sending books to china

[niubi]

anyone care to comment on their experiences of sending books to china? i am planning to possibly spend a few years in china, perhaps buy a cheap apartment, etc. as such, i would like to send a good number of books to china (several hundred pounds). the content of the books covers chinese art, history, language, politics, ethnography, cinema, etc.

has anyone had books confiscated by chinese customs? if so, what was the content of the book(s). any idea if it is better to ship books to myself in china, or to a chinese friend in respect to customs issues?

i probably will send them u.s. economy parcel post which may take a couple months to arrive in china (this is the cheapest method to send them with insurance; the cheapest method that i am aware of in the u.s. is the so-called "Mbag" in which you can send 66 pounds of books to china for $66, but cannot insure them.). any other cheap (and insurable) shipping methods?

[wix]

While I was living in China I occassionally ordered books online and received them with no problems. Airmail is a little slower than you might expect. I was told this is because of holdups in Chinese customs. None of the books I had sent might have been considered "dangerous" by the Chinese authorities, but there was also no evidence that the packages were ever opened for inspection.

A couple of times I had magazines or newspaper articles sent to me that might have been considered "dangerous" and I received them with no problems.

I think these days with so much foreign business pouring into China they can no longer inspect or monitor all the mail that comes through. So unless you do something that makes the authorities want to keep an eye on you you won't have any problems.