking) and I gave money and a SAE to a parent at the school (also a Board Member) who was going to use her influence on the Board to get the bank statements sent to me. 

So far it doesn't appear she's been successful & I'm wondering (as the account is still open) if there is some way I could have new statements issued?  The bank is ICBC and I only require proof of income from October last year.

Is there any hope?  Or an obudsman or something that might light a fire under the school principal?  He, and the majority of other staff, are Australian, so I was thinking of seeking legal advice here to get a letter to his Australian address (he returns during the summer hol in China)...

I use ICBC and I can think of two ways you might be able to get the information.

1. If you have Internet banking set up for the account, you can print off a copy of the bank account through their English internet site at:
http://www.icbc.com.cn/icbc/sy/default.htm

2. If you have a passbook (bank book) for the account and someone you trust in China, send them your passbook and they can go to any branch, place the passbook in the printers they have there in the lobby, and have the passbook updated in the printer (make sure there are enough empty pages in the passbook to do this).

3. ICBC has a Sydney branch and maybe they can help. Address:
ICBC Sydney Branch
Level 1, 220 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
E-mail: info@ICBC.com.au
Contacts: +612 9475 5588

I needed old statements from Bank of China .... their printing machines only went back 3 months ... so I had to go in person to a teller with my passport and ¥20 .... and got 3 years worth of statements ....

You may need to use the local branch in Oz if you can .....

Thank you, thank you for the info.  Sadly no internet banking (was told by Chinese staff at school that this was not possible in China... ) and no passbook, just the bank card.

Have just had it confirmed from friend still in China that the Principal is holding my bank statements (that I should already have in my possession if he had done his job properly and prepared my apartment adequately before I arrived OR changed the lock like he promised numerous times) ransom as he believes I owe the school money. 

I know this is an old story but these guys owe ME money.  They witheld my last week of pay AND I stupidly, STUPIDLY paid the contract severance fee (the one you pay if you leave for no reason) as a goodwill gesture even tho I was leaving for family reasons and not required by the contract to pay anything except reimburse my airfare - which as I did not receive my bank statements I never had proof of yet figured it was covered by them withholding my final pay.

 

argh, calm thoughts, calm thoughts.  Thanks for the info re: bank!!

ICBC in Australia don't give a rats and don't want to know me.

Managed to successfully register for internet banking after 2 hours of excruciating failed attempts (if you're putting in an ID number it's your passport, not foreign residence permit).  First thing it asks after logon is for you to reset all your passwords, then it logs you off.  When I tried to log back on with the new passwords, they don't work.  If I want to reset them, I have to take my card and ID into an ICBC branch in China...

 

Sympathy coming your way    Hope you find a way around this.