When traveling in to China, it’s important to understand the customs regulations, so that you do not bring in any forbidden items. Though these things may be illegal, common sense alone should help you avoid any legal trouble, with the greatest fear being only that you could forfeit your goods upon entry to the country.
I will list the restricted items, then explain them each below.
You may bring with you up to four bottles of alcohol and three cartons of cigarettes. Guns and illicit drugs are forbidden, but common sense should already have told you this much. There is no limit on how much foreign currency you may bring in (such as cash AND travelers checks) but amounts in excess of $10,000 generally will require additional paperwork and must be declared on customs forms.
No vaccinations or inoculations are currently required to enter China, but those wishing to secure a work visa longer than six months will need to provide bona fide proof of a negative AIDS test.
Unless you have a particularly discerning taste in alcohol, don’t bother bringing in any at all. There’s no shortage of inexpensive, local beers and liquors. If you prefer the name brands you favor from home, such as Bacardi, Skyy, Jack Daniels or others, you can still find these with relative ease in China. Despite the fact that they had to follow you 6,000 miles across the world, they’ll probably be cheaper than in your local liquor store due to the high taxes typically applied in most states in America.
If you are a smoker, I strongly recommend you bring what you think will be enough to last you for your entire stay. The longest tourist visa is only 30 days and you’re allowed three cartons, so as long as you can keep it to a pack a day you should be fine. Finding American cigarettes in China can be more difficult than it seems. While you will find such brands as Marlboro Red readily available, they are not the same leaves and formula as you’d find back in the United States. It will be close, but not quite the same, so bring your smokes. If you smoke pipe tobacco or a premium (read that as rare and uncommon) brand of cigarette, you will be hard pressed to find anything close to it, so stock up in advance.
There is a very clear regulation against bringing firearms in to China. I don’t believe you’d be successful in boarding a plane with a firearm on your person or carryon baggage, but if you somehow might entertain the notion of packing one in your checked luggage, I advise you now against it. It is not the dumbest thing you could ever hope to do in a lifetime, but it is very high on the list.
If you are an abuser of illicit drugs, it is my suggestion that you do not travel to China, as they are one of the more progressive countries in terms of their war on drugs. The tolerance for illicit drugs, and if you have to ask which drugs I’m referring to, just assume that your favorite is on the list, is very, very limited. If you are a habitual drug user and you are bringing an amount sufficient to sustain you for a week or more, it could very easily be construed as a “for distribution” quantity, and that could land you in very hot water, for a very long time, regardless of how much power you think your family or money may carry. Think of it like a hand grenade. If you live in Afghanistan that may be a perfectly normal thing to have, but if you show up in a US airport holding one there isn’t any amount of diplomacy that will keep you from a lengthy stay in a very harsh prison.
We’d originally said that $10,000 was by far and away more money than you could ever wish to carry in to China, but we’ve since received two impassioned emails to the contrary. There’s no reason to limit the cost of your vacation, especially if your lifestyle affords you such expenditures, but easy is easy and that’s the best way out of this one. You can pay for your hotel and major purchases with credit cards (specifically Visa) and even get daily cash advances from your credit or debit card from many, many cash machines throughout the greater westernized China. If you still need to bring more than $10,000 in to China, you are free to do so, only that you must declare those negotiable funds with customs. If this is the case, do not fear doing so. You are not in trouble or suspect, unless you are inherently in trouble or suspect. China has many, many, many persons who travel in and out of the country regularly with far more money than any writer on this staff has ever personally held.
But the big caution has to do with coming home. If you’re bringing cameras and electronics with you to China (which, statistically speaking, all of us are,) you should seriously consider bringing proof that you are taking these FROM America, so that when you return TO America there will be no doubt that these are included in your original possessions.
If you do not have receipts, outbound customs can help you document them so that there will be no fear of facing import taxes on them upon return. I’ve never heard of this happening, but I have known several people who have taken these steps to insure that it would not.
