Arrivals hall
In short
Two channels: red to declare, green for nothing to declare. As a foreign visitor you must take the red channel for goods you are leaving in China worth RMB 2,000 or more, cash of RMB 20,000 or foreign currency worth US$5,000, 1,500ml of drink at 12% or stronger, 400 cigarettes, radio equipment, or anything commercial. China Customs publishes that if you do not know which channel applies, you take the red one.
Check entry rules by passportApplies to
Any foreign visitor arriving in mainland China by air, sea, rail or road, and the same visitor on the way out.
Check before you rely on it
The passenger guide carries no visible revision date and its supporting question pages are dated 2005. Treat these as the current published thresholds, and check the form you are handed at your own airport.
Review date: 2026-07-25
The declaration decision takes about twenty seconds and is made before you reach the hall. Every number below comes from the customs authority's own passenger guide.
The decision
Find any row that matches what is in your bag. One match sends you to the red channel; no matches sends you to the green one.
| What you are carrying | Threshold | Channel, and the source |
|---|---|---|
| Goods you are bringing in and leaving in China (you are not a Chinese resident) | RMB 2,000 or above in value | Red channel. Duty is levied on the part above the limit Customs sets. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Personal articles from overseas carried by a Chinese resident | RMB 5,000 or above in value | Red channel. Same rule on the excess. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Alcohol at 12% ABV or stronger | 1,500ml or above | Red channel. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Cigarettes, cigars or loose tobacco | 400 cigarettes, 100 cigars, or 500g of tobacco — or above | Red channel. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Cash, in or out | RMB 20,000 or above, or foreign currency worth US$5,000 or above | Red channel, arriving and leaving. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Animal and plant products, microbes, biological products, human tissue, blood | Any amount | Red channel. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Radio transmitters, radio receivers, communication security equipment | Any amount | Red channel, arriving and leaving. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Goods of commercial value, samples, advertising material, unaccompanied baggage | Any amount | Red channel. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| Leaving with a camera, video camera or laptop you want to bring back | Over RMB 5,000 each | Red channel on the way out. Ask for two forms so one endorsed copy comes back to you. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
| You are not sure whether any of this applies to you | No threshold | Red channel. Customs publishes that instruction for exactly this case. General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25 |
In order
Cash
The two currencies work differently, and only one of them has a hard ceiling.
Renminbi is capped. The limit allowed in or out is RMB 20,000, and the guide states that the exceeding part is prohibited.
Foreign currency is not capped, but it is tracked. There are no quantitative restrictions on foreign currency, traveller's cheques or letters of credit brought in. Above US$5,000 in cash you declare it, and Customs releases it on departure against the declaration made at your last entry. Ask for two forms so one endorsed copy comes back to you.
Source: General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China — Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (read 2026-07-25)
The published facts
Each line links the official source and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-07-25.
All inward and outward passengers complete a China Customs Baggage Declaration and declare truthfully, except those exempted from examination under the regulations and passengers under the age of 16 travelling with adults.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
The RMB 5,000 figure that circulates widely is the line for Chinese residents bringing personal articles from overseas. For a foreign visitor the trigger is personal articles intended to remain in China valued at RMB 2,000 or above. Duty is levied on the part above the limit Customs sets, subject to reasonable personal use.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
RMB 20,000 in cash or above, or foreign currency in cash worth US$5,000 or above, means the red channel going in and coming out. Renminbi also has a hard ceiling the foreign-currency rule does not: 20,000 yuan in or out, with the guide stating that the exceeding part is prohibited. The amounts, the paper trail and what happens on the way out are set out on our cash declaration page.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
Carrying foreign currency worth more than US$5,000 that you intend to take out again means filling out two declaration forms. Customs endorses them and returns one copy to you for use when you leave. The same two-form method applies on the way out to a camera or laptop worth over RMB 5,000 that you plan to bring back.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
Personal use means private use only, or presenting gifts to relatives or friends — not selling or lending. Reasonable quantity means the normal quantities based on your travel purpose and how long you are staying. Both phrases limit every allowance on this page.
Customs Clearance of Inward/Outward Passengers' Carried Baggage (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
Whichever channel you choose, your baggage cannot resist inspection by the Customs. Choosing green states that you have nothing on the declare list; it does not remove the power to open the bag.
Customs Clearance of Inward/Outward Passengers' Carried Baggage (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
A completed declaration form or other declaration documents, your own valid entry and exit certificates, and any attached certificates, commercial documents or other papers issued by the competent Chinese authorities permitting the entry or exit of the articles you are carrying.
What Documents Are the Incoming and Outgoing Passengers Required to Submit when Declaring to the Customs? (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, page dated 2005-08-26, read 2026-07-25)
Arms, imitation arms, ammunition and explosives. Counterfeit currency and counterfeit securities. Deadly poisons. Opium, morphine, heroin, marihuana and other addictive drugs and psychotropic substances. Printed matter, recordings and computer storage media detrimental to China's political, economic, cultural and moral interests. Fruit, solanaceae vegetables, live animals other than pet dogs and cats, animal products, soil, genetically modified organisms and other quarantine objects. Food or medicine from an epidemic-stricken area or harmful to people and livestock.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
Everything on the import ban list, plus manuscripts, printed matter, recordings and computer storage media involving state secrets; valuable cultural relics and other relics banned from export; and endangered and precious rare animals and plants, including specimens, seeds and reproducing material.
Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25)
Customs states that a passenger who fails to declare as required, evades customs supervision and carries goods that are prohibited, restricted or taxable will be penalised under the Customs Law and the General Administration of Customs regulations on implementing administrative penalties. The page names those two instruments and publishes no figure, so this page publishes none either.
How Will the Customs Respond to the Incoming or Outgoing Passengers Making No Declaration As Required? (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, page dated 2005-08-26, read 2026-07-25)
Your passport is examined by the border inspection authorities under Article 24 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law. Those authorities may separately inspect your belongings on national security or exit-entry order grounds under Article 6, and where necessary search a person under Article 66, in which case the search is conducted by two inspectors of the same sex as the person searched.
Articles 6, 24 and 66 · Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2021-03-10, read 2026-07-25)
The UK foreign ministry states that a passport must have an expiry date at least six months after your arrival date and two blank pages for visas and stamping, and that you will be denied entry without a valid travel document or if you try to use a passport reported lost or stolen.
Foreign travel advice: China — Entry requirements (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, read 2026-07-25)
In short
The allowance question, the cash question, and the one about walking green with something you should not have.
The red channel. China Customs publishes that instruction in those words: passengers who do not know the customs regulations or how to choose the channels should choose the Things-to-Declare Channel and make a declaration. Nothing bad follows from declaring something that turns out to be under the limit.
The published trigger for a non-Chinese resident is personal articles intended to remain in China valued at RMB 2,000 or above — that is the point where you must use the red channel and duty may be levied on the excess. The widely quoted RMB 5,000 figure is the line for Chinese residents, not for you.
Yes, at RMB 20,000 in cash or above, or foreign currency in cash worth US$5,000 or above, in both directions. Renminbi additionally has a hard 20,000 yuan ceiling. Our cash declaration page carries the amounts, the two-form procedure and what Customs releases on the way out.
The guide says all inward and outward passengers complete a declaration form and declare truthfully, other than those exempted under the regulations and under-16s travelling with an adult. In practice many airports run the form as a paper or electronic step before the channels; if no form is handed to you, ask at the counter rather than assuming.
Yes. Customs publishes that no matter which channel you choose, the baggage you carry cannot resist inspection. Border inspection has a separate power under Article 6 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law to inspect belongings, and under Article 66 to search a person, using two inspectors of the same sex.
Use the red channel on the way out for a camera, video camera, laptop or other trip necessity worth over RMB 5,000 each that you intend to bring back. Fill in two declaration forms; Customs endorses them and returns one copy for you to use when you re-enter.
Arms and imitation arms, ammunition, explosives, counterfeit currency and securities, deadly poisons, opium, morphine, heroin, marihuana and other addictive drugs and psychotropic substances, quarantine items such as fruit and live animals other than pet dogs and cats, and material Customs describes as detrimental to China's political, economic, cultural and moral interests. On the way out, add state-secret material, valuable cultural relics and endangered species.
Not published
A wrong-channel walk is an enforcement matter. Here is exactly where the published trail stops.
Primary source for the thresholds: Customs Clearance Guide for International Passengers (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, read 2026-07-25).
How much you may carry in and out, the two-form procedure above US$5,000, and what Customs releases on departure.
Open the cash rulesPrescription drugs, controlled substances, the exact days of supply China publishes, and the certificate the counter asks for.
Open pageArticle 38, what a police check involves, and what happens when the document is not on you.
Open pageThe other customs desk: the refund form, the 90-day rule and what actually lands in your hand.
Open pageNext move
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