Sorry – been off sick.
The trouble with Chinese characters is that they don’t print unless the computer has been set up for them. EBay and credit card companies have rules and will only post to an address that matches my registered address and that is in pinyin. Apart from that I wouldn’t think that the overwhelming number of suppliers outside of China could actually print Chinese characters. Expecting them to accept photographic or postscript images is pushing my luck albeit that it might work with something posted by the family who are more tolerant in these matter.
I tried chasing the local post office for my missing mail and they just asked me for the China Post number of the package then shrugged their shoulders when I couldn’t produce one because it wasn’t domestic mail. While registering a letter might be a good idea, some suppliers are just not interested in customer service – HSBC in the UK, for example, told me that they could not post my credit and debit card to my registered home address in Chengdu except by surface mail or airmail. I suggested that I would happily pay for a courier but it they declined as it “was not part of their service”.
My latest idea is to change my registered address logged with my bank to my son’s address in the UK and get him to post me the bank cards by registered post. On receipt I will change the registration address back to my address in Chengdu. As for buying things on eBay – that doesn’t seem to be an option any more.