What's Allowed/Not Allowed in China?

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Hi Everyone,

 

My upcoming trip to China and a persisteent question from ShuPing has me wondering about what kinds of things are not allowed in China.

 

ShuPing, from time to time, will ask me what she must do when she comes to America. At first I took it that she wanted to know legally what she needed to do to stay here. But the more she asked about it, the more it became clear to me, she wants to know what she is and is not allowed to do in the US. My answer to her thus far has been, "Just be yourself and don't commit murder, steal things or beat people up and you'll be fine." Somehow I don't think this is the answer she's looking for.

 

Then it dawned on me, there are things we do in the US that folks can't do in China. Then I thought it might be helpful, not just for when I go there, but to help her understand, if I knew what those things are. So if anyone can shed some light on this, it would be appreciated.

 

One question that has come up, one that illustrates the point is, can I take a Chinese bible to ShuPing's sister? ShuPing asked me to and I thought nothing of it until I asked a friend of mine if he knew where I might find one. He told me where but cautioned that his church had trouble getting bibles into China. So before I spend a few dollars on a bible and pack it in my suitcase, I'd like to know if customs is going to have a problem with it.

 

I think I know enough to leave the "Free Tibet" bumperstickers here, but what else should I leave behind?

[Mick]

If you only take the one Bible with you, it should be no problem. Contrary to popular belief, Bibles are readily available in China at almost any church. Where people run into to trouble is when they try to carry in many Bibles. I never had any difficulty with customs and I always carried a lot of books with me. I always tried to avoid dealing with politically charged issues. I call them the "Three Ts"....Tianammen, Tibet, Taiwan. Try to stay away from these three subjects both in terms of literature and conversation. Do not openly criticize the government in any way, either verbally or in print. China, although it has a far different set of rules than we do, is not nearly as repressive as we are led to believe. True, there are incidents of repression from time to time, but in terms of most people's daily lives, things are a lot freer that they use to be.

[chinadave2001]

Hi Mark,

Bringing an individual Bible is not a problem. I always bring mine...they are highly to search your bags....Bringing a suitcase of Bibles is not a good idea.......you should not openly criticize the Chinese government. You should not be involved in any demonstrations against the chinese gov, nor take pictures of the chinese government dealing with demonstrators, etc... you get the idea. be very careful not to directly criticize anyone, anytime, anywhere. You will embarrass them, especailly as a foreign guest- causing a loss of face and hurt feelings...If someone does something that upsets you, try not let them know about it, especially in front of other people....try to be deferential to those that are older than you, or in higher positions in society....At dinner, let the host toast three times before you offer one....bring a business card (lots of them) if you have one ...if not, maybe your fiance can make one for you... they are easy to make and not all that expensive.

I am sure others will chime in....

Good luck!

"Chinadave"

[chinadave2001]

darn it! I read these things three times before posting and I still leave out words/....I hate when I do that!

It should say "they are highly unlikely to search your bags...."

Chinadave

[se_lang]

I know you can bring things in for personal, use but a chinese bible written in chinese could be a little hard to explain if you don't read chinese, but on the other side what they don't know cant hurt you, I have never had my bags searched one guard even directed me around an xray machine. I think all they would do is take it away or maybe make you bring it back out with you when you leave.

 

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on webcam.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Thanks guys, I'll go ahead and hit the purchase button on Amazon.com Chinese bible order. I only intend to bring the one bible and if I'm asked I'll just say it's to help me learn Chinese.

 

I'm assuming that since no one has any horror stories about being repressed by the Chinese government, it's not something to worry about, not that I was anyway.

 

ShuPing's concerns may just be cultural. Good info Dave on that side of things. These are the kinds of things that help make any cross-cultural relationship better.

 

Boy, this whole combining 2 cultures thing may not be easy, but at least it'll be educational.

[chinadave2001]

I'll share one anecdote about cultural difficulties....

I have two friends that live in China, in Qingdao...Charlie and Cathy....their son is married to a Qingdao girl...there was a dinner when they and the parents of this girl got together, along with several other couples, and, well, the girls father said something at that dinner that embarrassed Charlie....and Charlie got angry and made a big scene....it was a full six months before her parents would speak to Charlie and Cathy, largely because Charlie had embarrassed them by making a scene....and loss of face, etc....I don't remember exactly what was said that made Charlie angry, But I do remember that he later regretted reacting in such a way, especially since he lives there and is veteran ex-pat....sometimes alcohol can dilute your thinking as well....

[keelec]

Sorry, I haven't made it to China yet. But, I assume that several of the issues would be similar to my experiences in Russia. Perhaps others would confirm.

 

Recently I think someone posted the general (government) guidelines of what could be brought into and out of the countries.

 

In the Moscow airport, they had two lines: "Nothing to Declare", and "Something to Declare". On both trips, I chose the "nothing to declare" line because it seemed to be a straight shot to the exit (no searches).

 

For a tourist, the issues seemed to be more related to what you could leave the country with than what you could bring into the country.

 

Money:

You can not take more than about $1000 cash out of Russia unless you can prove that you brought that money into the country when you arrived. It normally isn't a problem if you intend to spend most of what you brought with you. So, if you do not have to declare your money unless you expect to bring lots of it back out with you.

 

Computers:

These could be a problem. If you declared bringing a laptop into the country, you would be expected to bring it back out. And, you might be questioned if you brought one out that you didn't declare, or tried to leave without one that you had declared. I never brought a computer with me so I didn't pay much attention to it.

 

Another note. There are certain devices that the USA will not allow you to take out of the country, although I have never heard of any checks. In theory, you can not take GPS devices with you. Some phones/Palm Devices/laptops are now having the GPS devices built in.

 

Antiques:

I actually had a surprisingly difficult time finding antique stores in Russia. At least in the small cities, they just don't really think about antiques (although, many families have antique Samovars as a central display in their house). I was told that the rule was pretty much that if you tried to take an antique out of the country that was better suited to be in a museum, it could be taken at the airport. They weren't very specific about that.

 

When I was in Egypt, the rule was quiet simple. You could take any antique out of the country that was less than 500 years old or so. However, you couldn't take out anything that was over 1000 years old. Of course, that wouldn't mean that shop keepers wouldn't be willing to sell you ancient artifacts which are presumably quite cheap because they are not generally marketed to tourists.

 

Literature:

There seemed to be something about bringing pornography into the country (although I have seen it forsale in newsstand windows).. Also, avoid revolutionary or anti-government documents.

 

FILM

In theory there was limitations about transporting film and pictures (This may be Russia only, and not China). Yet, tourists took pictures all of the time. I even have a few pictures from inside Red Square and the Kremlin. I assume that by putting it into the regulations, if they decide that the content of your pictures is inappropriate, they can confiscate them. Or, perhaps they could require undeveloped film to be checked before letting it leave the country. Of course, be conscientious about the appropriateness of taking pictures. Many churches have a no photos rule. Anyway, it was never an issue for me.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

I don't think the disrespect thing will come into play for me, I'm generally easy-going and not easily perturbed. I also grew up having to respect my elders, so that's second nature. If I do anything "wrong" it would be something like toasting my host before his/her 3rd toast.

 

As far as bringing anything into the country, I only plan to bring my camcorder and digital camera, the bible and clothes. I'm not sure what I'll bring back with me, it will probably be minimal. A few gifts for those back home. Hmmmm, I wonder if ShuPing will fit in the suitcase.....

[Robert S.]

When I was in Dalian two years ago my wife would not let me buy a kite from these old guys that were flying and selling kites in front of the main government building on the huge lawn there. She was very, very vehement about it. Later she explained that these guys did not have permission to be selling on the government property and that if I bought a kite from them then someone might inform on me and it would cause a problem for her and her family. I thought she was overzealous, but she did grow up during the "cultural revolution."

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

That's the kind of thing I want to know about. I know China was pretty repressive at one time and that's got to have had an effect on the people. Maybe it's region to region or rural to urban. Do people have a different concept of the government in Beijing than they do in a small farming community?

 

ShuPing showed some concern that (and I may not have understood her correctly) if we were to stay together in the same hotel room before getting our marriage license, someone would tell the police. It sounded as if it were against the law rather than just a matter of cultural morality. (She also told me that her family would be embarrassed if we did it).

 

So, how free can that be?

[se_lang]

ShuPing showed some concern that (and I may not have understood her correctly) if we were to stay together in the same hotel room before getting our marriage license, someone would tell the police.  It sounded as if it were against the law rather than just a matter of cultural morality.  (She also told me that her family would be embarrassed if we did it).

 

So, how free can that be?

well against the law or not if it brings shame to her family don't do it, I am sure you can find other ways to spend quality time together (afternoon-delight) **ok Dave insert image here**

 

My MM was from a big city so it was not an issue, except with her 8 year old nephew who was upset cause she did not return home that night, Hence my screen name

 

Free? hmmmmm try to masturbate in public and see how free you really are.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Alrighty then.

 

I think my decision about whether to make the wedding official or not is becoming clearer. I hope they don't post someone outside the door during the day.

 

Free is relative, I suppose. In Germany, at least when I lived there, it was not illegal to pee on the sidewalk, but you never actually saw anyone doing it, at least not on a busy one anyway.

 

I bet it's not leagal in Beijing.

 

You know the problem with Pinyin is the accents and typing them on the computer, you never know which form of a word to look up in the dictionary. That being the case, what does "se lang" mean?

[se_lang]

the polite meaning of se lang is womanizer that is what the book says but I think it is really sex maniac, either way speaking of Germany my nic name when I was there was geil schlumpf (horny smurf) go figure. I was stationed there and I did see one man that let his kid piss on the wall of a church but you are right you dont really see it unless it was a bunch of GI's coming back from the bar at 3am.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Germany, Ahhhh yes. Those were the days.

 

Another German social more' that I was rather fond of was public nudity. I bet that's not legal in Beijing either.

 

So what do we Americans do when we go to China? Simply rely on our common sense and heavily on our gals to tell us what's OK and what's not? I'm sure I'll be much more knowledgable once I've been there, but for now, I've got a million questions. Too many to be answered here, I'm sure.

 

That whole illegal co-habitation thing was valuable info, that's for sure.