I have also heard rumours about being able to do this so am glad they have turned out to be true (although as expected, I'm sure the process is massively 麻烦). Looking forward to read your follow up post, it is a subject I'm sure a lot of people are interested to know about. P.S. have you tried applying to refund your pension contributions? This is another rumour I have heard is possibleYes, it is possible. My colleague did it when she left the company/country two years ago. Or rather, our Foreign Affairs rep took her through the process, which involved (1) signing a formal statement that one will not be returning to China for work (ever), (2) submitting application to the bureau that handles the pension funds, and (3) waiting a few months for the funds to be released.
You can get back the pension contributions that were taken from your salary, but not the ones that the company is required to make for you. Those are simply absorbed into the collective and used for the common good.
Sorry--I realize this is not the most detailed of posts. Just a comment to verify that it IS possible if you're able to jump through all the hoops and see the process through to the end (and the end can be sticky, since the funds are usually released well after the person has left the country, so you need a company and/or friend who can exchange into the currency you need and then transfer or wire them to you).
Thanks for the confirmation. Yeah I also heard it is only the employee contributions rather than the employer contributions that can be refunded, which kind of makes sense too in fairness.
Overall a good topic to be posting about in my opinion.