A subsequent notice posted on September 26 by Guangdong-based EXPRESS contains an even longer list of banned items: foodstuffs, liquid, powder, gases, counterfeit brand products, big machines, helmets, umbrellas, wrist bands, towels, safety vests, speakers, amplifiers, trestles, walkie-talkies, drones, black shirts and other clothing, goggles, metal beads, metal balls, horticulture scissors, metal chains, torches, binoculars, remote-controlled toys.
“Customers mailing products have to use their real names. For mismatch between proclaimed names of goods to be mailed and actual goods, they will be left in the warehouse … for any discovery of the aforementioned goods [for mailing to Hong Kong], a thorough investigation will be launched.”
The Post called a Beijing outlet of courier giant SF Express. A worker at the company said that only black clothing is not allowed to be shipped to Hong Kong, with other colours allowed.
“All goods mailed to Hong Kong will be severely investigated. So all goods to Hong Kong will take around two days more than usual to mail,” he said.
A user of online retail platform Shopify recently posted a note to a message board on its website which reads in part: “I'm writing to see if anyone else is having trouble shipping ‘black’ clothing items into Hong Kong from China? For those who don't know, China has put out an official [Public Service Announcement] to all courier services to stop picking up any clothing items that are considered black or even navy blue for an undisclosed amount of time.”