Wall Street Journal (Chuin-Wei Yap): “In a warren of tiny shops beneath grimy residential towers, a white-haired man selling Snickers bars and fizzy drinks from a kiosk no larger than a cashier’s booth is figuring out a way to move $100,000 out of China.

That is twice what Chinese are allowed to send out of the country in a year. Licensed banks won’t do it. But middlemen like Mr. Chen, perched in his mini-mart at the front lines of a vast underground currency-exchange and offshore-remittance network, can and often will.

‘There’s never a certainty that these things can be done,’ said Mr. Chen… ‘But, usually, when things get stricter, the fee will just be a bit higher.’ Facing a turbulent stock market and a weakening economy, many Chinese are trying to move money offshore. That spells business for operations that can end-run capital controls. No official data track the underground transfers, but central-bank officials who attempt to say that underground banks handle about 800 billion yuan ($125bn) annually, and more than usual this year.”