What You Can Bring Into China (and What Gets Taken at the Border)

Published 2026-10-25 · 71Asia Tours

Two queues, and the one people join by accident

Every international arrival hall in China ends the same way: baggage belt, then a wall of booths with two channels. Green means nothing to declare, red means you have something worth discussing. The common mistake is a traveller with four thousand euros and a bag of medicine taking green because the queue was shorter, then getting asked to open the bag anyway.

Going red is not an accusation. It is a counter where you say what you have, someone looks at it, and usually you walk on. The fines start when they find it instead of you showing it.

Cash: the rule that catches people who "just brought spending money"

China requires you to declare foreign currency above the equivalent of USD 5,000, and there is a hard 20,000 RMB limit on renminbi in or out. Above the line, the declaration is a form rather than a problem. The trouble is that people carrying eight thousand dollars in a money belt decide in advance that declaring sounds suspicious. It is the opposite: undeclared excess cash can be fined a percentage of the amount, and in bad cases confiscated.

You do not need that much cash anyway. Alipay and WeChat Pay cover almost everything, airport ATMs take foreign cards, and a few hundred renminbi gets you through day one. Bringing cash for a guide or a group payment? Declare it and keep your bank receipt.

Cigarettes, alcohol, and what duty-free actually means

The allowance is 400 cigarettes (or 100 cigars, or 500 grams of tobacco) and 1.5 litres of alcohol per adult. A carton over that is assessed for duty, and nobody has ever improved a trip to China by stocking up at the airport.

Hong Kong and Macao run their own customs and allowances, roughly a litre of spirits and 200 cigarettes each, and they are strict about tobacco duty. Crossing into the mainland resets you to mainland rules, so the carton bought in Kowloon counts against the 400 at Shenzhen.

Food is where they get serious

Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and eggs are not allowed in. Not a formality. Quarantine officers work the belts at Beijing Capital, Pudong and Baiyun with detector dogs, and the dogs are looking for the apple you took off the plane, the ham sandwich, the bag of dried beef. Sealed snacks, instant noodles, chocolate, coffee and tea are fine. Meat floss and anything with egg or dairy inside is a gamble.

Fruit costs fifteen renminbi on the other side of the door, and a quarantine record is a silly way to start a holiday.

Medicine, which is where the real trouble lives

Bring medicine in its original packaging, in a quantity that matches the length of your trip, with a copy of the prescription and a doctor's letter in English. That covers most ordinary cases: antibiotics for a known condition, inhalers, insulin, EpiPens. Keep injectables in the cabin bag.

The problem category is controlled drugs. Codeine painkillers, strong sleeping tablets, ADHD medication, testosterone and anything opioid-adjacent are regulated in China, and a foreign prescription does not automatically travel with them. Some need an import permit arranged before you fly. If you take something in that bracket, check the current list with the Chinese embassy, carry the paperwork and declare it. A declared medicine with a prescription is a conversation at a counter. The same packet found in a scan is a different kind of afternoon.

Things that raise eyebrows: books, maps, drones, vapes

Printed material gets looked at, and maps are the sensitive part: a foreign map that colours the borders in a way Beijing does not accept will be taken. Satellite phones need approval before arrival, so leave them home. Drones above 250 grams need registration, and flying near airports, government buildings or anywhere in Tibet is not a grey area. E-cigarettes come in for personal use, but fruit flavours have been off the legal market since 2022. Power banks fly in the cabin only.

The exit rules are stricter than the entry ones

Anything made before 1949 counts as a cultural relic and needs an export permit. Buy from a licensed antique shop and you get the red wax seal that makes the piece legal at the airport; buy the same-looking bowl from a market stall in Xi'an and you own something that can be confiscated. Ivory, tortoiseshell and rhino horn are banned outright and enforced. Soil, seeds and live plants are out. If you are claiming a VAT refund, the goods must be unused, boxed, and inspected before the bag goes on the belt.

Region by region

Beijing and Shanghai have the biggest, most thorough arrival halls, and the longest red-channel queues. If you are using the 240-hour visa-free transit, your arrival city also fixes how far you are allowed to roam.
Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing are usually domestic arrivals, so customs happened somewhere else. Your real filter is domestic security: lighters, matches and liquids over 100 millilitres.
Tibet checks your permit before boarding and takes an interest in drones, satellite gear and maps. Walkie-talkies are not worth the argument.
Zhangjiajie has little international traffic, so most people arrive domestically. Flying in from Hong Kong or Taipei means the normal rules apply at Hehua.
Hong Kong and Macao are gentle on food and hard on tobacco duty. Do not assume mainland shopping is duty-free when you cross back.
Taipei is the strictest in the region on pork. A sausage from the mainland can draw a fine in the hundreds of thousands of New Taiwan dollars. No meat, no fresh fruit, no seeds.

If they pull you aside

Be dull, be polite, keep your receipts, and do not negotiate the fine at the counter. Losing a bag of food costs you lunch. Ask for a receipt for anything taken. The serious outcomes are reserved for undeclared drugs and undeclared currency, which is why those sections are worth rereading before you pack.

Written by the team at 71Asia Tours, a China-based tour operator with licensed Spanish- and English-speaking guides. Browse all tours · About us · Our guides · Reviews · FAQ