Mail

If you are new to China, you are probably wondering about how to get letters and packages mailed to you from home. The simplest way is to not use your living address but rather to use your work address or the address of someone you trust. Most of the apartment mailboxes are not very secure and quite often, the locks are broken so anyone can pick up your mail, not just you.

To get packages sent from home to China you need to have the Chinese address written in BOTH English and Chinese characters. I recommend that you ask a friend or co-worker to write it out for you. Then the best thing to do is make a .pdf file or .doc file with several copies of the address (again in both English and Chinese) that you can then e-mail to someone back home. This way, all they have to print one out and paste it in the package or letter. It takes about 14 days to receive a package from the United States in China. The smaller of the flat-rate boxes will cost about $41.00 but you can put as much in it as you need to.

When the package arrives at the local post office in China, they will not deliver it to you. Rather they will deliver the carbon-copy customs manifesto to you which you will then have to present at the post office listed (CHINA-POST has big green signs, you can't miss them but make sure you go to the correct one) on the manifesto along with your passport.

To pick up your package, just walk in with your passport and the customs slip and present them to the clerk. The clerk will check your id against the one on the address line and then ask you to sign the customs slip. After that, they will give your passport back to you and give you your package. MAKE SURE THEY GIVE YOU YOUR PASSPORT BACK.

Don't be surprised if the corners of your letter or package are a little banged up, this is normal.

To send a package home, you should have someone who can write Chinese do the return address for you**, but it is essentially the same as it would be if you were home. You take your package to the post office where they weigh it and affix postage. You will have to fill out a customs declaration form and usually show some sort of ID. You will pay for the postage in China.

**The Chinese write their addresses differently than Americans or Europeans do. Where we go small to big (house number, street, city, county, country) they do the opposite so it is important to have a Chinese person check the address whether you are sending or receiving a package.