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Entry:
Tourists must fill out a baggage declaration form (in two copies) and hand it in to customs, retaining the carbon to show upon exit.
Personal belongings will be admitted duty free, including food, two bottles of liquor and two cartons of cigarettes. Wristwatches, radios, tape recorders, cameras, movie cameras, and similar items may be brought in for personal use but cannot be sold or transferred to others and must be brought out of China.
Gifts for relatives or friends in China, or articles carried on behalf of other, must also be declared.
Visitors can bring in an unlimited amount of foreign currency and Chinese Renminbi (RMB) traveler's checks, and the unspent portion can be taken out.
Exit
On leaving China, tourists must again submit the baggage declaration form for customs inspection (the second copy). Travelers by ship are exempted.
Items purchased in China with RMB converted from foreign currencies may be taken out or mailed out of the country after receipts are presented for customs inspection. In cities where a Customs Office does not exit, this can be arranged through the local Friendship Store. |
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According to Chinese law, passengers entering or leaving China should have their luggage cleared through the Customs office. Upon entering or leaving China, the passenger should truthfully declare to the Customs what is contained in his or her luggage.
1. Articles Subject to Entry and Exit Restrictions
- Cigarettes and Liquors
Passengers |
Set Bounds to Duty-free Tobacco Products |
Set Bounds to Duty-free > 12° |
Inbound and outbound Hong Kong and Macao passengers(including passengers from and to Hong Kong and Macao) |
200 cigarettes, or 50 cigars, 250 grams of cut tobacco |
One bottle(less than 0.75 liters) |
Going forth and back within 24 hours, or shuttling between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao Many times in a short period of time |
40 cigarettes, or 5 cigars, or 40 grams of cut tobacco |
Not allowed for duty free |
Other inbound passengers |
400 cigarettes, 100 cigars, or 500 grams of cut tobacco |
Two bottles (less than 1.5 liters) |
Note:
Restrictions on the importation of dutiable amounts of cigarettes and liquors are the same as those on duty free amounts; passengers under 16 years of age are net allowed to carry any cigarettes nor liquor into China.
- Articles for Your Own Use
A passenger entering China is allowed to carry one camera, one portable cassette tape-recorder, one small cine-camera, one portable video camera, and one portable word-processor. Those who have brought more than the limited quantities should truthfully declare to the customs and go through relevant formalities. The articles permitted to be carried into the territory temporarily for personal use must be taken out of China on the passenger' s return trip.
- Gold & Silver
A passenger entering China is allowed to carry a reasonable amount of gold, silver and articles made of them for personal use. Those who carry more than 50 grams should declare with the Customs for relevant formalities, and take them out of China on their return journeys. The gold, silver and products made of gold and silver (including inlaid jewelries, utensils and new arts and crafts) the inward passenger has bought with his own money in foreign currency, can be carried out of China after they have been checked by the Customs along with the special invoices issued by the People's Bank of China.
- Foreign Currency
Passengers entering China are allowed to carry an unlimited amount of foreign currency, travelers cheques and credit cards. Resident passengers carrying foreign cash currencies exceeding the equivalent of 2,000 US dollars (or non-resident passengers carrying 5,000 US dollars) should declare to the Customs. When leaving this country, the declarer may take with him the unused portion of the foreign currency bills, provided the certificate issued by the Chinese Foreign Exchange Administration for foreign currency bills carried by the passenger entering China is presented to the Customs at the place of exit and found correct after verification.
- Renminbi
A passenger entering or leaving China is allowed to carry no more than RMB 6,000 yuan with him.
- Cultural Relics
If you have carried cultural relics (including works by deceased famous contemporary calligraphers and painters) into China and want to take them with you on your journey home, you are requested to report the details to the Customs. The cultural relics to be brought out of China by a passenger are subject to inspection and appraisal by a cultural administrative department in China. When carrying cultural relics out of China you should make a specific declaration about them to the Customs. The Customs may refuse to release the cultural relics unless they bear a seal authorized by a Chinese cultural administrative department and an invoice indicating that they can be sold to foreigners. Cultural relics obtained through other channels may be taken out of China if they bear a seal and an export permit authorized by a cultural administrative department. Make sure you are not carrying any cultural relic that has not been appraised by Chinese authorities. Those who carry cultural relics without faithfully declaring to the Customs will be prosecuted according to law.
- Chinese Medicines & Patent Drugs
Passengers leaving China for foreign countries are allowed to carry no more than 300 yuan worth of traditional Chinese medicines and patent drugs; those bound for Hong Kong and Macao, no more than 150 yuan. The value of an individual parcel of traditional Chinese medicines and patent drugs to be mailed to a foreign country should not exceed 200 yuan; if such a parcel is to be mailed to Hong Kong or Macao, its value should not exceed 100 yuan. Inbound passengers taking out of China an appropriate amount of traditional Chinese medicine and patent drugs purchased with their own foreign currency for their own use are released upon Customs examination of the invoices and exchange memos. Musk, as well as traditional Chinese medicine and patent drugs that exceed the quantitative limits, are not allowed to leave China.
- Souvenirs
With the exception of those products whose export is subject to export permits or customs duties, inward passengers are allowed to carry, on their return journey, unlimited value, variety and quantity of souvenirs and arts and crafts bought with their own foreign currencies. The Customs releases these articles after examining the relevant invoices and foreign exchange memos.
2.Articles not allowed into or out of China
－Articles Not Allowed to Enter China
Weapons, imitation weapons, ammunitions, and explosives;
Forged currencies and negotiable securities;
Printed matters, films, photographs, gramophone records, movies, recording tapes, videotapes, VCDs, computer storage media and other articles whose contents are detrimental to Chinese politics, economy, culture and morality;
Various poisons;
Opium, morphine, heroin, marijuana and other addictive drugs;
Animals, plants or other products which may carry dangerous diseases, viruses, parasites, etc.
Foodstuff, medicines, or other products deemed to be harmful to humans or animals, those from areas with epidemics, or those which may spread diseases.
－Articles Not Allowed to Leave China
All the articles not allowed into China;
Manuscripts, printed matters, films, photographs, gramophone records, movies, recording tapes, videotapes, VCDs, computer storage media and other articles whose contents are involved with state secrets;
Valuable cultural relics and other cultural relics not allowed to leave China by law;
Endangered and valuable species of animals, plants (including samples), as well as their seeds and breeding materials |
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On arrival in China from abroad, you have to go through the following procedures, just as in other countries.
A: Hygienic Quarantine
Passengers entering or leaving China are subject to hygienic inspection by border quarantine offices at ports opened to foreigners.
Those who carry such unusual articles as microorganisms, human body tissues, biological products, and blood and its products, should declare to the quarantine department, and submit these articles to quarantine inspections. Those who have brought, or consigned for shipment, luggage or objects which may cause the spread of contagious diseases should accept quarantine inspections. The quarantine inspection department is obliged to handle or destroy foodstuffs, drinks and aquatic products contaminated by contagious diseases.
Passengers from areas infested with yellow fever should, when entering China, present to the quarantine department effective certificates showing that they have been inoculated against yellow fever. Those who have failed to present valid certificates shall be retained for observation for six days beginning from the day they left the infested area, or they shall be inoculated and retained until the certificates come into effect.
It is the task of the Chinese quarantine department to deny entry to foreigners suffering AIDS, venereal diseases, leprosy, mental diseases and open tuberculosis.
B: Animal & Plant Quarantine
The entry of the following articles into China is banned:
- Animal and plant pathogens (including bacterial and venomous vaccines), pests and other injurious organisms;
- Animals and plants, their products, and other quarantine objects from countries and regions infested by infectious diseases;
Animal carcasses;
- Soil;
- Animals and plants and related products and other quarantine articles, when being brought into China, should be declared to the Customs and submitted to inspection by the border quarantine department. Those who bring animals into China should hold quarantine and other certificates issued by original country or region of departure.
- Each passenger is allowed to bring one pet into China, and such pets should be accompanied by quarantine and hydrophobia immunity certificates issued by the quarantine authorities of the original country or region.
C: Frontier Inspection
During this procedure, you are required to fill in Entry Registration Cards, and present your passport, visa and quarantine certificates for inspection. The frontier inspection station has the right to forbid the personnel with any of the following circumstances to enter China:
- Those who hold no exit-entry certificates
- Holders of invalid, false, altered exit-entry certificates
- Holders of other persons' certificates
- Those who refuse to receive the health check and the frontier inspection
- Those who fail to pass through the port specified
- Those who are forbidden to enter by the Ministry of Public Security of the State Council and the Ministry of State Security
- Those who are not permitted according to the Chinese laws and administrative regulations
D: Luggage Check
For the sake of maintaining social safety, the frontier inspection station has the right to check all the luggage brought into China.
Old and waste materials, food, micro-organisms, biological products, portions of human body, blood or its products, or animals that may spread infectious diseases among humans are forbidden to enter. Any printed material, film, tapes that are 'detrimental to China's politics, economy, culture and ethics' are also forbidden to bring into China. Also during this process, customs declaration will be made. And only when you pass all the procedures that you really and legally enter China. |
