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Hand check film in China - trains and airports.

My experience having film hand checked in (Mainland) China

I’ve been to China three times in my life. The last two years I went twice, bringing film in a transparant toiletry bag. I cannot speak Mandarin or Cantonese, so I had to design a sticker that intended to communicate that film needs to be hand-checked and that x-ray will not be good for film.

This specific sticker did the job very well. Sometimes the staff was not 100% informed or did not fully understand why, but carefully hand-checked the bags every time anyway. Traveling around China, there were multiple occasions where I had to get my film hand-checked, e.g. when visiting museums, traveling by train or other occasions.

Beijing, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall (Mutianyu)

In Beijing I had to get my film hand-checked multiple times when entering the museum area. There’s always “bao an” (security officer) checking your stuff when entering. They’ve always been friendly in general, in my experience.

Xi’an, Terra Cotta Warriors

Here I had the same experience as Beijing, smooth and friendly faces when arriving, despite it being very busy. I used the Besnfoto Camera Backpack’s top compartment to easily access the film bag, which help as you have to have your film hand-checked quite often in China

Hong Kong Airport

This was a bit more difficult - and that’s where I directly noticed HK is not Mainland China. The people are different and there is way more hurry. I had to insist a bit on my film getting hand checked, but still managed to do it.

Want this too?

Download the full sized PNG right here. Hope this helps you on your trip! Tip: print it as a sticker - there are types of stickers that are a bit more weather resistant. This is readable when printing around 15cm (6”) height

Tips

1. If possible, do not travel with all your film all the time. Leave the bulk of the film in your hotel safe and only take out what is needed during your day trips. Saves weight, bag space and saves hand checking film constantly.
2. Every time when visiting museums (like the Forbidden city) I wore the camera around my neck with the film inside. This was never a problem, and if it was I could always have it hand checked.
3. In this country it’s good to give this film bag with two hands (and nod at the same time / saying “xie xie”, which means “thank you”) as a sign of respect. It’s easier to get cooperation that way ;-).

FAQ

1. Is it possible to buy film in China easily if needed?

• I have not seen any film shops, but in Beijing, Shanghai and some of the bigger cities it’s probably possible to buy film. I wouldn’t expect a lot of Kodak film being available, though. Slowly there are companies starting to produce film in China. This might then change over the years, but my recommendation for now will be to bring this film yourself instead of buying it over there.

2. How many rolls did you typically carry at once?

• I usually bring around 15 rolls of film on a holiday trip. 10-12 color rolls and 3-5 rolls black and white (HP5 usually) film.

3. Any negative experiences or film getting ruined?

• Yes, I have had x-ray damage on film in the past. This was mainly visible with base fog / graininess in dark areas. I prefer to overexpose my film a stop and control the contrast when scanning. This seems to alleviate the x-rays quite a bit compared to shooting at box speed.

4. What ISO sensitivity film did you travel with?

• My favorite film for now is Ektar 100, due to low ISO it’s also less sensitive if your film gets x-rayed. It’s fantastic for countries like China, where red is a prominent color. Pops so incredibly much on Ektar!

Resources

handcheckfilm.com - A website that tracks user reports of airport hand checking. Might be a useful source to check out.

Some images made on my last trip

As you’ve come this far reading this post, you’re probably interested in a few images I made with my Leica M2 using the Voigtländer Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2, Ektar 100 at the Beijing Summer Palace, which is one of my favorite spots to visit in Beijing. I shoot everything at f/5.6 or f/8. Scanned with the Nikon Coolscan 5000 - converted the scanned negatives using Negative Lab Pro.