Can I take Ritalin to China?

The rules for Ritalin (methylphenidate)

Methylphenidate is a Category I psychotropic in the Catalogue of Psychotropic Drugs for Medical Use (2025 edition), item 11, which also covers dexmethylphenidate and serdexmethylphenidate combinations. China publishes no quantity a traveller may import. Article 44 of the Regulations on the Administration of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances says Customs releases narcotic drugs and Category I psychotropics on the principle of personal use and reasonable quantity, so the officer at the counter decides. Shanghai Customs explains that test using the caps a doctor in China may prescribe at once under article 23 of the Measures for Prescription Administration: one dose for injections, 3 days for ordinary forms, 7 days for controlled and sustained-release forms, and 15 days where methylphenidate is prescribed for ADHD in children. Those are limits on a prescriber, not an amount you are entitled to carry in. This is the one ADHD medicine with a stated exception: a Chinese prescription for methylphenidate in childhood ADHD may run to 15 days, against 7 days for controlled and sustained-release forms such as Concerta and 3 days for ordinary forms. A longer supply is not forbidden, but it rests on the officer accepting it as reasonable, so carry the prescription and the diagnosis certificate and declare at the red channel.

What to do

1. 01valid prescription
2. 02medical diagnosis certificate from a medical institution
3. 03valid identity document (passport)
4. 04doctor's letter (recommended, with Chinese translation)