Exporting Swords from China

[SimonM]

Hi all,

So I've got a problem.

I have a couple of swords at my in-law's place that I want to bring back to Canada. But since the machete attacks in Yunnan you can't mail swords, you can't ship them on a train and don't try even getting close to an airport with one. So how do I export my swords from China? A note: these are NOT antiques. They're modern longquan and shaolin forge blades that I left behind due to luggage constraints when I moved back from china back in 2007. Then the regulations regarding mailing weapons changed and China Post / EMS won't handle them. So how do you get swords out of the country?

[GeneChing]

It's been over a decade since I've been in China. I used to just stuff my swords in a gun case back then and I was good to go. Never got hassled for that. And I did export some antiques (not super old stuff, R.O.C. or late Qing at most).

Tiger Claw exports swords by the container, but that's a whole different animal.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. I will be interested to hear how your solve this.

[SimonM]

Darnitall, I was worried that'd be the answer. I have neither the means nor the connections to export a container of stuff from China; nor do I have enough stuff to fill a container. Oh well. Maybe they'll eventually figure out that a sword in a box can't jump out and start stabbing people when shipped by post.

Or maybe, next time, I'll seal up the package and when asked what's inside at the post office say, "object d'art"

[Jimbo]

When I left Taiwan for the last time at the very end of 1992, I tied and covered all my KF training weapons (spears, sabers, swords, staff) together and took them with me to the airport as checked luggage. Technically, the long weapons made the package too long for approval, but I had an "in" at the airport luggage check in, and they were passed through. When I landed at LAX, I was briefly questioned about them, told them they were training swords, spears, etc., the guy X-rayed them and said happily, "Yup, they sure are!" and let me take them.

Nowadays with all the terrorism fears, I know that would never fly (no pun intended). It's too bad, really. Such incidents have lead to irrational fears of inanimate objects that in and of themselves cannot harm anyone.

[SimonM]

It's the "no sharps by mail" thing that's bugging me. It's a strip of metal in a wood case. It can't harm anybody unless a postal worker takes it out of the packaging and starts waving it around.

[GeneChing]

For most modern swords, that just meant unscrewing the pommel nut and disassembling everything. That ale made it easier to pack more in because it flattened the guards on the dao.

And I made a point of saying that they were for TAI CHI, while looking as Tai Chi hippie as physically possible for me.

But like I said, that was years ago. I even brought a tiny switchblade back once - it had an Olympic logo on it and I couldn't resist. It was my letter opener for a long time, until it fell apart like cheap Chinese switchblades always do.

You might be able to buy some space in a container - that would be like a hiring a private shipping company. Not sure how that works in China, but once we shipped a bunch of trophies back after winning them at a tournament. It was a huge parcel, like over a square yard, but again, that was a long time ago, in 1991.