携带大量现金入境未必一定是非法的。当旅行者在加拿大或美国入境时，他们所携现金超过10,000美元的部分必须向海关申报。大多数未申报的现金会被海关临时扣押，并将支付罚款。如果海关人员认为这些现金来自非法的活动，那么携带这些现金入境的人要想让海关把钱退还给他，就有义务证明这些钱是合法的。

　　美国海关边境保护局(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)的数据显示，从2009年到2011年，美国机场海关人员从中国公民收缴了逾500万美元的未申报现金。这在美国海关缴获的全部未申报现金中占比8.4%，是紧随其后的那个国家的两倍多。

　　Amid a rush of newly affluent Chinese eager to move money out of China, U.S. and Canadian border officials are seizing large amounts of cash tucked into wallets, purses and suitcases at airports across North America.

　　Officials at Canada&aposs two busiest airports─Toronto and Vancouver─seized around 12.9 million Canadian dollars ($13.0 million) in undeclared cash from Chinese nationals from April 2011 through early June 2012, according to documents provided to The Wall Street Journal by the Canada Border Services Agency。

　　The money, most of it returned to the owners, represented 59% of all cash seized at the airports in the period, according to the data. In the U.S., Chinese citizens are the top source of airport cash seizures after Americans。

　　In June, a Chinese man touched down at Vancouver airport with around $177,500 in cash─mostly in U.S. and Canadian hundred-dollar bills, stuffed in his wallet, pockets and hidden under the lining of his suit case. Clarence Lo, the Canadian Border Service officer who found the cash, said the man told him he was bringing the money in to buy a house or a car. He lt the airport with his cash, minus a fine for concealing and not declaring the money。

　　&aposHe wasn&apost very happy,&apos said Mr. Lo。

　　The financial penalty─at 2,500 Canadian dollars, or about $2,500─was a relatively small price to pay for successfully evading strict foreign-capital controls imposed by Beijing. China restricts private citizens from taking out more than $50,000 per individual per year. While it is hard to enforce these restrictions, Chinese authorities are scrutinizing outgoing private cash amid a broad anticorruption drive and as worry grows over the risks of capital flight。

　　The money seized at airports represents just a sliver of private Chinese money pouring out, but highlights that Chinese citizens are turning to one of the oldest and simplest methods to evade those controls: taking cash out in a suitcase。

　　Canada&aposs government has yet to provide historical data, but current and former Canadian officials who have worked closely on the issue of cross-border financial transactions say Chinese are bringing in more cash。

　　From 2009 to 2011, U.S. airport customs officers seized over $5 million in undeclared cash from Chinese citizens, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That is 8.4% of the total seized and more than double the nearest amount for another nationality。

　　Transporting large amounts of cash isn&apost necessarily illegal. Travelers must declare cash over $10,000 when they land in Canada or the U.S. Most undeclared cash is temporarily seized and subject to fines. If customs agents believe the cash comes from illegal activities, the onus is on the traveler to prove otherwise bore it is returned。

　　In China, violators of Beijing&aposs rules on moving out cash are also subject to fines. From 2007 to 2011, China&aposs State Administration of Foreign Exchange levied such fines totaling 1.27 billion yuan ($202 million)， according to the most recent data available。

　　However, among some Canadian law-enforcement officials, there has been reluctance to pass on information to Chinese peers about suspected illegal money flow。

　　A spokesman for the Border Services Agency declined to say whether it passed on information about cash seizures to Chinese authorities。

　　&aposThe dilemma for law enforcement is whether sharing of intelligence will create hardship for [Chinese] family members,&apos said Garry Clement, a former director of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police&aposs money-laundering section. That reluctance makes it harder to assess the legitimacy of Chinese money coming into Canada, he said。

　　In June, a Chinese anticorruption official told the state-run Xinhua news agency that China would ask other countries to freeze corrupt officials&apos illicit assets transferred abroad。

　　A Canadian official said the country&aposs Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade had no record of such a request。

　　The Chinese embassies in Ottawa and Washington didn&apost respond to requests for comment on Chinese nationals bringing cash to Canada. China&aposs State Administration of Foreign Exchange also didn&apost immediately respond. U.S. customs agencies didn&apost comment directly on cash seizures from Chinese individuals。

　　There are many legal and illegal ways of getting cash out of China besides the suitcase, financial-crime experts say. A common method is fraudulently manipulating invoices or other records in order to piggyback personal cash on top of legitimate business transactions。

　　An informal network of money-transfer middlemen has grown up around moving cash out of China。

　　Tony Savino, a Vancouver-based real estate agent, said he had a Chinese client who used an international money-wiring firm to gather cash sent from family members, in $10,000 batches, for a condo purchase。

　　Families can also spread out cash among members traveling by plane. Under the allowed limit, &aposa family of six, for example, could move $300,000 each year,&apos said Inspector Jean Cormier, acting director of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police unit that specializes in money laundering。

　　Some people go as far as getting a new passport. Mainland investor Bruce Lee said he became a Hong Kong citizen two years ago partly because of the territory&aposs looser currency rules。

　　In June, Mr. Lee paid $400,000 for an island off the coast of Nova Scotia. To get the cash for the purchase, he wired money from his furniture business in Guangzhou to a business in Hong Kong, and from there to Canada, moves that are legal under Hong Kong law。

　　Many people simply carry the cash. The $1 million seized from Chinese citizens at Los Angeles international airports over the last three years─an amount that has almost tripled since 2009─represented 17% of all cash seized in the city&aposs airports. Chinese money accounted for the second biggest cash seizures─after funds seized from Americans─at airports in Chicago and Detroit and the third biggest in Houston and San Francisco. In Detroit, cash seized in 2011 from Chinese citizens represented 18% of all cash taken, a ratio that had increased from 5% in 2009.

　　But those seizures are small next to the cash seized at Canadian airports, according to the Border Services Agency data, which were provided in response to a request under Canada&aposs Access to Information Act。

　　From April 2011 to early June 2012, border officials at Vancouver International Airport confiscated cash from 592 Chinese and 60 Hong Kong citizens carrying an average of $16,700 each, according to the data。

　　In that period, confiscations from Chinese were responsible for almost three quarters of all money taken at the airport。

　　At Toronto&aposs Pearson airport, border officials stopped 79 Chinese and 10 Hong Kong individuals bringing in $1.8 million in cash over the same period, or 27% of the total confiscated。

　　Canada has been a favorite destination for private Chinese cash. Property rules are relatively easy for foreigners, and the government rewards private investment with residency in many cases。

　　Canada&aposs quality of life and its large Chinese-speaking population have lured China&aposs new wealthy。

　　Money brought in by Chinese has over the years helped buoy property markets in places such as Vancouver and Toronto。

　　More recently, Chinese investors have been branching out. In 2010, Sharon Black, a Kelowna, British Columbia-based real estate agent, sold a winery for $2.9 million to a Chinese buyer。

　　It isn&apost unusual for new immigrants from China to bring $100,000 to $200,000 in cash, said Sam Peng, the Vancouver-based president of the Canada Chinese Investors and Entrepreneurs Association, a nonprofit that matches Chinese investors to Canadian financial advisers.It happens every day in Canada,&apos he said。

　　就在一批新富起来的中国人急于将资金转移出境的同时，美国和加拿大的边境官员在北美各机场收缴了大量塞进钱包、皮包和手提箱的现金。

　　加拿大边境服务局(Canada Border Services Agency)提供给《华尔街日报》的文件显示，从2011年4月到2012年6月初，在加拿大最繁忙的多伦多和温哥华机场，有关官员从中国公民那里收缴了约1,290万加元(约合1,300万美元)的未申报现金。

　　相关报道在机场缴获的这些现金仅仅只是涌出中国国门的民间资金的一小部分，但却凸显了中国公民正在使用一种最古老也最简单的方式来规避上述管制措施：用手提箱将现金携带出境。

　　加拿大政府尚未提供历史数据，但主要负责跨境金融交易的多位现任和前任加拿大官员说，中国人带入加拿大的现金越来越多。

　　美国海关边境保护局(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)的数据显示，从2009年到2011年，美国机场海关人员从中国公民收缴了逾500万美元的未申报现金。这在美国海关缴获的全部未申报现金中占比8.4%，是紧随其后的那个国家的两倍多。

　　携带大量现金入境未必一定是非法的。当旅行者在加拿大或美国入境时，他们所携现金超过10,000美元的部分必须向海关申报。大多数未申报的现金会被海关临时扣押，并将支付罚款。如果海关人员认为这些现金来自非法的活动，那么携带这些现金入境的人要想让海关把钱退还给他，就有义务证明这些钱是合法的。

　　在中国，违反北京方面有关携带现金出境相关规定的人也要被处以罚款。记者所能获得的最新数据显示，从2007年至2011年，中国国家外汇管理局征收的此类罚款总计人民币12.7亿元(合2.02亿美元)。

　　然而，一些加拿大的执法官员一直不愿向中国同行通报他们所掌握的中国人涉嫌非法携带现金入境加拿大的信息。

　　加拿大边境服务局(Border Services Agency)的一名发言人拒绝说明该机构是否将它查扣中国入境者所携带现金的情况向中国有关部门做了通报。

　　加拿大联邦警察部门加拿大皇家骑警(Royal Canadian Mounted Police)反洗钱机构的前负责人克莱门特(Garry Clement)说，加拿大执法部门面临的一个两难问题是，与中国方面分享情报有可能会给涉案中国人的家庭成员制造困难。他说，由于加拿大方面不愿意与中国方面分享情报，这加大了判断被中国人携带进入加拿大的现金是否合法的难度。

　　今年六月，中国一名反腐败官员对国有媒体新华社说，中国将要求其他国家冻结中国腐败官员转移至境外的非法资产。

　　一名加拿大官员说，没有记录显示加拿大外交与国际贸易部(Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade)接到过中国方面的这一要求。

　　中国驻渥太华和华盛顿的大使馆拒绝回应记者要求其就中国人携带现金入境加拿大问题发表评论的要求。中国国家外汇管理局也未立即对这一置评要求做出回应。美国海关未就查扣中国入境者所携带现金的事直接发表评论。

　　金融犯罪专家们说，除了把钱装进手提箱携带出境外，还有许多合法和非法的办法将现金带出中国。一个常用的方法是欺骗性地篡改发票或其它记录，以便借合法的商业交易将个人资金以暗度陈仓的方式弄出国。

　　目前已经形成了一个由专门负责转移资金的中间人组成的非正式网络，他们可以将资金转移出中国。

　　温哥华的房地产经纪人萨维诺(Tony Savino)说，他有一位中国客户借助一家跨国性电汇公司，将来自家庭成员的每笔汇10,000美元汇款聚合起来以购买公寓房。

　　想转移资金出境的家庭还可用化整为零的方式，让家庭成员分别携带现金乘飞机出境。加拿大皇家骑警反洗钱部门的代理负责人科米尔(Jean Cormier)举例说，一个有六名成员的中国家庭每年最多可合法携带30万美元现金出境。

　　有些人为了能更方便地携带现金出境甚至会更换护照。中国内地投资者Bruce Lee说，他两年前成为香港市民，而促使他这么做的原因之一就是香港的货币制度比较宽松。

　　今年六月，Bruce Lee花40万美元买下了加拿大新斯科舍省(Nova Scotia)海岸附近的一个岛。为拿到买岛的资金，他把钱从自己名下的一个广州家具公司电汇到香港一家公司，然后再从香港汇钱到加拿大。根据香港的法律，这样做是合法的。

　　也有很多人干脆就携带现金入境。过去三年，出入洛杉矶国际机场的中国公民被查扣的现金达100万美元(是2009年的近三倍)，占该市所有机场现金查扣总量的17%。芝加哥和底特律机场查扣的中国公民所携带现金，其数量仅次于这两座机场从美国人手里查扣的现金;休斯顿和旧金山机场从各国公民手中查扣的现金中，查扣自中国人的现金数量居第三位。2011年，底特律机场从中国公民身上查扣的现金占其现金总查扣量的18%，2009年这一比例为5%。

　　但美国机场从中国人手中查扣的现金额与加拿大机场比起来，就可谓小巫见大巫了。加拿大机场查扣的现金数据来自加拿大边境服务局，该机构应记者根据加拿大资讯公开法(Access to Information Act)提出的要求提供了相关数据。

　　数据显示，2011年4月至2012年6月初，温哥华国际机场(Vancouver International Airport)的边境官员从592名中国内地人和60名香港人手里查扣了现金，他们平均每人携带有16,700美元。

　　在上述这段时期，温哥华国际机场从中国公民手里查扣的现金占该机场现金总查扣额的近75%。

　　同期在多伦多皮尔森机场(Pearson airport)，边境官员查扣了79名中国内地人和10名香港人携带的180万美元现金，占该机场现金查扣总额的27%。

　　加拿大一直是中国私人现金最热衷的目的地。那里的房产法规对外籍人士来说相对宽松，而且很多情况下加拿大政府会对私人投资给予居留权。

　　加拿大的生活质量以及庞大的华语人口是吸引中国新富阶层的两大原因。

　　多年来，中国人携带入境的现金对温哥华和多伦多等加拿大城市的房地产市场一直起着支撑作用。

　　近年来，中国投资者的兴趣已不仅局限于房产。2010年，不列颠哥伦比亚省基隆拿(Kelowna)的房地产经纪人布莱克(Sharon Black)以290万美元的价格把一个酿酒厂卖给了一位中国买家。

　　加拿大华人投资者与企业家协会(Canada Chinese Investors and Entrepreneurs Association)的会长彭先民(Sam Peng)说，来自中国的新移民[微博]随身携带10万到20万美元进入加拿大并不是什么新鲜事。该协会属非营利组织，负责在中国投资者和加拿大金融顾问之间牵线搭桥。

　　彭先民说，在加拿大这是每天都会发生的事。

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