Almost none. On a domestic flight within China, liquids are prohibited from hand luggage and must go in the hold. The exception is a short list of toiletries for use during the journey, and it is narrower than the allowance you are used to.
The exception, and its conditions#
Cosmetics, toothpaste and shaving foam may be carried in the cabin, subject to conditions that are applied at the checkpoint rather than waved through:
- One item of each kind — not one bag's worth, one of each.
- In a container of no more than 100 mL (100 g for toothpaste and shaving foam).
- Open to inspection. Screening staff may ask you to unscrew it, and the container size is what counts, not how full it is.
Everything else — water, soft drinks, sun cream beyond that allowance, the bottle you bought before security at the station that morning — goes in checked baggage or in the bin.
Why this catches people out#
Travellers arrive with a rule of thumb built elsewhere: domestic flights are the relaxed ones, international is where the 100 mL bag applies. China inverts that.
On international and regional flights departing Chinese airports, the familiar regime applies: containers of no more than 100 mL, placed in a single resealable transparent plastic bag of no more than one litre, one bag per passenger, screened separately.
So the same traveller, at the same airport, faces a tighter liquid rule on the flight to Chengdu than on the flight to London. Reading the international rule and assuming it covers your domestic legs is the specific mistake to avoid.
The relaxation that never happened#
There is a reason a lot of English-language guidance describes something more generous. In October 2015 the civil aviation authority published an announcement adjusting these controls — and, the same day, issued an urgent notice suspending that announcement's implementation.
The adjustment never took effect. The stricter regime it would have replaced is the one still in force, which is why guidance written from the announcement alone has been wrong for a decade.
What to actually do#
- Drink it or bin it before security. There is no held-item locker moment to fall back on.
- Pack liquids in the hold on any domestic leg, including a small sun cream that would sail through at home.
- Buy after security, or on arrival. Bottled water is a couple of yuan anywhere in China.
- Do not assume rail habits transfer. A sealed bottle is fine on a train, where security swab-tests liquids rather than confiscating them.
- Check the other two items that catch travellers at Chinese airports — a lighter or matches, which are barred from checked baggage as well, and a power bank without the Chinese certification mark.
Is it different for babies or medication?#
Screening regimes generally make room for infant feed and prescribed medicine, and China's checkpoints are no exception in practice — but the allowance is granted at the checkpoint on inspection rather than by a published quantity you can rely on in advance. If you are travelling with either, say so at screening and carry it accessibly rather than buried in a bag, and allow extra time.