What customs in China actually checks for
China customs is not looking for your souvenir tea. At every big airport the process is a red-green channel: you walk through green if you have nothing to declare and red if you do, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred the green lane involves no human contact at all. The bag scanner still runs, so what you packed matters even if nobody stops you. I have been through Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi’an with camera gear, a crate of mooncakes, and once a very suspicious-looking bag of dried mushrooms, and only the mushrooms got a second look.
This page is about the process: the form, the channels, the declaration thresholds, and the handful of categories that genuinely cause trouble. The detailed allowance numbers live on our customs and duty allowances page. Rules shift, and the figures here were accurate in October 2026, so confirm anything expensive against the General Administration of Customs site or your nearest Chinese embassy before you fly.
Do you still need a health declaration?
No. The pandemic-era health declaration forms and the fever screening lanes are gone. As of October 2026 there is no routine health questionnaire for arrivals, though customs keeps the legal right to reintroduce screening during an outbreak. If your airline hands you a health form, it is out of date stock, and you can leave it blank.
The arrival card you fill in on the plane
Cabin crew on inbound flights usually distribute a small entry card, in Chinese and English, asking for your name, passport number, visa number, flight number, address in China, and signature. Fill it in with a pen you brought, because the shared pen at the front of the cabin is a popular object. Some carriers and some airports now push an electronic version through a QR code or a kiosk in the hall.
There is a separate customs declaration form for anyone carrying dutiable or restricted goods, available at the desks beside the green channel. Almost nobody needs it. If you think you might, take one and fill it in before you reach the lane, because the officer will ask you to fill it out anyway and doing it at a counter with a queue behind you is worse.
Red and green: how the channel system works
After the belt, the hall splits. Green is the nothing-to-declare lane and red is the declare lane, and the signs carry English underneath. Choosing green when you have nothing dutiable is correct, not risky.
Your bags still go through an X-ray at the exit of the green lane, and that is where most problems surface, not at the counter. Officers watch the screen and pull bags that show dense blocks, liquids, powders, or anything that looks like a plant. If your bag is pulled, they will open it, look, and usually wave you through. Smile, open the bag yourself, and do not argue about the legal theory of it.
The red lane is not a punishment. It is a desk with a form and an officer who would rather you declared an expensive camera than smuggled it by accident. Declaring a laptop on the way in and taking it out with you costs nothing.
Allowances for alcohol, tobacco, and personal goods
Visitors entering China can bring personal articles in reasonable quantities without duty: your clothes, your toiletries, one camera, one laptop, the gifts in your suitcase. The specific ceilings for alcohol and tobacco are the part people get wrong, and they are strictly enforced at land borders far more than at airports.
| Item | Duty-free limit for visitors | What happens over the limit |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol above 12% ABV | 1.5 litres | Duty on the excess, or abandonment |
| Cigarettes | 400 | Duty on the excess; large amounts may be treated as commercial |
| Cigars | 100 | Same treatment as cigarettes |
| Tobacco (loose) | 500 grams | Same |
| Commercially packaged food | Reasonable personal quantity | Rarely an issue if sealed and branded |
| Fresh fruit, meat, dairy, eggs | Prohibited | Confiscation, and a fine in some cases |
| Cash in foreign currency | USD 5,000 equivalent, declare above | Undeclared excess can be detained |
| Cash in RMB | 20,000 yuan in or out | Confiscation above the cap |
Two honest notes. First, the cigarette allowance is the one I see enforced; if you are carrying two cartons for a host family, declare it. Second, if you arrive on a visa that lets you stay months rather than days, an officer may reasonably decide a suitcase of brand-new electronics is not personal use. That is a judgement call, and the form you filled in is what they will point at.
The cash declaration line
Foreign currency above the equivalent of 5,000 US dollars has to be declared on arrival, and the declaration matters on the way out, because you are expected to leave with what you came in with. RMB has its own cap of 20,000 yuan carried in or out.
In practice, most visitors carry far less cash than that, because China runs on phone payments and almost nobody travels with thick bundles. I bring a couple of hundred yuan in notes and a card for the ATM. If you are travelling with cash for a reason, the declaration takes two minutes and is worth doing properly. Our money and ATM notes cover why a card beats a bundle of notes here.
Food, medicine, pets, and professional gear
Food and agricultural goods
Sealed, branded, commercially packaged food is normally fine. Fresh fruit, raw meat, unprocessed dairy, eggs, soil, seeds, and plants with roots attached are prohibited, and this is the category that gets sniffed out at the X-ray. Bring the chocolate. Leave the apple from the plane if the airline gave you one, and do not carry a bag of oranges from a hotel breakfast. I have watched a family lose a bag of beautiful Yunnan mushrooms at Shanghai simply because they were unpackaged, and nobody could argue with the rule.
Medicine
Bring your own medication in the quantities a person would plausibly use, in the original labelled packaging, with a copy of the prescription or a doctor’s letter. That covers the overwhelming majority of cases. The problem category is controlled substances, and the list is broader than most travellers assume: some strong painkillers containing codeine, certain ADHD stimulants, some sleeping tablets, and pseudoephedrine decongestants fall under Chinese controlled-drug rules.
I am not a regulator and you should not take a travel site as your clearance. Check with the Chinese embassy or consulate in your home country before you pack anything on the controlled list, and bring the letter. Carrying a printed prescription has never once slowed me down, and it belongs in the hand-luggage section of any China packing list.
Pets
A visitor may bring one dog or cat with a valid rabies vaccination certificate and a microchip, and the animal is usually released at the port if the paperwork is right. If the chip cannot be read or the vaccination is out of date, the animal goes into quarantine, potentially for 30 days at your expense.
Cameras, laptops, and drones
One camera and one laptop for personal use are unremarkable. A professional bringing a van’s worth of gear should declare it on entry and carry a carnet or an equipment list, because the alternative is convincing an officer on the way out that you brought it all in. Drones are a different problem entirely: registration rules apply before you ever fly, and our drone rules page explains the paperwork. Also worth knowing: some of what people want to photograph sits near secure sites, and the etiquette side is covered in our photo guidance.
Leaving China: antiques, ivory, and tax refunds
Export is a stricter business than import. Antiques bought in China need the official authentication seal, the small red wax stamp you will see discussed in any serious curio shop, and without it an item dated before 1949 can be stopped on the way out. If a dealer offers to ship it for you, ask why.
Ivory, rhino horn, tiger bone, and products from other endangered species are prohibited outright, and buying them is not a bargain. The same goes for anything made from protected timber sold without paperwork.
The happier side of departure is the VAT refund. Visitors can claim back roughly 11 percent on purchases of 500 yuan or more made in one participating store on one day, if the goods leave the country unused within the allowed window and you claim at the airport refund desk before check-in. It takes time and a queue, so build it into your departure plan.
Quick facts
- No routine health declaration is required for arrivals as of October 2026.
- Green channel means nothing to declare; your bags are still X-rayed on the way out.
- 1.5 litres of spirits and 400 cigarettes are the visitor ceilings most often enforced.
- Declare foreign cash above the equivalent of USD 5,000, and remember to declare it again on exit.
- Fresh fruit, meat, dairy, eggs, soil, and plants with roots are prohibited imports.
- Antiques need the official red authentication seal to leave the country legally.
- Controlled medications need a prescription letter; check the list with a Chinese embassy first.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to fill in an arrival card?
Usually yes, unless your airline uses the electronic version. Keep a pen in your pocket, write your hotel address in English and Chinese if you have it, and sign at the bottom. Missing signatures are the most common reason staff hand it back.
Will customs open my suitcase?
Only if the X-ray operator sees something interesting. Dense blocks, large liquids, powders, plant material, and anything that looks like a weapon get a second look. Opening the bag calmly ends the conversation quickly.
Can I bring tea and snacks home?
Sealed, packaged tea and confectionery are fine and are what most people carry. Loose agricultural products, seeds, and fresh produce are not. Dried mushrooms and dried meat sit in a grey zone that I would avoid entirely.
What about e-cigarettes and vape liquid?
Tobacco product rules apply, and the quantities are small. Treat vape liquid like tobacco rather than as a cosmetic, and do not carry multiple boxes. Chinese domestic vape rules are a separate topic and do not concern a visitor carrying a personal device.
Do prescriptions need translating?
Not officially, but a translated note alongside the original helps an officer who cannot read your language. I carry the original pharmacy label, a prescription printout, and a one-page doctor’s letter when anything is remotely sensitive.
Is the red lane a bad idea if I am unsure?
No. Declaring something and being waved through costs you ten minutes. Not declaring something and being caught costs you the item and possibly a fine. If you are genuinely unsure, take red.
How do I claim the VAT refund?
Ask the shop for the refund form at the time of purchase, keep the receipts and the goods unused, then visit the refund desk in the departure hall before you check bags in. Goods usually have to be shown, so pack them in hand luggage or be ready to open a suitcase.
Does any of this apply to the visa-free transit scheme?
Yes, the customs rules are identical. The transit scheme is about your entry permission and your onward ticket, which is a separate question entirely; see the visa-free transit rules and our China visa guide for that part.
Pack so the border is boring
The goal is a green lane and a scanner that finds nothing worth stopping. Tell us your flight, your medication list, and what you plan to buy and carry home, and we will flag anything likely to cause a conversation before you reach the airport.
Written by the ChinaTravelFood editorial team.
