China controls the export of older items far more tightly than most countries, and the rule catches ordinary people rather than dealers. If you have lived here for a few years and bought furniture, ceramics, scrolls or jade, some of it may not be allowed to leave.
One vetted mover from our network handles the shipment and the packing, but no international movers can issue a certificate. Good movers raise it early in a relocation. That comes from the appraisal system, and it takes time you need to build into the plan.
The controlling threshold is age. Items made before 1949 fall under cultural relics protection, and older material again is more tightly restricted still. Reproductions are fine, but you may need to demonstrate that is what they are.
The framework is straightforward even if the timetable is not.
Appraisal. Items are assessed by an authorised cultural relics appraisal station. They establish age and significance, which is the whole question. This is not something a dealer's opinion or a receipt can substitute for.
The decision. Items fall into broad categories. Recent reproductions leave freely. Material from the twentieth century up to 1949 is assessed case by case. Older material, particularly anything of real antiquity, is generally not permitted to leave at all, and no amount of paperwork changes that.
Certification. Approved items receive an official seal and an accompanying export certificate. That seal is what customs looks for, and it must stay on the item.
Shipping. The certificate travels with the consignment and is presented at export. Your mover handles the presentation, not the obtaining.
The consequence of skipping it is not a fine and a warning. Uncertified controlled items are seized at the border, they are not returned, and the rest of the container is then examined far more closely than it otherwise would have been.
Timing is the practical problem. Appraisal stations work to their own schedule and there is often a queue. Starting the process the week before your container is booked is how people end up either leaving pieces behind or holding a shipment. Six weeks ahead is sensible. Longer if you have several items.
Appraisal fees are modest against the value of the items involved. The expensive outcome is the one where nobody started early enough, because that costs either the shipment or the pieces.
Appraisal fees only
The normal outcome when the process starts six weeks out.
Storage while it sits
Charges accrue daily and the delay is entirely avoidable.
Seizure, plus scrutiny
Items are not returned and the container is examined closely.
Tell us what you have bought and roughly when. We can tell you whether the timing gives you room to get it certified.
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Most people expect furniture and porcelain to be controlled. These are the ones that catch them.
Paper rubbings taken from stelae. Common in Shandong and Shaanxi, cheap to buy, and made from protected monuments. They are not the trivial souvenir they look like.
Coins and seals. Small, easily packed, easily forgotten, and squarely within the control if they are old.
Books and manuscripts. Old bound volumes, ledgers and documents. People pack them with the rest of their books without a thought.
Furniture bought as reproduction that turns out not to be. Redwood and hardwood pieces from Dachong or Lecong are usually modern. Pieces bought from a market or a village dealer may not be, whatever you were told.
Inherited or gifted items. You did not buy it, so no receipt exists, and nobody thought to ask its age. Gifts from Chinese colleagues and in laws are a genuinely common source of trouble.
Fossils and natural specimens. These have their own controls and are not covered by the same process.
Things sold to you as antique that are not. The reverse problem. A piece described as Qing that is actually modern still needs demonstrating, and if you cannot show it is new, the assumption may not go your way.
The practical approach: photograph everything you buy, keep receipts with dates and seller details, and if a piece was presented to you as old, treat it as old for planning purposes until an appraisal says otherwise.
This applies on the way out of China. What you can bring in is a separate question with its own rules.
A move usually means moving money too, whether that is a deposit on a Chinese flat or funds coming back the other way. We have helped customers with currency exchange in any currency through trusted partners for many years, and our partners can help with the money side of your move. Mention it on the form and it gets included.
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Age is the threshold rather than value or beauty. Items made before 1949 fall under cultural relics protection, and older material again is restricted more tightly still. That covers furniture, ceramics, scrolls, jade, coins, bronzes, books and paper rubbings.
Through appraisal at an authorised cultural relics station. They assess age and significance, and approved items receive an official seal and an accompanying certificate. A dealer's opinion or a receipt is not a substitute for that assessment.
Weeks rather than days, and there is often a queue. Six weeks before packing is sensible and longer if you have several items. Starting the week before your container is booked is how people end up either leaving pieces behind or holding a shipment.
Controlled items without certification are seized at the border and they are not returned. The rest of your container is then examined far more closely than it otherwise would have been, which delays everything else you are shipping.
Recent reproductions leave freely and twentieth century material up to 1949 is assessed case by case. Older material of real antiquity is generally not permitted to leave at all, and no amount of paperwork changes that. Appraisal is what establishes which category applies.
They are controlled. Rubbings taken from ancient stelae are common in Shandong and Shaanxi, cheap to buy and made from protected monuments. They look like a trivial souvenir and they are not, so include them in the appraisal.
These cause the most trouble, because no receipt exists and nobody thought to ask the age. Gifts from Chinese colleagues and family are a common source of difficulty. Treat anything presented to you as old as old for planning purposes.
No. They present the certificate at export and they will remind you about the process, but obtaining it is between you and the appraisal system. It is one of the few parts of a China move that nobody can do on your behalf.
The framework is long standing but the detail is administered locally and does change. Confirm the current position and the appraisal arrangements in your province before you plan around anything written here, including this page.
Send your collection address, your Chinese destination, a rough idea of the volume and your date. A vetted mover from our network checks the route, the paperwork and the access, then comes back to you with the price.
Send your move detailsWe match international moving enquiries with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network, each holding FIDI FAIM certification and BAR Overseas membership.
We are not a removal firm ourselves. We find you the one that suits your route, and you deal with them directly from there.