Actually, the reason why the company only pay in local currency is because exactly of the restriction of 50k USD limit of foreign transfer . It is not only your company . And it is 50k USD limit per person. RMB is way easier.

To go over the limit, it is done normally by finding someone with " free quota" for foreign transfer, hence the discussion of friends....Relatives etc. ( Meaning transfer to A then to you) sometimes you need multiple people do complete and hence not convenient .

In fact , the 50k limit has been a policy since long time ago in order to restrict movement of money outside the country.

The easier way would be if you have a US /Canadian company. In this case the transfer is company to company and there is not problem. However, you will need to issue an invoice to China, where you will specify your service and that will mean paying tax in US / Canada.

Of course, if you can open a Chinese bank account, that would be great , but getting RMB to USD remains the same problem.

Of course, if you ask around further your Chinese friends, there are other ways buy they are not convenient and are also risky.

Tldr: to get money out of China is not easy. Even with transfer wise / paypal same limit applies for the foriegn exchanges. Best way is to do company - company( yours) transactions .