Postage stamps are widely available in country towns which will all have China Post outlets and in the large tourist hotels. Some hotels may also provide post box facilities. If may be wise to buy your stamps in Chengdu, Lhasa, Lanzhou, or Kunming when you begin your trip to save time later. Lhasa is the only place in Tibet where you can send international packages. However, any large packages will need to be mailed from one of the provincial capital cities. Express Mail Service (EMS) is available as a worldwide priority mail service and can courier documents to most foreign countries within a few days.
When sending mail it is advisable to have the destination country’s name write in Chinese. It takes about 7 to 10 days for mail from Lhasa to reach the outside world. If you’re afraid of losing your letters or postcards you can try giving them to a fellow traveler to mail when they reach a larger city such as Guangzhou or Beijing.
Remember that due to the current political situation in Tibet, letters, faxes, telephone calls and internet activity maybe monitored and even censored. In some cases, these activities can result in foreigners being order to leave the country. In addition, post offices tend picky about how you pack things so don’t finalize your package until it has had its last customs clearance. If you have receipts for the goods you are mailing put that in the box as well as it could be opened again by customs officials further down the line.
In general, the China mail service is reliable for sending packages abroad if sent from a major city. Often smaller, regional post offices will not allow you to send packages to international destinations. When sending packages, please note there are often three options which relate to the speed of delivery - air, hybrid, and sea. Please note that they may well reject sending books which lack an ISBN number. ISBN numbers are quite expensive in China, which is used as a way to control publication. Thus the post office may reject books without ISBN numbers as potentially having problematic content.
To receive mail, there is a post restante (general delivery) facility at the Lhasa General Post Office (GPO), but it might be better to use these facilities at larger hotels like Lhasa Hotel, Tibet Hotel or Himalaya Hotel. Fax services are usually available at county post offices.
Lhasa GPO, located on Beijing Dong Lu or Dekyi Shar Lam at the intersection just east of Potala. Address: 64 Beijing Dong Lu, Lhasa. Hours of Operation: Mon-Sat. 9am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm
The Shigatse (in Tsang) main post office allows you to send mail. It is located on Zhufeng Lu at the intersection one block west of Jiefang Lu.
Rates (as of 2005):
Airmail letter (less then 20g): ¥ 6.40
Plus an additional ¥ 1.8 per 10g
Postcards (airmail): ¥ 4.50
Aerogramms: ¥ 5.20
Packages- Surface Mail (maximum 30kg)
Prices begin at these rates for a 1kg package and increase
To UK: ¥ 108
To USA: ¥ 83.50
Packages- Airmail (maximum 30kg)
Prices begin at these rates for a 1kg package and increase
To most countries: ¥ 144 to ¥ 160
To UK: ¥ 162
To USA: ¥ 159
Example: a 5kg package going to the UK costs:
¥ 523 for airmail
¥ 386 for surface mail (can take up to 2 months)
¥ 201 for sea mail (can take up to 2 months)
EMS services:
An EMS surcharge of ¥ 75 for those going to USA and UK (¥ 55 for Australia) is added to letters or packages that are slightly overweight.
For recorded delivery add an extra ¥ 2.30 and another ¥ 6.50 for registered mail.
David Germano, Pamela Riis