What to Pack for China: A Complete Packing Guide

For a first trip to China, pack as you would for any city trip, then add three things you cannot sort out after landing: your passport with the right visa or visa-free paperwork, a phone that pays with Alipay or WeChat Pay plus a backup card, and a power bank with a clear 3C mark in your hand luggage. Bring your own toothbrush, because Chinese hotels are now told not to put disposables in the room unless you ask. Carry your medicine with its prescription, and pack clothes for the region and season you will actually be in. Below: what to bring, what to skip because it is easy to buy locally, and what you cannot bring at all.

The Three Things You Cannot Fix After You Land

A forgotten phone cable is a ten-minute stop at a convenience store. These three are different: get one wrong and you can be stopped at the border, left unable to pay, or have your power bank taken at airport security.

1. Passport and the right entry paperwork

Ordinary passport holders from 50 countries can visit for up to 30 days without a visa, and for most of those countries the current policy runs until 31 December 2026, so check that your dates fall inside it. Visa-free entry needs a valid ordinary passport that covers your stay, and border officers can ask why you are visiting, so carry your return flight and hotel bookings.

The often-quoted "six months of validity" is a visa application rule: the Chinese embassy in the US asks for more than six months left and two blank visa pages when you apply. For the 240-hour visa-free transit, the passport needs at least three months of validity and you need a booked onward ticket to a third country. To find your route, start with Do You Need a Visa for China?, then read 30-day visa-free entry or 240-hour visa-free transit.

2. A phone that pays, and a backup card

Most everyday payments, from noodle shops to metro rides, go through Alipay (支付宝, Zhīfùbǎo) or WeChat Pay (微信支付, Wēixìn Zhīfù), and both let you link a foreign card. In Alipay you register with your phone number, add your card, and enter your passport details before the first payment. Do it at home, where your bank can reach you if it blocks the first foreign transaction. Our Alipay setup guide walks through each screen.

Bring two physical cards on different networks and keep them in different bags. Government policy asks large shopping areas, scenic sites and hotels to accept cards for bigger payments, with QR codes for small ones and cash as the fallback, so the backup card is useful even when your phone is not.

3. A power bank with a clear 3C mark, in your hand luggage

Since 28 June 2025, a power bank with no 3C (CCC, China Compulsory Certification) mark, an unreadable mark, or a recalled model cannot be taken on domestic flights in China. Power banks never go in checked luggage: up to 100 Wh you can carry them on without approval, 100–160 Wh needs airline approval with a limit of two, and over 160 Wh is not allowed. Some airlines also set a number limit, so check your airline's rules. If yours has no 3C mark printed on it, buy one that does before you go, or buy one in China.

Documents and Money

Keep these on your body, not in the suitcase. The full pre-departure version, with customs, apps and emergency numbers, is our essential items checklist.

• Passport, plus your visa or the bookings that back up visa-free entry. Hotels register foreign guests with the police for you, so you hand it over at every check-in.
• Copies of your passport photo page, visa, insurance and bookings, saved offline on your phone and on paper in another bag.
• Two bank cards on different networks, carried separately.
• A little cash in yuan for a day or two of small purchases. Cash is legal tender and shops may not refuse it.
• Travel insurance details: policy number and claims line. See travel insurance for China.

Your phone also needs data from the moment you land, because payments, maps and ride-hailing all run online. China's official Travel China website suggests short-stay visitors buy a regional eSIM with China coverage before entry and activate it on arrival. That is general advice, not an endorsement of any provider; our own pick is a travel eSIM from Airalo; our China SIM card and eSIM guide compares it with a local SIM bought at the airport.

Electronics and Plugs

Mainland China runs on 220 V and 50 Hz. Current sockets have separate two-pin and three-pin outlets, and the old "universal" sockets that took foreign plugs have been banned from production since 1 June 2010 because their loose holes caused shocks and overheating. You may find one in an older hotel room, but do not count on it. Pack an adapter that takes two flat pins (often called Type A) and three angled flat pins (often called Type I). A compact one with USB ports, like those on Amazon, charges your phone and camera from one socket.

Read the small print on each charger. "100–240V" means it works in China with just a plug adapter, and almost all phone, camera and laptop chargers say this. Hair dryers and straighteners made for 110 V countries often do not, and can burn out. Leave them at home; most hotel rooms have a hair dryer. Hong Kong is different again: it requires three-pin plugs that meet its own safety rules, the type travellers call Type G. Plug types for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, power bank choice and phone setup are all in Tech & Adapters.

Clothing: Pack for Your Region and Season

A January trip to Beijing and a January trip to Guangzhou need different bags. Pack for the coldest and wettest stop on your route, and plan on layers rather than a separate outfit for each city.

• North in winter (December to February), such as Beijing, Xi'an and Harbin: a warm coat, thermal base layers, hat, gloves and shoes with good grip. Indoors is usually heated, so layers you can take off help more than one heavy sweater.
• South in winter, such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu: milder outside, but while northern cities have central heating, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu and cities further south usually do not, so older buildings can feel as cold inside as out. Pack a warm layer to wear indoors and thick socks.
• Summer (June to August) in the east and south: hot, humid and often rainy. Light quick-drying clothes, a hat, a small umbrella, and one long-sleeved layer for cold air-conditioning on trains and in malls.
• Spring and autumn: the easiest seasons. A light jacket and layers; mountains and the far north still get cold at night.

In every season, bring walking shoes that are already broken in: sightseeing means long distances, stairs and old stone paths. For temples, clothes that cover shoulders and knees are the respectful choice. Packing cubes from Amazon help if you are crossing climates and want winter layers in one block and summer clothes in another.

Winter travellers who use heat packs: airports advise that the stick-on kind can go in hand or checked luggage in normal personal amounts, rechargeable hand warmers count as power banks, and electric hot-water bags with liquid inside must be checked in. For month-by-month detail, see Clothing by Season and Weather by Region.

Toiletries, Medicine and Small Items

Bring your own toothbrush: hotels are told not to hand out disposables

China's Ecological Environment Code, in force since 15 August 2026, says tourism and accommodation businesses should not actively hand out disposable items. A national plastics plan had already set the end of 2025 for all hotels, guesthouses and homestays to stop offering single-use plastic items unasked, suggesting vending machines or refillable dispensers instead. Shanghai has listed six items hotels do not put in rooms since 2019: toothbrush, comb, bath scrubber, razor, nail file and shoe polisher.

In practice, expect shampoo and shower gel in large wall dispensers and no toothbrush kit by the sink. The rule stops hotels handing these out unasked; it does not stop you asking, and some hotels will give or sell them at the front desk. To avoid relying on that, pack:

• Toothbrush and a travel tube of toothpaste
• Razor and a comb or hairbrush
• Light slippers or flip-flops for the room, if you want them
• Any skincare, deodorant or sunscreen brand you are attached to
• Pocket tissues and hand sanitiser: many public toilets have no paper or soap

Shampoo, toothpaste and umbrellas are easy to buy in convenience stores, so skip full-size bottles. If you fly within China, each cosmetic in your hand luggage must be in a container of 100 mL or less, one of each kind, and other liquids go in checked luggage.

Medicine: personal amounts, prescription and original packaging

Personal medicine is allowed in a reasonable amount for your own use, subject to customs checks. Keep each medicine in its original packaging and carry the prescription or a doctor's letter with the generic drug name. Two groups need extra care. Narcotic and Category I psychotropic medicines, which include methylphenidate for ADHD, need a medical diagnosis certificate and your passport, and no more than one prescription's maximum amount. And dextromethorphan, a common cough-syrup ingredient, has been managed as a Category II psychotropic since 1 July 2024, so carry the prescription or the packaging leaflet for any cough medicine that contains it. If you take sleeping pills, strong painkillers or ADHD medicine, check with your doctor and the Chinese embassy before you travel; the essential items checklist has the full list.

Bring enough for the whole trip. Antibiotics and many other medicines are sold in Chinese pharmacies only with a doctor's prescription, and the ones you can buy freely carry an oval OTC mark but Chinese labels. A small kit with your usual painkiller, stomach medicine, plasters and motion-sickness tablets saves a lot of pointing and translating. For pharmacies and hospitals, see health and medical care in China.

What You Don't Need vs What You Can't Bring

Leave these at home

• Full-size toiletries. Sold everywhere.
• 110 V hair tools. They may not survive 220 V.
• A thick wad of cash. Bank of China ATMs take major foreign cards around the clock, up to 3,000 yuan per withdrawal, with fees set by your own bank.
• Heavy guidebooks and "just in case" clothes. You can buy almost anything you forget.

Do not bring into China

• Fresh food from home. Meat (raw or cooked), fresh fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy products (check before packing baby formula), eggs, cut flowers, seeds and soil are banned. Eat the apple on the plane.
• Prohibited items: weapons and replicas, ammunition and explosives, counterfeit money, drugs, strong poisons, and printed or recorded material considered harmful to China.
• Cannabis in any form. Chinese law defines it as a drug, even if it is legal where you live.
• Walkie-talkies without checking. Radio transceivers are on the restricted list, so you may need to declare them.

If you carry restricted items, goods over the duty-free allowance, or animal and plant products, declare them and use the red channel. The Ministry of Agriculture publishes the full list of animal and plant products banned from entry. Customs steps are in Arriving in China: immigration and customs.

Things that cause trouble at security

• Power banks: hand luggage only, with a clear 3C mark on domestic flights. The Civil Aviation Administration's notice on the 3C requirement is the official source.
• E-cigarettes and spare batteries: hand luggage only, never checked, with each spare battery protected against short circuits.
• Self-heating meals (instant hot-pot boxes) are banned from hand and checked luggage on flights.
• Knives on trains: blades longer than 60 mm, tools and bats cannot go through station security in your bag, and can only travel through the railway's separate luggage-shipping service. You can take at most two ordinary lighters on a train.
• Drones: every civilian drone must be registered under its owner's real name, and airspace around airports, transport hubs and major heritage sites is controlled and needs approval to fly. Check your airline's rules for carrying one; if you will not use it much, leave it at home.

Weight and size limits for trains, domestic flights and the metro are in luggage rules in China.

Frequently Asked Questions

In short: sort your entry paperwork, set up mobile payments with a backup card, and carry a 3C-marked power bank. Then pack a toothbrush, your medicine with its prescription, an adapter, and clothes for the coldest or wettest stop on your route. Leave fresh food, 110 V hair tools and big toiletry bottles at home. Before you close the suitcase, go through the essential items checklist and must-have apps before you go.

Last updated: October 2026