Beijing customs declaration dairy products
Apr 6th, 2015, 07:22 PM
#1
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Beijing customs declaration dairy products
For the convenience of picnic lunches, am considering taking butter and cheese, from Australia. I presume I should declare it if I do. Will that hold us up for ages on a very late flight arrival? Thanks.
Apr 6th, 2015, 09:33 PM
#2
They have butter and cheese in China.
Maybe Aussie butter and cheese.
This article is from last November:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/australia-...062216180.html
"Dairy companies, including Canada’s Saputo Inc, which owns Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Ltd, and Bega Cheese Ltd are among likely leading beneficiaries of the deal."
Maybe Aussie butter and cheese.
This article is from last November:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/australia-...062216180.html
"Dairy companies, including Canada’s Saputo Inc, which owns Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Ltd, and Bega Cheese Ltd are among likely leading beneficiaries of the deal."
Apr 7th, 2015, 03:30 AM
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They sell dairy products in Beijing and it is often from Australia when you look at the import section.
For example: http://www.jennylou.com.cn/index.php...&cPath=362_363
Besides this chain you will often find a large supermarket in the basement of large shopping malls and these tend to have more international products line.
For customs restrictions read this: http://shanghai.customs.gov.cn/Default.aspx?tabid=5674
If you are allowed to bring these products seems to be open for interpretation but it is very unlikely that they will check your luggage. I know an American who brings a frozen turkey every time he returns to Beijing and he was never bothered.
For example: http://www.jennylou.com.cn/index.php...&cPath=362_363
Besides this chain you will often find a large supermarket in the basement of large shopping malls and these tend to have more international products line.
For customs restrictions read this: http://shanghai.customs.gov.cn/Default.aspx?tabid=5674
If you are allowed to bring these products seems to be open for interpretation but it is very unlikely that they will check your luggage. I know an American who brings a frozen turkey every time he returns to Beijing and he was never bothered.
Apr 7th, 2015, 08:38 PM
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Thank you - it was really for the convenience and time saving factor. We did chase down butter eventually last time, but we will be staying in a different area (dongsi shittao) this time, arriving after midnight, and didn't want to waste any time the next morning. Thank you both for the links too.
Apr 7th, 2015, 08:46 PM
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From Dongsishitiao you can walk east (or take the bus) and there will be a few supermarkets with international products. One in the basement of Salitun village and one in the basement of the Shimao mall.
Apr 7th, 2015, 10:32 PM
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Really? What time is the picnic?
Amazes me sometimes the comfort foods, here only butter fat, a known artery clogger, that folks cannot travel without. I knew one lass who carried a special coffee making device, beans and hand grinder. Then she dumped brown sugar into the cup of hot coffee.
Hey, it's Beijing so enjoy a bowl of rice gruel and a hot 'oil stick'.
Amazes me sometimes the comfort foods, here only butter fat, a known artery clogger, that folks cannot travel without. I knew one lass who carried a special coffee making device, beans and hand grinder. Then she dumped brown sugar into the cup of hot coffee.
Hey, it's Beijing so enjoy a bowl of rice gruel and a hot 'oil stick'.
Apr 8th, 2015, 10:01 PM
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Hey, I'll bite! We don't eat butter at home, only on holidays. Don't want to eat tourist trap maybe contaminated lunches .When you are as old as I am, you'll probably feel the same. When you have jug of wine and a loaf of bread (butter makes it better) with you, then Thou and I can eat anytime, and anywhere!
Apr 9th, 2015, 08:31 AM
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> Hey, I'll bite! We don't eat butter at home, only on holidays. Don't want to eat tourist trap maybe contaminated lunches .
Setting aside that the risk of food contamination in China applies to everything you eat, not just meals at 'tourist traps', so if it's not a reason to avoid going to China (and it isn't) then there's no point in singling out lunches particularly, the two choices you offer are not the only ones available.
Beijing is thick with bakery chains selling all kinds of bread and rolls, pastries, ready-made sandwiches, sponge cakes more rich and buttery than those you'll find at home at high/main street bakeries, and relatives of all kinds of baked snacks, some of only modest accuracy but edible nonetheless, and others of specific Chinese invention but still involving bread and cheese.
You might try Holiland, for instance (Haolilai, 好利来, over 70 branches in Beijing alone), or Weiduomei (味多美) also all over the place and most branches have drinkable coffee at local non-Starbuck prices as well as a little seating. Tous Les Jours (多乐之) is a café and bakery chain. Anyway, putting together a picnic from these places is no effort at all. And every single shopping mall/department store in Beijing, never mind the obvious foreigner-targeting ones, has a food court in the basement or on the top floor where baked goods of various kinds are also common.
There are also many Chinese-run cafés targeting Westerners and wannabe-Western Chinese offering attempts at everything up to a full cooked breakfast. The quality of the latter can be very mixed, and tend to be praised only by expats who have been too long away, but toast and butter not a problem. Smaller one-off cafés can be better still. Depending where you are in Dong Si Shi Tiao, a walk or two metro stops north Wudaoying Hutong has Vineyard Café (possibly more brunch than breakfast).
I write as someone who eats with great care at home, but knows when to give up, doesn't expect China to provide everything I want (although these days actually it can), and particularly hates eating noodles or rice for breakfast, so makes the best of what his hotel offers or stocks his fridge appropriately. The only use I can think of for taking bread and butter with me would be not to waste a second on the very first morning assuming I'm staying in a guesthouse that can't even manage toast. But that would be it.
Setting aside that the risk of food contamination in China applies to everything you eat, not just meals at 'tourist traps', so if it's not a reason to avoid going to China (and it isn't) then there's no point in singling out lunches particularly, the two choices you offer are not the only ones available.
Beijing is thick with bakery chains selling all kinds of bread and rolls, pastries, ready-made sandwiches, sponge cakes more rich and buttery than those you'll find at home at high/main street bakeries, and relatives of all kinds of baked snacks, some of only modest accuracy but edible nonetheless, and others of specific Chinese invention but still involving bread and cheese.
You might try Holiland, for instance (Haolilai, 好利来, over 70 branches in Beijing alone), or Weiduomei (味多美) also all over the place and most branches have drinkable coffee at local non-Starbuck prices as well as a little seating. Tous Les Jours (多乐之) is a café and bakery chain. Anyway, putting together a picnic from these places is no effort at all. And every single shopping mall/department store in Beijing, never mind the obvious foreigner-targeting ones, has a food court in the basement or on the top floor where baked goods of various kinds are also common.
There are also many Chinese-run cafés targeting Westerners and wannabe-Western Chinese offering attempts at everything up to a full cooked breakfast. The quality of the latter can be very mixed, and tend to be praised only by expats who have been too long away, but toast and butter not a problem. Smaller one-off cafés can be better still. Depending where you are in Dong Si Shi Tiao, a walk or two metro stops north Wudaoying Hutong has Vineyard Café (possibly more brunch than breakfast).
I write as someone who eats with great care at home, but knows when to give up, doesn't expect China to provide everything I want (although these days actually it can), and particularly hates eating noodles or rice for breakfast, so makes the best of what his hotel offers or stocks his fridge appropriately. The only use I can think of for taking bread and butter with me would be not to waste a second on the very first morning assuming I'm staying in a guesthouse that can't even manage toast. But that would be it.
Apr 9th, 2015, 07:16 PM
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Thanks, Peter, for the thoughtful and informative information. Will try and find the Vineyard cafe for at least one brunch. DH is really not adventurous with food, even at home. There was a post some months ago about someone with a similar problem, a DH who didn't like Chinese food at all, but mine will try some occasionally. We have discovered the wonderful bakeries, even a Maxim,s,near Chongwenmen where we stayed last time.
The picnics we've enjoyed on previous visits have been atop the Wall at Mutianyu, or in a little kiosk we've discovered somewhere away from the crowds in parks and gardens. We found a lovely one in LongQing Gorge ,and even a quite secluded hall at the Palace Museum.
The picnics we've enjoyed on previous visits have been atop the Wall at Mutianyu, or in a little kiosk we've discovered somewhere away from the crowds in parks and gardens. We found a lovely one in LongQing Gorge ,and even a quite secluded hall at the Palace Museum.
