Visiting China, laptop problems?

[panthr]

Hi there. I plan on visiting China for the first time in a few months. I was wondering if anyone has ever had any trouble bringing a laptop into the country. It is my own laptop, and there is nothing on there really that can be deemed as anti-Chinese or anything. I guess what I am concerned mostly with is a delay going through customs. Do they make you boot up the laptop so they can see if you have anything on there that could possibly be objectionable?

[adrianlondon]

I took my laptop with me and it was no issue. I wasn't checked entering the country and neither, to my knowledge, was anyone else on the flight.

At the hotel, nearly everyone had a laptop. It's common for many people, from business travellers to students, to have a laptop nowadays. I'm sure it'll be no problem.

The only issue I did find was that news.bbc.co.uk was blocked, so I had to keep uptodate using other sources. No biggie.

[self-taught-mba]

I was also concerned about the same thing, but my Chinese friends laughed at me saying that is the old, old, China that would do that.

Also keep in mind:

1) Many things here are fake or poor quality, so bring your own surge protector that you trust. Don't let your $2000 machine rely on a 20 kuai power strip.

2) Many things are bl0ck ed. Find out how you will get around it NOW. There are services that let you set up your own pr0 xy / mirr 0r but it will be harder once you get here as those sites are $locked. (although there are plenty of alternatives)

3) Avoid placing "i love FG" stickers on your laptop case.

[malinuo]

I carried two laptops around in case one of them would break down. I didn't even consider the possiblity that anyone might search them. There are such a lot of good encryption techniques around that anyone who really wanted to get some nasty stuff into the country easily could do so undetected. I'm no expert, and I had nothing to hide, but I know the techniques are out there.