Hello Fellow Expats!

Today I decided to not renew my contract with my school here in Kunming and am probably going to be relocating to Beijing late next month.

I am wanting to ship my property (clothes, PS3, computer, etc) to my new employer in Beijing and was wondering if anyone could tell me what the best way to do this is?

Like, what is a good, reliable company that tracks packages and where in town are they located?

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated!

there are loads of parcel companies with small branch offices throughout the city. Yuantong are fairly good. I was quoted Y6 per KG to move some white goods from Kunming to Lijiang. They do insist that large boxes have a wooden crate which they will put on for about Y60. I don't know their rules for smaller stuff. STO is another company to look out for. Most offer some form of tracking but I'd still be very careful about the packing, especially if anything is at all fragile.

SF Express (顺丰) is supposedly the most reliable local courier company (therefore more expensive), but depending on the overall weight of your clothes and computer, you might also want to check CRE (中铁快运). I paid around 400 kuais for about 80kg of stuff (including their own packaging material) from Beijing to Kunming. You call them and they come to your door to pick up your stuff and you hop on their van to go to their depot to weigh and pay. The packages arrive in about 4 days at the other end, to your door. I believe they have several depots in town, including one at the north train station.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I am also considering just mailing some of it back to California.

Do these companies all ship things overseas or are they just domestic companies?

Not sure how they check personal effects, but you problems if you ship back any fake goods to the USA.

CRE send packages by railroad. i don't know if they do it outside of the Chinese borders though.
SF Express has branches in the US, but it will likely be costly to send packages internationally.

China Post (中国邮政) is also a cheaper option for international shipments. I believe they have limits on box sizes though, but they sell (slightly overpriced) packaging items. I would make sure to have enough protection inside and outside the boxes as well. Think about taxes as well.

For larger amounts Deppon Logistics (德邦) might be a better choice than one of the courier companies. A kuai or two cheaper and just as fast.

I sent tons of stuff from Beijing to Kunming via Deppon. The price was quite reasonable, and tracking was handled professionally.

For any of these services, you will need to pack well, placing larger items (appliances, furniture, etc) in wooden crates.

Most of these services aren't very good with international shipping, if they can handle it at all.

For smaller stuff, ship surface mail via China Post. Keep in mind that there are a lot of things you can't ship abroad. They will want to look at everything before you box it up.

Any big stuff like furniture can be trucked to the train station and loaded directly. Train freight is cheap and quite fast. Many of the shipping companies just do this anyway.

Mail clothes. Mail PS3, wrapped in clothes. As for the computer, pull the motherboard and drives out of your computer and pack them in electrostatic bags (cheap or free at computer market around 121 dajie) then put them in a carry-on hand-carry suitcase or similar so they don't get squashed or bumped around. Discard (or swap for electrostatic bags and chump change) the power supply and case, buy new ones when you get there. It's way easier than shipping the whole thing, with very little chance for damage.

For anything back to California, use China Post. They pack well and are reliable. I've mailed tonnes of stuff to LA from Kunming via China Post with no problems at all.