Sport Today

by **Peter Hawor** » Fri, 16 Jun 2000 04:00:00

At the bottom of the "how to get a Chinese visa" page, it says, "Tourists are
not supposed to bring their own bicycles and vehicles into China without
permission." When I rang the embassy to clarify, I was told that this includes
unicycles, and that I'd have to apply to the Chinese International Travel
Service in Beijing.

Is there some loophole which allows unicycles through (which will acually work
at customs) or is there some UNICON-related document I can get hold of, or do I
actually have to contact the Travel Service? This is the kind of thing it would
be nice to see on the website.

--

"Would it not be more meaningful to compare ...
the weight of my cat with the weather in Heverlee?"

by **John Fo** » Fri, 16 Jun 2000 04:00:00

Quote:

> At the bottom of the "how to get a Chinese visa" page, it
> says, "Tourists are not supposed to bring their own
> bicycles and vehicles into China without permission."

. When I rang the embassy to clarify, I was told

Quote:

> that this includes unicycles, and that I'd have to
> apply to the Chinese International Travel
> Service in Beijing.

This is the first I've heard of this. It did not come up when we went to
China for the Great Wall Marathon in 1993 (about 70 foreigners), and I don't
expect it will be a problem this time, or our hosts should have mentioned
something.

I imagine that rule is to promote people to buy their transportation in
China and not bring it in. Florida has something similar with cars, where
you're charged a big sum if you bring a car when you move to the state. I
don't think it applies to us for something like a competition though. We are
not bringing unicycles for transportation, they are our "personal sports
equipment".

However it does raise the issue of what if this does happen to somebody at
customs? This should be asked to our CUA contact to see what they suggest.

Stay on top,
John Foss
President, Unicycling Society of America
Director, International Unicycling Federation

http://www.unicycling.com

by **Alberto Ru** » Fri, 16 Jun 2000 04:00:00

Quote:

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 3:39 PM
Subject: Getting unicycles into China

> At the bottom of the "how to get a Chinese visa" page, it says, "Tourists
are
> not supposed to bring their own bicycles and vehicles into China without
> permission." When I rang the embassy to clarify, I was told that this
includes
> unicycles, and that I'd have to apply to the Chinese International Travel
> Service in Beijing.

> Is there some loophole which allows unicycles through (which will acually
work
> at customs) or is there some UNICON-related document I can get hold of, or
do I
> actually have to contact the Travel Service? This is the kind of thing it
would
> be nice to see on the website.

We will have to ask our Chinese host to take care of that.
I don't think that they are concerned about the used unis that we will use.
They are concerned about ew ones for sale on China.
Andy Cotter, Jack Halpern, and myself went to Beijing in January and took
our unis without permission. Did not have any problem.
A few years ago, there was a uni event at the Great Wall and I don't think
that there was any problem.

Alberto Ruiz
IUF President

- Show quoted text -

Quote:

> --

> "Would it not be more meaningful to compare ...
> the weight of my cat with the weather in Heverlee?"

by **Jack Halpe** » Fri, 16 Jun 2000 04:00:00

Greetings

In message "Re: Getting unicycles into China",

Quote:

Alberto Ruiz wrote...

>

Quote:

>----- Original Message -----

>Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 3:39 PM
>Subject: Getting unicycles into China

I(ve been to China several times and never had any trouble with
bringing unicycles in. Several dozen non-Chinese participants
attended the Great Wall Marathon in 1993, and I never heard of
any trouble. I think we don't need to worry. And if there is
trouble, the Chinese gpvernment cam bail us out.... they are,
after all, running the show.

>> At the bottom of the "how to get a Chinese visa" page, it says, "Tourists
>are
>> not supposed to bring their own bicycles and vehicles into China without
>> permission." When I rang the embassy to clarify, I was told that this
>includes
>> unicycles, and that I'd have to apply to the Chinese International Travel
>> Service in Beijing.

>> Is there some loophole which allows unicycles through (which will acually
>work
>> at customs) or is there some UNICON-related document I can get hold of, or
>do I
>> actually have to contact the Travel Service? This is the kind of thing it
>would
>> be nice to see on the website.

>We will have to ask our Chinese host to take care of that.
>I don't think that they are concerned about the used unis that we will use.
>They are concerned about ew ones for sale on China.
>Andy Cotter, Jack Halpern, and myself went to Beijing in January and took
>our unis without permission. Did not have any problem.
>A few years ago, there was a uni event at the Great Wall and I don't think
>that there was any problem.

>Alberto Ruiz
>IUF President

>> --

>> "Would it not be more meaningful to compare ...
>> the weight of my cat with the weather in Heverlee?"

Regards, Jack Halpern
CJK Dictionary Publishing Society, http://www.kanji.org
Voice: +81-48-481-3103 Fax: +81-48-479-1323

by **Andy Cott** » Sat, 17 Jun 2000 04:00:00

Quote:

> At the bottom of the "how to get a Chinese visa" page, it says, "Tourists are
> not supposed to bring their own bicycles and vehicles into China without
> permission." When I rang the embassy to clarify, I was told that this includes
> unicycles, and that I'd have to apply to the Chinese International Travel
> Service in Beijing.

> Is there some loophole which allows unicycles through (which will
> acually work at customs) or is there some UNICON-related document I
> can get hold of, or do I actually have to contact the Travel Service?
> This is the kind of thing it would be nice to see on the website.

I would not be too concerned about brining unicycles into China. We
brought unicycles in with us when we were there in January with no
problem. The government is sponsoring the event so I wouldn't think there
would be much trouble.

I'll talk to my contact in China and make sure he is aware of this
possible problem.

-Andy

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