No Radios, Watches, Cameras, TVs, or Sewing Machines to China
From the USPS's website when posting something to China (bold selections my own):
PROHIBITIONS:I wonder why the Chinese government wants to prohibit the import of such relatively basic electronics?Arms, ammunition, weapons.
Articles in hermetically sealed, nontransparent containers.
Chinese currency.
Coins; banknotes; securities payable to bearer; traveler's checks; gold, silver, platinum, manufactured or not; precious stones; jewelry; and other valuable articles, unless sent in insured parcel post.
Manuscripts, printed matter, photographic negatives, gramophone records, films, magnetic tapes, video tapes, etc., which could do political, economical, cultural, or moral harm to the People's Republic of China.
Meat and meat products.
Perishable infectious biological substances.
Radioactive materials.
Radio receivers, transmitters or receivers of all kinds, walkie-talkies and parts thereof; valves, antennae, etc.
Used clothing and bedding.
Wrist-watches, cameras, television sets, radio sets, tape records, bicycles, sewing machines, and ventilators.RESTRICTIONS:
The importation of personal articles is limited to those intended for personal use and imported in reasonable quantities. The value of the items contained in each shipment must not exceed RMB (renminbi) 100 yuan and the total value of the shipment received annually by each family may not exceed RMB (renminbi) 800 yuan. However, the following articles are admitted in the quantities/values indicated:
Description of Articles
1. Pocket electronic calculator
Qty. or Value per Item - 1 per year
The addressee must submit a prior request to Customs.
2. Magnetic tape
Qty. or Value per Item - 5 cassettes
3. Cotton or synthetic fabric
Qty. or Value per Item - 10-1/4 yd (10 m)
Width must not exceed 50 inches (130 cm).
4. Medicines or materials used in Chinese medicine
Qty. or Value per Item - RMB 40 yuan
5. Philatelic stamps
Qty. or Value per Item - 100 stamps
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The radio equipment makes sense. I know in North Korea all radios and TVs are pre-tuned to only receive government broadcasts. If the people had other radio equipment, they could both transmit and receive on whatever frequencies they wished, along with whatever messages they wished. Although, I don't know what stops them from simply dissembling the equipment they already have.
Some of it is presumably also part of trade agreements.
You can't send leather or footwear to Italy. No spices (more than 0.5 ounces at least) to Israel. No salt or cloth textiles to South Korea.
Full lists of mail restrictions (alphabetized by country) here
I can think of rational trade restrictions that prevent all of these except for /sewing machines/.
That one sounds to me like a holdover from communist "our products are the best, we protect the livelihoods of workers" mandates.
I always thought the "we will not ship to China" on camera auctions on Ebay was related to fraud. Maybe it's because they get confiscated at Customs.
IIRC, it's illegal to ship human hair to Italy. Italy happens to be or have been one of the major producers of human hair for export.
I didn't know it was illegal to send vacuum tubes to China. I do it all the time, so they must not actually care. I'd better label those packages 'electrical parts' in teh future.
Umm, isn't 100 RMB equivalent to like 13 bucks?