HK Fx Reserves Rank 9th Worldwide

HK Fx reserves grew to USD157.7 billion at the end of Jul 2008 (up 0.6%from USD157.6 billion at the end of June 2008). The world's largest foreign currency holdings: China, Russia, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, Singapore, and HK.

But HK is the only place with no currency controls. In China the government restricts the amount of foreign currency that can be held by the residents and exchanges RMB for your foreign currency holdings. If you need to get foreign currency, for example for travel and trade you will need to apply to exchange your RMB.

China has loosened Fx controls in the past few years on the back of increased foreign currency reserves, and Chinese citizens now can exchange USD20,000 per year. However, that does not mean that they can carry that much out of the country.
In India, citizens can invest USD200,000 per year overseas.