🇨🇳Taking a dog or cat to China: entry rules and flights

✓ Rules checked: August 18, 2026Official sources only

Preparing from scratch takes 3 weeks to 4 weeks, depending on where you fly from.

China sets its own requirements for bringing in dogs and cats. From any departure country your pet needs microchip, rabies vaccination and veterinary health certificate. What is needed on top — rabies antibody titre test — depends on the country you fly from. The rules are the same for dogs and cats.

There is no quarantine if the rule's conditions are met — otherwise the pet is held. Order matters more than the list: the microchip goes in before the rabies vaccination, or the vaccination does not count. 83 carriers in our directory fly direct to China, and their pet conditions differ.

Check your own route

Free, no signup: timings, documents and airlines for your pet

🐕 🐈 Same rules for dogs and cats

Airlines with direct flights

83 airlines in our directory fly direct to and from China. Their conditions differ — the cabin weight limit, whether they carry pets in the hold, the fee and breed restrictions — so it is worth choosing the carrier before buying the ticket.

Airline	Cabin	Hold	Cabin fee	Direct flights
China Eastern Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 9	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 80 cities in 41 countries
China Southern Airlines no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 5	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 74 cities in 43 countries
Air China no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 29	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 71 cities in 45 countries
Hainan Airlines (海南航空) no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 34	domestic flights only	✓ up to 32 kg	1399 CNY per flight	from 41 cities in 30 countries
Sichuan Airlines (四川航空) no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 47	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 34 cities in 25 countries
Shenzhen Airlines Co. no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 19 cities in 14 countries
Shanghai Airlines Co. no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 4	no pets	✓	—	from 16 cities in 10 countries
Loong Air (长龙航空)	no pets	✓	—	from 14 cities in 10 countries
北京首都航空 no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · banned breeds: 16	domestic flights only	✓ up to 32 kg	1430 CNY per flight	from 14 cities in 12 countries
山东航空股份有限公司 no snub-nosed breeds in the hold · no snub-nosed breeds in the cabin · banned breeds: 5	no pets	✓ up to 32 kg	—	from 12 cities in 9 countries

Showing the 10 carriers serving the most cities out of 83 with direct flights. Schedules: AeroDataBox, AirLabs, Travelpayouts; pet conditions come from our airline directory.

Restrictions

The limits people find out about last: how many animals one person may bring, the minimum age and which breeds are turned away at the border.

Quarantine Yes, if the conditions are not met +

What the quarantine depends on:

If you fly from a country/region China considers rabies-free (the official 'GACC list' of 19 territories — Russia is NOT on it): a microchip and an on-site inspection are enough — no quarantine.
From all other countries, including Russia: microchip + a rabies antibody titer report ≥0.5 IU/ml (from a China/GACC-accredited lab) + an on-site inspection — no quarantine. This titer is already in your prep checklist.
Guide, hearing and search-and-rescue dogs (with a microchip and certificates) — no quarantine.
If any of these conditions is not met — 30 days of quarantine at a customs isolation facility. Entry only via an airport that has quarantine facilities.

Banned breeds No bans +

These are the country's rules. Airlines refuse some breeds on their own — their limits are in the carrier table above.

Pets per person up to 1 +

GACC limit: only 1 dog OR 1 cat per person per entry (Announcement [2019] No. 5). If you have 2+ pets — multiple passengers are required, or commercial import applies. GACC enforces this strictly.

Minimum age no limit; vaccination from 12 weeks

Points of entry Not stated

Info: at IMPORT (GACC customs, Announcement [2019] No. 5) there are NO breed restrictions — these breeds are admitted. Breed restrictions exist only at the MUNICIPAL level for OWNERSHIP and REGISTRATION (Beijing — a list of ~41 breeds + large dogs >35 cm at the shoulder in central districts; Shanghai, Chengdu and ~50 other cities have their own large/working-breed lists). The destination city may decline to register such a dog, so check the municipal list before travelling. This does NOT affect the flight or the import itself.

What you need to enter China

The full list of documents and procedures for entering China. Every item carries its official source and last-checked date, and is marked as always required or required only from some departure countries.

Identification

Microchipalways+

Your pet must be individually identified by microchip. Your pet should be implanted with an ISO compliant (11784 and 11785) microchip (implanted before rabies vaccination).

«Your pet must be individually identified by microchip. Your pet should be implanted with an ISO compliant (11784 and 11785) microchip (implanted before rabies vaccination).»

Source ↗Rules checked: June 1, 2026

Vaccination

Rabies vaccinationalways+

A valid rabies vaccination certificate issued by the official veterinary authority of the country of departure. Vaccination must be CURRENT (within validity) at the time of arrival. (The 'at least 2 vaccinations in lifetime' rule is a US/APHIS norm not present in the GACC text; GACC requires a valid certificate.)

«Your pet must have been vaccinated at least TWICE in its lifetime, and be CURRENT on rabies vaccinations at the time of arrival in China.»

Source ↗Rules checked: June 1, 2026

Tests and treatments

Rabies antibody titre testdepends on origin+

Not required from every departure country — checking your own route gives the exact answer.

The region of departure is not on the GACC designated list, so a rabies antibody report is required: at least 0.5 IU/ml, from a GACC-designated laboratory. Without it the pet goes into a 30-day quarantine.

«Pets that meet one of the following conditions may be exempt from quarantine: (1) Pets from designated countries or regions that have valid electronic chips and pass on-site quarantine (2) Pets from non-designated countries or regions that have effective electronic chips and rabies antibody test reports issued by GACC-designated laboratories (antibody titer or immune antibody must be above 0.5 IU/»

Source ↗Rules checked: August 18, 2026

Documents

Veterinary health certificatealways+

A valid quarantine/health certificate issued by the official government veterinary authority of the country of departure (GACC accepts the certificate of the origin country's official quarantine authority). For US departures APHIS requires VEHCS endorsement within 14 days; for other countries — the country of departure's official vet certificate. The 14-day window is a US/APHIS norm; the GACC text itself sets no fixed window.

«Health certificates must be issued by your USDA accredited veterinarian within 14 days of arrival in China, and be electronically endorsed by USDA-APHIS using the VEHCS system.»

Source ↗Rules checked: June 1, 2026

The order of preparation

The order matters more than the list: a step done too early has to be repeated. The intervals come from the same rule fields the engine uses for the earliest departure date.

Microchip

before the rabies vaccination
Rabies vaccination

pet at least 12 weeks oldvalid after 21 days
Rabies antibody titre test depends on origin

no earlier than 30 days after the vaccination
Veterinary health certificate

no earlier than 14 days before entry

Steps marked “depends on origin” are not needed by everyone — see the table above or check your own route.

Compared by departure country

Lapaport's engine on six examples, counted from zero: a dog of no particular breed with nothing done yet — no microchip, no vaccination, no tests — starting preparation today. Columns marked “always” are required from anywhere.

From	Microchipalways	Rabies jabalways	Titre test	Health certificatealways	Earliest departurepreparing from scratch
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	✓	✓	—	✓	October 15, 2026	Plan →
🇫🇷 France	✓	✓	✓	✓	October 25, 2026	Plan →
🇹🇷 Turkey	✓	✓	✓	✓	October 25, 2026	Plan →
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	✓	✓	✓	✓	October 25, 2026	Plan →
🇺🇸 United States	✓	✓	✓	✓	October 25, 2026	Plan →

If the microchip and vaccination are already done, the wait is shorter: the clock runs from the vaccination date, not from today. Breed, weight and connections change the answer too — check your own route with the form above.

Arrival airports

The country's rules place no restriction on the arrival airport. Below are airports with direct flights; marked where we have documented the arrival procedure.

Not documented yet12

PVGShanghai (Pudong) CANGuangzhou (Huadu) PEKBeijing TFUChengdu (Jianyang) SZXShenzhen PKXBeijing HGHHangzhou CKGChongqing TAOQingdao (Jiaozhou) XMNXiamen KMGKunming NKGNanjing

FAQ

What documents do I need to enter China?+

From any country: microchip, rabies vaccination, veterinary health certificate. Depends on the departure country: rabies antibody titre test.

Is a rabies titre test required for China?+

It depends on the departure country. From France, for example, it is required; from United Kingdom it is not. The form above gives the exact answer for your route.

How many pets can one person bring?+

No more than 1.

Which breeds are banned from entry?+

The country's rules list no breed bans. Individual airlines have their own restrictions — see the carrier table.

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