Mail something to China from the US

[ZhangXinQiang]

I want to mail something to my friend.

It just some papers... nothing heavy.

But I never send to China before.. So I am not sure..

He gave me his address (both in Chinese and English)..

So which one do I use?

Should I better use Chinese? or English?

And how much would it take to arrive to China?

I am in South USA, Alabama. And he is in North-East of China.

[Long Zhiren]

In theory the two addresses should be the same, but I would put both addresses on so that the handlers can read it no matter who they might be.

My favorite USPS product is the Priority Mail International (PMI) Flat Rate. (My guess is two weeks for delivery.) There's a PMI envelope in which you can stuff up to four pounds of stuff. And there are two PMI box sizes in which you can stuff up to twenty pounds of stuff. The smaller box is precisely the size necessary for twenty pounds of 8.5x11 sheets of paper. The bigger one is slightly bigger than that. If you order the postage online, you get a small discount (5%?). It comes out to US$37 for the box, and something like $12 for the envelope? Be careful about the online postage. It tells you precisely which day that the envelope/package should be received by the US Post Office.

[Chinapage]

U.S. postal service. Or UPS Or FedEx.

You can send from any town or village. Very routine.

[ZhangXinQiang]

How much would it cost to send just a letter (like.. less then an ounce)?

[liuzhou]

The USPS mailing rates are on their site here.

[cdn_in_bj]

I'd use both, it doesn't hurt.

Write the English address on the USPS form, and the Chinese address somewhere on the package.

[lilongyue]

For simplicity's sake, I always wrote the address in Chinese and English. I would send it to my mother, for example, as a JPG, so she could just print it out, and didn't need Asian language support enabled on her computer, and tape it on the package.

The only time I had something sent to me through anything other than UPS, it was a nightmare. Sounds like others had better luck, but the things that were sent to me where never just papers, so I guess my situation is different.

[simonlaing]

I don't live in BJ or Shanghai,

So I have had a lot of packages "get lost" in the system

A key feature you should have is the postal code of the destination. Also big Chinese characters.

The Chinese character should be clear, and be simplified characters if sent to the Mainland.

Make sure you write People's Republic of China, if you just write China it often goes to Taiwan (at least my Brit friends had this issue)

It usually takes 1/2 -2 weeks longer to reach the destination than when they say it should unless it is very expensive tracking DHL.

Finally, I would still make copies and cross my fingers.

Good luck,

Simon:)

[liuzhou]

I don't live in Beijing or Shanghai either, but in thirteen years have never knowingly lost any mail. I too gave my family a JPG of the address which they print and tape to letters / parcels, but I also receive mail with the address handwritten in pinyin.

[GBodyShop]

I know this maybe in the expensive side. but the person will get it. I have used Fedex and I used english. They received it within 3 working days maybe sometimes 2 days. Depends on the day is sent. But I live in New York. i sent a package about 1.70lbs and it was almost 100 usd. but it was not lost or held by usa or china's customs.

Good Luck

[liuzhou]

It's also a good idea to blatantly lie about the nature of the contents on the customs slip.

Everything which has sent to me has been described as "Educational Material"

Like several educational mobile phones, lots of educational cheese, educational socks, two educational digital cameras, etc...

[Luobot]

How much would it cost to send just a letter (like.. less then an ounce)?

Several weeks ago I mailed a letter under an ounce from a New York post office to Shanghai and the cost was $0.94.

I simply addressed it in English and it got there.

[doki doki]

Didn't want to start a whole knew thread, but I have a related but slightly different question.

I'm having my folks send my boyfriend's and my winter clothes over here. My parents' are sticklers for the rules so when they went to the customs page of the USPS, it claims China prohibits used clothing and personal items form being sent over. I'm assuming this is just silly because how else would anyone that moves here get their stuff.

My questions:

What's the best way to ship a large, rather heavy package (I think I'm answering this for myself from my research with USPS Global Express to China Post)?

What the heck should we be putting on the customs form? I have a feeling educational materials won't fly for our winter duds. It's a decent amount of clothing that would cost a lot to replace, so I want to do whatever is the best route.

Anyone have advice about mailing clothing over here?

[liuzhou]

I've never actually had educational winter clothes sent out (it's probably cheaper to buy them here than to post them), but I have had educational cheese, educational cell phones, educational digital cameras, educational Christmas puddings, educational shoes...

[Lu]

Can you get your parents to ignore the rules on this? I doubt clothes would be stopped at customs, although there's always a risk that things get lost in the mail. And taking Liuzhou's suggestion you can fill in that it's all educational material.

[doki doki]

My parents agreed to mark it as educational material. they are also sending it in two smaller boxes rather than one large box. I'm paying the extra money for the US tracking and express shipment, so hopefully I'll see these clothes soon enough.

Oh, and from what I've seen, the quality isn't great on the winter clothes here if you need something business level. I'd end up spending money on Western clothing anyway, so shipping my stuff will be cheaper.

I'll let you know stats and costs once its finalized, for readers' reference.