Common misconception. Metal is metal, valuable only for it’s manufacturing, engineering, decorative purposes. Gold is just as vulnerable as any other symbolic measure of wealth to the loss of faith in its value, and faith makes up the lion’s share of that value for gold. Platinum, palladium, iron, copper, many metals have real world uses that help support their real world value as opposed to their faith value. Leaving your gold holdings in a Chinese bank and accepting back some form of symbolic certificate or electronic marker only adds another layer of faith based currency to the transaction. Poorly based in the case of a Chinese bank given the lack of legitimacy of the Chinese government which would ultimately have to enforce the custody of your bullion actually held in their vaults.

A government without robust rule of law backed by dispersed and balancing institutions of power is a particularly poor risk to trust with your wealth. Such a government can, and in most probability someday will confiscate, by fiat, your holdings leaving you with no recourse. The “reality” of a specie “backed” currency is as illusory as a fiat currency. Specie depends on market forces independent of the world of treasuries and finance for its value. Oil is king right now, could be dross in a few short years.