[glitchc]

Banks in US only block payments if they look like they might contravene US laws. China will have different laws, but moving large sums of money without reason is likely to raise flags over there too. According to your post, a Chinese bank will allow me to withdraw a million yuan in cash in one go without asking why and what I need it for. I find that difficult to believe.

No one tracks micro transactions, not in the States or anywhere. AML laws don’t kick in until 10K USD. And of course corruption is a problem in China. It’s also a problem in the States. None of these statements point to a crucial difference in banking. If anything a commercial bank in the US is far more likely to keep your transactions private, whereas a Chinese bank probably hands them over to the government as a pre-arranged periodic data dump.