Interesting mystery. The description fits a night-booming cereus (Epiphyllum). The picture is a little hard to read, but the translucent leaves look more like some ferns than like the rather leathery and lobed leaves of an Epiphyllum. A fern would like lots of moisture and not a lot of light. It will never bloom. To bloom Epiphyllum wants to stay fairly dry and get lots of light, even direct sun, and to be a fairly mature plant. If it blooms, it will do so at night in late August or September in the Northern Hemisphere. An Epiphyllum has a firm stem, about 3/8" in diameter, which will extend for several feet in a mature plant. Leaves will come off every foot or so at a slight angle.
The fact that it came from China may or may not be a clue. Epiphyllums are from Central America and belong to the cactus family, but they have been hybridized and, of course, carried all over the world. Nevertheless, a plant coming from China seems more likely to be a fern.
My guess is that this is a fern of some sort, but I'm not good at identifying ferns.
Here's a link to the San Deigo Epiphyllum Society:
http://www.epiphyllum.com/